#36

A long time ago, I decided that when Luke was ready to learn to snowboard that I would join him and learn, too. After all, I've been skiing for 20+ years, so why not shake things up a little and try something new! Plus I thought it would be fun to learn a new sport to keep up with our boys! We scheduled a weekend family getaway to the mountains to kick off our January birthdaypalooza. This was the BEST of birthday weekends, and I feel so blessed that I celebrated #36 with so many fun family memories in one of our favorite parts of Colorado!

Gearing up!

Who's excited to snowboard? WE ARE!

(This is our view outside our hotel room.

Not too bad, eh? Gotta love Mt. Princeton!)

On the road again...

Headed to Monarch Mountain.

We had to stop at McDonald's first

for the boys to fuel up on pancakes!

And yes, it takes a lot of gear

stuffed in our car for a 

winter weekend adventure!

Waiting patiently.

Well, most of us.

Ready for our lesson.

Learning the basics with our instructor Taylor.

He was 20-something and had been 

snowboarding since he was 4.

You could tell he really enjoyed his job,

and he was an awesome instructor!

Luke & Taylor riding up the conveyor belt

on the bunny slope. Taylor called this

glass dome the "test tube." Funny.

\

Ready to ride!

When snowboarding, you either ride "regular"

with your left foot forward or "goofy" with your

right foot forward. Two goofy riders here!

After a day on the slopes,

there's no better way to celebrate

than with a nice family dinner.

And big smiles. 

(This is not the first you will 

see of this big Grant Grin.)

January Birthday Crew

 Happy, happy!

Happy Birthday, Mama! 

Who says you can't go swimming when it's 20 degrees outside?!

Always a fun time at the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs!

When we got into the pool, Reid yelled out, 

"Hey, people, let's get this party started!"

Love that boy.

 Day 2.

Game face.

Ready to go.

"Can I ski, too, PLEEEEEASE?" 

Scott and Reid head for the slopes.

Reid really got the hang of skiing this trip,

thanks to some great lessons by Dad.

Good times in the lodge with these two.

Have you noticed Grant's

BIG grin? He likes to say, 

"CHEEEEESE!" for photos now.

We like to say he's not afraid

to show off his chipped front tooth!

Smiling contest. 

 Reid on the loose!

 Small fall ... but getting up slowly.

 Back on track and great control!

 Way to go, Reid!

Break time!

 Celebrating #36 and #9!

 In line for the lift.

 Luke was such a natural at snowboarding.

He picked it up so quickly 

and LOVED every moment! 

This weekend goes on my list

of top motherhood memories.

I tried not to get too sentimental ... 

there's no crying in snowboarding!

 Look at him go!

 Mom's turn!

"YAY! I did it!"

Maybe you can teach

an old mom new tricks...

That's all, folks! Let's call it a day!

Christmas 2012 in Kansas

With the holidays upon us, we loaded up our crew and headed east to our stomping grounds of Kansas, where we shared some great holiday memories in both Kansas City and Wamego! We turned our week of family-adventure-photographs into this fun little holiday video. The boys selected one of their favorite holiday songs for the background music. Enjoy!

An Early Christmas

Christmas usually finds us at our own Home Sweet Home, but this year we decided on a holly jolly road trip to Kansas to spend the holidays with our family there. So we celebrated early before we left since our sleigh isn't big enough to hold all the gifts, suitcases, etc. Tonight we ordered pizza and celebrated our Family Christmas.

 What was on the menu? Why Duca's Pizza of course!

We love this new local wood-fired pizza place...

and how cute that they drew little elves on our pizza boxes!

 Our tree ... and a very merry little elf!

 This Christmas we entered a brave new world

with our first video game system ... the WiiU!

The older boys were ecstatic!

 "Yes!"

Grant's big Christmas gift was this

indoor coaster car. On his first few

times down the ramp, he wasn't

so sure. And then, well, you could 

say he caught on quickly! No fear here...

It's in the Cards!

One of our favorite holiday traditions is the sending and receiving of holiday cards. Who doesn't love running to the mailbox in December to see what cards might be there to add an extra little surprise to the day! Thanks to all our dear friends & family who shared some Christmas joy via the USPS. We post all our fa-la-la greetings on our coat closet door in the dining room, and every day is made a little brighter by those familiar sweet smiles. There is no better art for the holidays! Below is our 2012 Christmas card. Peace, love & joy to you!

From Calm to Crazy

Sometimes the calmest of mornings can turn into the craziest of moments. On this particular morning last week, all the boys were ready ahead of time for school and quietly playing. (Never happens!) And I was getting ready for a coffee date with a friend.

