Happy tenth anniversary Mister!

One of the best decisions in my life was saying yes to marry Pete.  It's been ten years of struggles, celebrations, many moves, many hellos and goodbyes.  But it's been ten years I'd do again with him by my side.  I love you mister!!

Hiking with auntie and Sarah

My sister and Sarah were here for a visit.  Pete and I got away for a few days to celebrate our tenth anniversary.  That was really nice.  We took a trip to the mountains, did caching, visited parks and had cookouts.  It was a lot of fun.  For part of our hike, Drew and Titus walked ahead of us just talking and laughing and having a grand time.  It was a special moment seeing them like that.  I hope they will be each others best friends and worst enemy for a long, long, time.

Progress

The last couple weeks left us with a broken air conditioner, a broken toilet, a broken modem, and a broken transmission on our van. All have been repaired except for the van. That's a bit pricey. But to save you the boring pictures of items such as a toilet or modem, I am going to give you an equally boring picture of something else!

 Our hallway. In its bare white boringness. Which is in progress to match the rest of the house. When discouraged by other things, lets look at the progress we can find. Pictures of color to follow. I hope. 

 

My dude

Hiking

This was our second hiking trip this week.  Taken on Thursday, I think it's safe to say I wasn't the only one who was missing the mountains and our hikes!  We went with some friends and had a lot of fun.  We grilled out after and the we took the boys for ice cream, to a playground and caching.  A fun filled day and completely exhausted muffins after!! But we did get a first-to-find cache! 

Park trips

Today we headed to Broadview Park, a little over a mile from home.  We packed our dinner and planned on spending the afternoon there.  A little weather threat didn't deter our fun.  But on the way home, each muffin had a branch to tow. This is quite common, having gradually shifted from rocks and sticks to branches.  Maybe if we walked more often we could fill our shed for the fireplace this fall?

Stick-it-forever kisses

I am thankful my muffins still enjoy kisses. Kisses on owies, kisses on cheeks, kisses on foreheads, kisses on noses.  We have giant kisses, bear kisses, Eskimo kisses, butterfly kisses, zerbert kiss combos, noisy kisses...the list goes on.  But the most recent addition are the "stick-it-forever" kisses.  The rule is, any kiss from a parent to their child is always stuck forever.  You cannot wipe, wash, scrape or clean it off, ever.  Kisses between husbands and wives are the same.  But muffins believe their kisses can fall off if they do not get it properly affixed and pushed down!  In an attempt to make this a slightly less violent affair, the trick is to use three fingers.  Not a handful, not a fist, not a jab from a single finger, but a full-effort required attempt to affix their kiss with three fingers.  For the muffins, it seems to be a good fit.  And I like careful kisses, and love the gently calculated three finger "sticks".

Our kindergarten graduate!!

Way to go Drewbie!!!

Vacation

These are just about the only photos taken on our two and a half week vacation back to visit family in the UP of Michigan and Wisconsin. And some of these weren't even taken by me! Anyway, we saw family and friends, relaxed, visited, ate, took in a Brewer game, an amusement park, four wheel rides, swimming, camp fires with s'mores, celebrated Drews sixth birthday, and lots and LOTS of riding in the car!  

Spirit Day

Another benefit to Options school is that Drew still gets to experience fun things with friends that would be a lot harder to reproduce by ourselves. I'm glad that we chose to homeschool, and I'm thankful for Options to expand his horizons. We had parent teacher conferences again, and again, received a glowing report from his teacher! Here was his outfit for Dr. Seuss day.

Boy muffins

This was a rare moment when all three muffins wanted their pictures taken. So I grabbed the camera and was really happy with the photos I got. I'm so thankful for these three boys!

Colorado weather

I love that it (was) winter and we got outside and enjoyed warmth as often as we did. The boys played in snow, and then we went to parks. We aired out our house many times and while taking the puppies for a walk, Ty and Drew did a great job helping Jude when he was getting tired. It was a moment to cherish and a sight to melt a heart!

Race day

The AWANA derby was a fun day for the whole family. Taco Johns was running a special and made a good race food, budget friendly meal. The races were so exciting I thought Ty just might fly away a few times throughout the night. Ty placed second in speed and Drew did a great job being happy for his brother and focusing on his limited successes. We were proud of both boys.

Yum!

Have you ever had a snickers ice cream bar? If you haven't, don't try one unless you want another weakness constantly calling your name from the closest grocery freezer or gas station. The boys love them too. At least that means I didn't eat them all!! A yummy treat from my parents while they were here earlier this month.

Beautiful sunrise

One advantage of being outside in the cold so early is you get to enjoy more views like this one. Our God is Awesome, and His creation only dimly reflects how Awesome He really is!!

Feel sorry for me!

This pout makes him pathetically irresistible. It gives no face to the fact that he really is feeling better and loved the jello water that he got to drink to try to help the diarrhea. Battling bug after big in this house; trying to get everyone healthy at once is difficult!

Snow

We have all been sick here. Off and on with different things for three weeks now. It's getting old. We also got two back to back snowstorms last week. Since I was sick, the picture wasn't taken until after the sun took its toll; but D and T built this snowman with daddy while J and I took a nap. Most of the snow in out yard has melted already, except for along the fence line. The weather looks to be quite warm again next week and I am looking forward to getting everyone outside for a good chunk of time again.

Faces

It's a moment to remember when you see pride, excitement and recognition of a privilege in the face of your child. Jude's face was priceless when he got his first piece of hard candy. I wanted to remember that look forever.

Happy valentines day

Some BIG suckers. They actually tasted pretty good!

Photos

My parents we here for a visit recently. I didn't take too many pictures while they we here, but there are a few here for your viewing pleasure. These were taken on a trip to the mountains to do some geocaching. The little thing in my dads hand is one of the caches we found. I posted it specifically for some friends to see what a "nano" cache can look like.