Snow Days have their benefits

One of which is catching up on the ol' blog.

I guess I will start here.

Ahhhh, Colorado.  

It reminds me of when I was training, in decent physical shape, and had an extended weekend away with my hubby and good friends.

All good reminders in the middle of winter, when all I want to do is take a hot bath, curl up under a warm blanket and consume homemade cinnamon rolls in very large quantities.

I can still feel the inner-peace that was radiating from us in this photograph.

Still can't tell you what's happening here.

I love eating pictures. 

So humbling.

Gorgeous.

My dream backyard contains something similar to this.

Race day

Running around my backyard as a kid, jumping hurdles with my chocolate lab, Buddy, finally seems to have been useful for something.

I love the ferocity; there's no holding him back.

We made it!

And we're smiling.

Which is amazing considering I couldn't breathe at all up there.

Come to find out, it's probably a good idea to train for high altitudes.

I've filed that one away.....for next time.

And after swimming through really cold mud, we cleaned up and enjoyed the sights.

James will never live down finding the only gentleman that had never used a camera phone.

He seriously hadn't.

Makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Nothing beats getting the whole drum of ice cream.

Except maybe running a 5k in Colorado with this guy by my side.

A word of advice for all you 20-year-old-somethings: Nerds make the best dads

It's true.

This guy went on a late night run to Target (in inclement weather), to purchase 200 bowls, so he could fill them all up with water, add food coloring, and put them (neatly) in snow trenches, so that they would freeze overnight, in order to build the kids their own personal igloo the next day.

Now that's some daddy dedication.

 And don't forget the snowball fight fort, that you could slide to from the igloo.

Thanks for setting the bar so high honey; that's one way to win over the neighbors.;)

 Add a lantern after dark, and.......

 It glows!

 Noble may have had a bit too much snow fun at this point.

 The igloo could fit 3 small children inside, or

 one large, fun loving, selfless, and completely wonderful man.

I'm tellin' ya, go for the nerds girls, go for the nerds.

Sledding Fun

Abundance

Snow days are so much more fun when James is around.

Like a mini, family vacation.....in the mountains....without the packing or the driving (and much smaller hills).

Every time I start daydreaming about life in the country (which I find myself doing quite frequently and they usually consist of charming white farmhouses, acres of land to roam, horses, chickens, babbling brooks, and more horses), I need to stop and remind myself of the joy of a neighborhood full of laughing, squealing children, coming out to enjoy the snow together.

And sledding down hills with them.

And being there to catch them on video when they totally bite it.

And watching them help each other get snow out of their boots.

And drinking the water they so thoughtfully brought to share. ;)

That's what it's all about anyway.

A Royal Valentines

We absolutely love Valentines day at our house; a holiday that is all about love?  Sign me up!

London has been making preparations for the last four weeks; one cold month, plus lots of time inside, equals a lot of red paper hearts. ;)

 James surprised us with the globe lights in the morning, it was so pretty!

Then off to two school parties.

London's was a royal engagement, complete with velvet curtains, a castle and a royal introduction of all the princesses and knights.

Cutest. party. ever. 

Even though there was a bit of the unexpected (lock down for armed burglar in Andover) Mrs. Braynock kept the happiness going.

I love this little girl, (who spent a large amount of time picking out the perfect royal attire the night before), and the really little girl on my lap. She joins us on Thursdays and helps satisfy my baby cravings. ;)

And then we were off to Noble's Valentines party.  He couldn't keep still, and hopped up from the circle twice to show me all the goodies we were going to eat.

His happiness is contagious.

Love, love, love him.

Priorities

Discussions about marriage and future spouses have been frequent at our house.
Noble's concerned about finding a girl to marry and will randomly approach the subject, say, when we are driving down the road.  "MOM, WHO am I going to marry????"
I've even over heard him singing about his future wife while cleaning his room, apparently he wants her to be "pretty, but not too fancy".  I guess he's not into the high maintenance type.
He's a smart kid.

And then there is London who, just this evening, told me her criteria for her future husband (she actually said that he must be like her in a lot of ways, and when I asked her in what ways, this was her response):
1.) He must sing praises to Jesus every night like she does.
2.) He must love God as much as she does.
3.) And he must speak with a British accent.

So there you have it.  We are all officially praying for a future husband/wife in this house, whether homegrown, or across the world.

Christmas 2012

I have to say, that as far as holidays go, this one rocked.  We all took a deep breath, kept to-do's and expectations at a reasonable level, and just enjoyed the company of those we love.

We loved, laughed, played, gave, snuggled and took poor quality pictures to catch some of it.  When your truly in the moment, who has the wherewithal to make sure your camera is on the right settings, if you have it on you at all? ;)

We made it out to our town's annual hometown Christmas celebration where the kids saw Santa, rode on a barrel train, roasted marshmallows and took a starlit carriage ride.

Don't let Noble's picture avoidance fool you...he loved it.:)

James and I made a puppet stage for the kid's Christmas present, well, he made it, I actually asked him to make it (and put on the finishing touches with paint and curtains- me and my domestic abilities).;) They loved it.  It was so much fun watching them run in, unwrap their puppets and put on an impromptu puppet show right then and there, bed-head included.

We have since then, thoroughly enjoyed our family puppet show nights.

Noble had been asking for these superman pajamas with the zipper since October.  I think he wore them for the duration on Christmas break.

Chillin' at Honey and Papas, where we, well, chilled, 

and built Lincoln log towers, Lego guys, watched Christmas movies and chilled some more.

 One of my favorite days, complete with sunshine, snow, chocolate chip cookies, 

and these wonderful babies.