At about 8:30 when we usually load up and head on out to school, Grant seemed to be MIA. We checked his usual hangouts where he likes to play, but no luck ... until we noticed the guest bathroom door upstairs was closed. Hmmmm. Not only was the door closed ... it was LOCKED! Grant's glee could be heard chirping on the other side of the door. He was having a grand old time in there! But the trouble with a 22-month-old locking himself in a bathroom is that he also doesn't know how to unlock himself in that bathroom.

I kept calm and set out to find one of those little keys that we keep on the top of the door frame ... for emergency lock-picking adventures such as this. Except those little keys were nowhere to be found. Above any door.

On to Plans B, C & D ... a paper clip. A screwdriver. Then a bobby pin. One failed attempt after another.

Then it happened. Yes, the worst case scenario came true. Grant had turned on the water in the sink and was now SCREAMING. A barrage of thoughts flooded my mind. Had he turned on the hot water and was getting scalded? How much water was pooling in the sink? Had he gotten stuck in the sink somehow? This was going from bad to worse ... calm to crazy.

By this time, it was 8:37 (school starts at 8:45). Reid had already grabbed his backpack and was waiting for the rest of us in the car, so he missed out on all of this craziness. Luke was trying to be helpful ... "Mom, should I call 911?"

As Grant's crying continued and concern elevated rapidly and no sensible attempts to open the door were working, I took the what-seemed-logical-at-the-time next step.

I kicked in the door.

Now don't think it was like a TV stunt where one swift kick busted open the door. No. Try about 12-15 kicks with all my might. Front kicks. Side kicks. Any kind of kick to try and open that door. All while wearing some cute gold flats.

And finally, the door gave way and broke open! Little Grant was fine ... just frazzled from all the ruckus his mother was making on the other side of the door! I was so overjoyed to pick up our sweet boy and hold him and calm him down. And beyond relieved that nothing worse had happened.

Now here's the other side of the story ... from the other side of the door. Grant had crawled up on the toilet seat and then climbed on the back of the sink and turned on the water. Yes, the hot water. But thankfully, he had stayed out of it. Our hot water heater is turned down, so our hot water isn't really that hot ... but it still isn't something with which anyone would want to take a chance.

With tears streaming down my face from the frenzy that had just ensued, I got my wits together, calmed down Grant, and shuffled the older boys off to school. And then I called Scott.

"Well, the good news is that Grant is okay. The bad news is that the bathroom door is not."

Because I am married to the most patient man in the world, Scott was very understanding about the incident and even chuckled about it. We thought the door replacement might be relatively easy because we had a spare door in the basement. But that door was the wrong size. And the frame was cracked from all that crazy kicking. So Scott ended up replacing the entire frame & door, which involved a lot of sawing, fitting, sawing, refitting, hammering, woodstaining & painting. But the new door has been installed, and the bathroom is back in working order.

And crazy has now been restored to calm once again. At least until the next incident...

Ho, Ho, Ho ... Ha, Ha, Ha!

 Have yourself a CrAzY little Christmas!

Hoops

Another season of hoops at the Y. Luke has really taken quite an interest in basketball over the last year. And can we just say how thrilled we were that Coach Scott was up for being back on the court?! What a great season, and the team really grew over the course of Monday practices and 6 games. Here are a few pics from today's final game.

 Coach Scott, Forward Luke & Reid on the bench!

Reid isn't old enough to play on this team, 

but he loved being a part of the action

and sitting on the bench with Dad & Luke!

 Team Thunder Shocks

 Luke has really improved on the skill

of dribbling around the defender.

Congrats on a great season,

Luke & Coach!

3rd Grade Presents ... The Nutcracker

Since September, the 3rd grade has been practicing for their performance of "The Nutcracker." We've seen the ballet version, but this new 3rd grade version with dancing AND singing (who knew those songs had lyrics?!) was the cutest ever! From memorized lines to elaborate costumes to fully choregraphed numbers, this musical was simply amazing. Bravo, 3rd Grade! Below is a video clip of Luke's number, featuring the boys in his class as the Chinese Tea Dudes.

 The children sat on risers in front of the stage.

 Luke with some of his buddies!

And yes, they are wearing cups & 

saucers on their heads!

The girls in his class were Arabian Dancers 

(seen on the left), and the boys

were all Chinese Tea Dudes.

Also featured were Nutcracker soldiers,

toy mice, Russian tea cake bakers,

candy cane girls and more!

Way to go, Luke! We are so proud of you.

(And Grant likes your hat!)

SNOW ... Finally!

Our weather has been so warm lately. We thought the snow would never come. The boys were all ecstatic to wake up and see the beautiful blanket of powder this morning. 

 Hooray for snow!

 Jumping for joy!

Snow on the trampoline makes for added fun!

Rosy cheeks & warm cocoa.

Even Mama enjoyed a snowy run!

Gotta love the first run of the season 

with the Yaktrax (special coils 

strapped on to shoes to add traction.)