Super Bowl Week

Coops have begun again! We did not have any in December and January and we missed them. Last week we went to Hammond's Candy Factory. We have been there a few times but the girls are so young they don't remember very much of it.

They make candy the old-fashioned way. Some of the machines are over 100 years old.

On Saturday Arek drove Mia up the mountain so she could take a snowboarding lesson while he skied. She loved it! Anna wants to go next year. I was worried about her being cold but it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. She came home exhausted!

We had a super bowl party! Just ignore the Raiders mug on the shelf. Dan actually rooted for the Broncos, because he doesn't like a certain quarterback on the other team. Everyone else rooted for the Broncos because they are the BRONCOS! It was fun. The rally was downtown today and I thought about taking the kids but then quickly came to my senses. It was so big you could see it from space!

Beth and Greg were here for the Super Bowl and Beth is staying until tomorrow. And they brought this cute little package with them.

She's been walking for three months and she only weights sixteen pounds! Her expressions are priceless. What a cutie! Unfortunately, she doesn't sleep! Little Oli has been sick and Paige started getting sick as well so there's been a lot of crying and wanting their moms! Becky and family usually spend the night whenever Joey or Beth are in town.

There have been happy times too!

To get the poor little sick babies to sleep we took a walk in the Colorado sunshine. No, they didn't fall asleep with three kids and a dog tagging along!

Tomorrow night the house will seem empty!

Playoff Weekend

The weekend before last were the conference play-offs. We decided to go ice skating on Saturday. The last time we went was for Anna's birthday. Mia could not go because she wouldn't put on the skates because her feet itched so much.  No one has been able to correctly diagnose her feet issues, but they are almost gone now with the special diet and supplements.  We do have one more piece of the puzzle...

Yes, she has toxic levels of mercury and aluminum. We are working on this! Notice also that not one of her mineral ratios is ideal.

Anyway, we took our little neighbor with us and bought the passes to do all the activities. That means we spent a few hours going ice skating, playing laser tag (Anna and I sat this out as she was too scared.), bumper cars (Anna was too short.), inflatable obstacle course and climbing wall. We took a break to eat our lunch in the car. 

Can you tell it was a nice day?

Mia has always been our climber!

Anna did pretty good but needed a lot more help.

The next day was the football conference playoffs. So we figured if we were gonna watch upwards of 6 hours of TV, the girls could have the same amount of screen time. You might have to rethink that when your daughter wakes up with a blister and it finally dawns on you that it's from playing on the iPad too much!

New Exhibits

Our Children's museum has been remodeled. They added several new exhibits. Becky and I

decided to take the kids and see all the new stuff!

There is now a tower that goes up three stories to the ceiling!  They had to wear helmets to go in and climb, although I don't think there was any way for them to fall.

You can see how high it goes here.

Maks went up one level and that was enough for him!

Next we went to the water exhibit which is very similar to the one at the science museum. I think the girls were a little too old for it but Maks really liked it.

I liked the hydroponic garden. This is something I would like to do in the basement one day.

By far their new favorite place was the little camping area. It almost seemed like an afterthought in a little corner but they loved it. 

Mia has enough imagination for everyone.

Don't worry these are cushions. They are not putting real tree trunks on Oli's head!

It was a nice day so we went out to the new outdoor area. Fantastic! Can't wait to go back in the summer when there are all kind of watery places to play. Right now there is a huge sandpile with trucks, an old fashioned truck to play in and a zip line.

I think we are going to try and go back when Beth comes out in February!

January So Far

We've been busy since getting back from California...um...three weeks ago. Not too busy to blog...I just keep forgetting!

One of the first things we did was get some much needed haircuts. We decided Anna needed bangs if she wanted to wear her hair down, which she does. Her hair is just constantly in her face without them. And she looks so darn cute with them.

Mia has A LOT of hair, I mean A LOT. She has the thickest hair I have ever seen. And she doesn't like it brushed. And she is sensitive to pain. And her hair gets dry and tangled easily. Did I mention it was thick???? In the picture below there are about 6 or more huge tangles in her hair that I was just not willing to fight any more with her about getting them out. I told her we were just going to have to cut her hair short. To my surprise she said, "Okay."

Drum roll....

#besthaircutsever

This year we were home as the wise men completed their trip to the nativity on January 6, Epiphany. 

The next day Joey and Brittany came for a weekend visit.

It was cold. Bitter cold. So we stayed indoors. The kids had SO. MUCH. FUN. It reminded me of when the older kids were young and would get together with all the cousins at both grandparent's homes. Priceless memories.

We went on a field trip to Casa Bonita. The kids loved it, adults wondered why it is still in business. But it's one of those places you go to because you just can't believe it really is as bad as everyone says.

Last weekend we went to see the play Mary Poppins. Mia liked it. Anna fell asleep sitting straight up. Love that about her. It had all the songs from the movie but switched around in different places than the movie. Dan and I found it weird.

On Sunday we celebrated Chinese New Year! Arek, Becky and the kids came with us.

Happy New Year!

Fun Times

The girls attended Winter Camp at the children's museum three mornings while we were in La Quinta. Anna's camp was for kindergartners and they learned about different winter holidays. Mia's was all about Dr. Seuss.

We spent a lot of time at the skate park on this trip! It wasn't super warm but a lot warmer than it was back home.

Maureen and Paul joined us for New Years Eve. We were celebrating at "midnight" as we watched a replay of the ball dropping from last year. Shhh, you can see the clock in the background. At the exact time the girls were blowing horns and making noise Michael called to say he had asked Cookie to marry him at the stroke of midnight in Madrid! She said yes! Maureen was jumping around! De ja vu - Darlene was jumping around the Tuesday before Thanksgiving at the La Quinta house when Michael called to say he wanted to meet with Dar and Sean the next morning. Dani and Michael were engaged Thanksgiving morning.

If you are hoping for your adult child to become engaged, come spend a few days at our La Quinta house. It's guaranteed!