Funny things they say...

The kids are constantly cracking me up with the funny things they say. Here are a couple of my favorites from this past week:

(Jack had been studying Martin Luther King Jr. at school)
Jack: "Mom, I don't want to go to school today. Can I stay home with you?"
Me: "No. Jack, you can't skip school"
Jack: "Why? Martin Luther skipped two grades"

Background: Jack has a crush on a girl, Elise, at school. He has liked her for two years but she has always told him that she hates him. But for valentines day she gave him a valentine that said "I'm yours XOXO."  Jack was over the moon saying that she's only pretending to hate him but she really loves him. Meanwhile there is another girl in his class, Rose who he has been going to school with since kindergarten and she has always loved Jack. We always tease them that they would make a cute couple since she is a tall Haitian girl and he is a little white boy. The night after the Valentine party, we went to a movie night at the school. Rose was there and Jack was so excited to tell her all about the valentine he received from Elise. Even later that night I talked to Jack some more:

Me "So I heard you tell Rose about the valentine from Elise"
Jack: "Yeah, she couldn't believe that Elise loves me"
Me: "You shouldn't brag about that with Rose. Don't you think she might be a feeling a little jealous?"
Jack: "Why? Do you think Rose really likes Elise too?"




And here are some funny ones from Lily:
 "I really want to pinch someone. Like, for fake... I really want to be a spider."

and

"Blue little dragons really like bunnies"

Never a dull moment.

Marathon training: Month 1

Marathon training is in full swing. We are running over 100 miles a month right now. Not so easy to do during the winter. I try to make it out as long as it is over 20 degrees, but getting outside is a chore. First I have to make sure Josie is tired and well fed. Then I have to put her 'fuzzy bunny suit' and her blankets in the dryer to make sure they are nice and warm. If I time it just right, then she will be warm and cozy and sleep for my entire run. It is the one hour of quiet I get during the day. Some days I push the double stroller (such a pain)...

And other days I just have Josie. You can see in this picture how tired she is. She knows as soon as her 'fuzzy bunny suit' (her pink and white bunting) goes on that it is almost nap time. 

Luke has his own training schedule and finds time to run during his lunch break. He has been afflicted with terrible shin splints and is doing his best keeping up with his training plan while managing the pain.

January Fun

For Christmas my parents gave Lily and Josie six months of gymnastics lessons. Lily was so excited and was counting down the days for gymnastics to start. Here is Josie in the tiniest gymnastics outfit I could find: 

They both loved their first class. It was Josie's first time doing anything like this. Poor third child is so deprived compared to the things her siblings got to do...

Lily smiled throughout the entire class. She loved every minute.

Lily has a new favorite game on my phone. It is where you take a picture of yourself and then you can put makeup on, change your hair, accessorize, etc. It is pretty amazing. She loves to take pictures of herself...

And Josie...

And me...

And even Jack... it always makes for a good laugh all around.

We also spent time at our friends house and they make a king cake. Lily got the lucky piece with the bean inside so she was crowned queen for the night.

We even got to go out to lunch with Luke one day. We went to an Indian restaurant near our house and the girls were thrilled that the tables were covered in paper so they could color

These girls love to color!

And Josie is still as cute as ever. She is a tiny little bugger. At her checkup the doctor said she is in the 2%... meaning 98% of kids her age are bigger than her. She is just a teeny tiny little thing. But she is oh so cute. And she loves to cuddle... especially after her showers.

And speaking of doctor appointments... at Josie's last appointment she had to get some vaccinations. Jack and Lily were so concerned for Josie when they found out she had to get shots. Lily sang to Josie the whole time we were waiting for the nurse to come give her the shot. It was adorable. Lily is such a caring sister. 

Here she is being so cute. 16 months old and still wearing 6 month clothing.

One of our resolutions this year was to make sure to take each kid out on a date night once per month. Here are Jack and me on our first date of the year...eating lots of ice cream!

Nightmare on Rossmere .... revisited

The saga continues...

The guy who is renting our house right now while he attempts to get another loan to buy our house. Who is under contract with us to buy the house before April 2016. Who was supposed to buy the house in March of 2015. Yeah, that guy. Well, that guy just broke contract and let us know he is not able to get a loan. He can't buy our house. He will move out as soon as the 1 year rental agreement is over.

