Mr. Tough

I took Joe into finally get his 5 year shots. The whole week before the appointment he would ask me when it was and how many more day until, etc. I could tell he was nervous about it. When I finally took him in I learned that he would be getting 5! I thought it was only 2 and 3 at the most. But he sat there still as a post and didn't flinch or move a muscle. We came home with an ice cream certificate for everybody. So we went to redeem them for Family Home Evening.






Showing off his 6 pack and 5 band aids.

A typical CO March

We have had such beautiful weather in March the kids have even worn shorts to school. My allergies have been going nuts with everything blooming. We turned on the sprinklers to water our ultra dry grass and trees.

These pictures are to show how we have been playing outside in the warm weather. We spent some time on the bike trail hiking around and enjoying being outside.

But then. . . welcome to Colorado!! We get a blizzard warning for half the state last Thursday. We sent the kids to school with 2 1/2 inches of snow on the ground but it wasn't stopping. By 11 am we went to get them and there was 8 inches of heavy wet snow. So of course on the way home from getting the boys (luckily Ted was here) he went and got the snowmobiles and the 4-wheeler with a snow plow on it. Needless to say I spent the rest of Thursday digging out snow clothes and making hot chocolate while the boys played outside. And, yes, I mean to include Ted in that last sentence. By the time it was all said and done, we had about a foot of wonderful, much needed snow.

Amongst all the playing they dug out the cull-de-sac and even a few more neighbors not on out cull-de-sac. Friday was another no school day and we went as a family (they actually got me out of the house too!!) to shovel some more sidewalks. Emma did snow angels in the middle of the driveway and we were shoveling around her. Then the boys decided to jump off our friends deck into the accumulated snow which had just come from the deck. It was a fairly large pile but not at all uniform in thickness. Jumping feet first was no worry. But. . . Joe decides after doing several feet first jumps that he would give us all the scare of our lives. He gets into jumping position but instead of jumping he looks at Brad and says, "bye- bye!" But instead of jumping he falls backward. The height of the deck is about 7 feet. By the time he hits the ground (our jaws hit the ground about the same time) he was starting to over rotate and his upper back and neck hit first. His bum and legs were on the 4' pile of snow and his head was on the 6" of snow. We could not believe he just did what he did. He jumps up and starts laughing and running up the deck stairs to do it again. We hadn't even recovered by this time. He truly is crazy.

Mom's Birthday

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Once again, March 17th came. It is a fun day to celebrate. My dear, sweet neighbor gave me a St. Patrick's Day shirt with "Shake your Shamrock" across the front. She's awesome! We had green everything, plus new potatoes and corned beef. We also had okra (well, I had okra) in special honor of mom. It is always fun to write our notes and let our balloons go. We watch and watch until they are totally out of sight. We have been lucky so far to not have any wind when we are letting them go so the balloons are able to sail straight up out of sight. The kids are still waiting to see Grandma's hand as she reaches out and grabs them. I think I am waiting for that also.

Smacks+nice dinner=Clampetts

This happened in January but I forgot to post it 'til now. Our friends, the Buhler's, had a wedding reception at the Stanley Hotel (you know the haunted one from the "The Shining?" You can actually watch that movie continuously on one of the channels if you stay in a room. Of course, you won't get me to watch the movie but we did roam the 4th floor halls looking for ghosts!:)) in Estes Park for their son Chris. When I called to RSVP, she asked me if I was going to bring the kids. Could I bring them? I wasn't going to. But my kids love them so I said are you sure? I thought to myself that it would be fun to do this with them and fun for them to see such a nice dinner. I must have been on happy hallucination drugs or something. It was plain embarrassing from the get go. Luckily, everyone knew us and either expected it or ignored it.

1- We arrive to waitresses with beautiful shrimp plates walking around. Ti and Tate immediately grab several and put them on their napkins. They then look for the dip. They eventually find the or' derv table with dip and hey! more shrimp. By the time I find them, there are probably 12 shrimp tails left on the white linen table clothes and dip dripped from bowl to their mouths.

2- We find a table and gather the shrimp thieves. The tables are beautifully set and arranged and somehow Joe gets the table cloth caught in his shoe??! If it weren't for Ted's quick hands, the whole thing would have gone crashing to the ground.

3- Ti and Tate are still hungry and get up to look for some more or' derv's. Pretty soon I notice them at the buffet tables looking under lids to get food. They each had a roll and Tate ate a butter ball thinking it was a mint.

4- Tate needs to use the restroom but Joe and Ti had just went. So I told him to go knock on the door and go with them. He soon comes back and says that he knocked several times and told them to let him in. But someone else came out instead.

5- When we were eating (finally) a friend asks Joe which of these 4 forks does he use to eat his salad with? "Just use any one you want" shoving a whole fork full of salad into his mouth.

6- While eating his salad, Joe needs to adjust the position of his chair- why!? He puts both hands on the table to use it as leverage to slide his chair forward. One of his hands rests on the handle of his fork (the tines under his salad) and flips salad two plates over.

7- Last but not least, this one is on me. After dinner was over, Emma and I needed to use the loo. By this time, I am seriously wondering if they are going to serve alcohol because I think I need some. I get back and they had served sparkling cider in pretty wine glasses. I sat down and immediately drank it all. Ted leans over and said, "I have been trying to get the boys not to drink their toast glasses. As you can see they are getting ready to do some toasts." I was just sad it really wasn't anything stronger. Ted looks at me and says, "I know they said we could bring them. But, next time, lets NOT! I would actually be enjoying myself."

I am a new Auntie!

Emilee had her baby on February 1st. On Feb 10th I went to La Jolla to help her. I hope it was help anyway. Eliza is darling and Emilee is doing very well. I loved being able to be there and be with her and Cody. They are very good and proud parents. I left on Sunday the 15th and Eliza had a yeast rash on her bum. I was so sad to leave her in that condition. Emilee had a really hard night with her Sunday night and I wasn't there! It killed me.

Notice the darling bow!! Of course I made her a bow box!

Such a muffin!

We only had a couple of mishaps: locked ourselves out while grocery shopping, and walked Emilee's legs off while exchanging baby clothes. I suddenly look over at Emilee and thought she was going to pass out. We sat her down as I was rummaging through racks as fast as I could. When you come to help someone who has a 10 day old baby aren't you supposed to be letting them rest?! So we got out of there pretty quick and it was only barely raining. Pretty much thinking I was the worst sister ever!