Ugh... and it starts all over again. 

School Pictures

Jack 2nd Grade

Lily Preschool

Great start to a New Year!

We had plans for a big night on New Years Eve. We were going to go downtown and brave the crowds to watch fireworks and see shows... but it has been so cold... I ran out to the store around 4pm and it was already freezing...I knew we wouldn't last all night outside in the cold. So instead, we stayed home and played games. We put a countdown on Netflix around 8pm and did a New Years celebration with the kids. They were excited because they thought they got to stay up till midnight. But we had them in bed by 9pm. It was awesome. 

And as for New Years Resolutions, Luke and I have signed up for some races. We are both doing a half marathon in April and Luke is signed up for a full Marathon in May. This means lots and lots of running.

The first weekend of the New Year we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park for some snowshoeing. Apparently everyone else had the same idea:

Once we finally got to the trailhead, Luke got to carry all the gear 

The kids were excited to try on their snowshoes.

But walking in them turned out harder than they expected. Lots of tears before we even started the walk

Here we are finally heading out for the walk

Turns out snowshoeing takes much longer than anticipated. We had to be very patient. The kids wanted to sit and play in the snow more than they wanted to walk.

By the end of the hike both kids were very tired. Lily had enough of snowshoeing.

So we brought out the sled and found a hill to send the kids down. They had so much fun.

What we did during the break

Luke was off work during the Christmas break and we had fun spending extra time with him. The day after Christmas we took the kids to family day at Dungeons and Drafts. There were several families and kids there to play one of our favorite games, "Ultimate Werewolf." 

 The kids were so excited to have their own special drinks

 We also spent three nights watching Episodes 4, 5 & 6 of Star Wars.

 And then we took the kids to see the new Star Wars with their friends at the new theater by our house.

 Another day we met up with one of Jack's best friends to see the Chipmunks movie.

 Jack was so happy to see his friend again since they no longer go to the same school.

Jack also asked to see another old friend who left his school. So we set up a bowling playdate and the boys had a blast together. So fun to get together with old friends. 

 We spent lots of time kissing this little kissy face

We also started sleep training both girls. Lily has been sneaking into our bed every night since Josie was born and it is now becoming a nuisance. She kicks me and Luke all night long. So Luke has moved into Jack & Lily's room for the time being to try to get Lily to sleep in her own bed. And in the meantime I am working on getting Josie to sleep in her own bed (she wakes me up an average of 20 times each night!). It is going as good as can be expected. Here is Josie cuddling with her little seahorse.

In order to make the sleep training work, Luke is now sleeping in Jack's bed, while Jack is on a mattress on the floor and we moved Lily's bed close to Jack's bed so Luke could hold her hand when she gets up at night. For a few nights, Lily crept into Jack's bed with Luke. Jack was not happy about Lily being in his bed and he wrote her this note

"Lily if you touch my bed and my special stuff I will
punch you in the face ok."

I can only hope that they will eventually be friends as adults and the memories of how they terrorized each other will fade.... unless they find this blog.


I guess this is why the third baby gets "babied." I never appreciated babies who can't talk so much as I do now. Besides the fact that she wakes up an average of 20 times a night, Josie can't talk yet and she is just so sweet. She loves to take showers with me and even after I shower I can get ready while she stays in the shower for as long as I let her. This is her "What?" face.

The Budweiser Brewery had a couple weeks were they held the "Brewery Lights" event. We didn't know what to expect so we invited my parents and headed to check it out. It was the most crowded event I have been to in a long time. It turned out that everyone gets a wristband for free beers (about two) and a buffet ticket for $10 where you can load up as much food as you can carry (you can't go back for seconds). So it was a good deal, but the crowds were unbelievable.

Outside they had some things set up for the kids but it was below freezing so we couldn't be outside very long

This is a tree maze. 

After we ate we headed outside to do s'mores, but it was so cold that we didn't last very long.

We also spent our weekends watching the Broncos games. 

And we started a Pandemic Legacy game with our friends. A Legacy game is one where you play over several months and each time you play the game changes. We open up these boxes each time we play and it changes certain things in the game. It is pretty fun

Pandemic is a fun game, but it is really tough to beat.

We also had a fondue night with some leftover cheese from the fondue party.

And just like that the break was over and back to our normal schedules...