Mid-winter

We were lucky enough to have a gorgeous sunny day with temperatures in the 50's. What better way to spend the late morning than by taking an after lunch walk. It was just what we needed. The fresh air did wonders for the kids' spirits and mine. Can't wait to take more!

Real housewives

A few weeks ago I was chatting with a friend and we were talking about how helpful Lilly is around the house. How she loves to do laundry, dishes, sweep, and bake and how she is actually pretty helpful when doing these things. My friends response to this was: "you are raising quite the little housewife". I am still not sure if there was a hint of sarcasm behind the comment, but it doesn't matter because I was thrilled! What a compliment to know that I am raising Lilly up to be a good housewife. It is such a lost breed of woman that we need more women ready to do the things women do.

Please don't get me wrong I would love for Lilly to go to college and get a great education and do whatever her heart desires, but I would also love for her to be ready to care for a husband and kids and care for a home with a tender woman's touch. I know that I am far from perfect as a housewife and I learn new things everyday, but being raised with no mom I think I'm doing alright.

Forget Real housewives of Atlanta, New York and Orange county! I say they need a show about real life housewives and the things that we go through everyday. Real housewives of Fort Collins!!!!

Look who's Crawling

Kyle is 7 1/2 months old and has been crawling for about 2 weeks. It has been so much fun having him mobile. He teased us for a few weeks making us think he was going to crawl. He would get up on all 4's and rock back and forth take one step and then sit back down. So when he really started moving we were excited. Lilly of course thinks it is great that he can crawl around and chase her. They have a ton of fun together. This is such a fun age. He is learning to play and interact more and he loves to eat. He has a very healthy appetite and and has a great level of energy. He is full of smiles and loves to laugh. And he is finally sleeping through the night. With the new year brought nights of rest and I think now that he sleeps better at night, he is much more laid back.
He is all boy! He loves to knock things over and make messes and he loves to shriek and yell just to see how loud he can get.Cars are a #1 toy choice next to the little people barn. Lilly's princess ride on toy would have to be his next favorite, think simply because it has wheels. He loves wrestling his sister, and I am pretty sure he is learning how to get her back when she does something that's a little to rough or just flat out not nice. Before he was pulling her hair just because he would reach out an curl up his hand on whatever was near him, but now I see intention behind his movements and when he pulls her hair a little smirk appears on his angelic face.

Not only is he crawling but he has started pulling himself up onto things and he can take steps when you hold his hands. I think he is following in the footsteps of Lilly. Once she became mobile there was no stopping her. She went from crawling to cruising to walking in the blink of an eye.

He is such a sweet little guy. He's so fun and always keeping us on our toes. We Love him so much and couldn't imagine our family without him.

Finally

It has been a very dry winter here. At the beginning of the season I was somewhat thankful to not have to bundle everyone up and trudge through the snow with a toddler and infant, but one can only take so much of freezing temperatures and no moisture. Last year we had a lot of snow, but this year only 2 or 3 days. The first snow wasn't much to get excited about so I didn't take any pictures but this time, it snowed and it snowed good! In fact we still have some lingering on the lawn out front and it's been a week or so. Lilly had so much fun playing in it although she probably would have had more fun had she had snow pants and boots. She had a snowball fight with daddy and made her first snow angel and also got to help daddy dig out the car. Kyle wasn't quite sure about the snow. He wasn't a fan of how cold it was but I think he wanted to run around in it like Lilly because she sure made it look fun.

Touching snow for the first time (and I know it's silly he's sitting on a garbage bag, I took him out half dressed for some pictures while Lilly was getting dressed, but I later put pants on over his pj's and shoes on)

At this point she could still walk in, but a few days later it was pretty deep and she didn't want to walk in it any more.

First and third

Such a happy boy!

What a great Christmas we had! We are so blessed to have two very healthy kids and it was so much fun to love on them on this very special day. Santa made his stop here around 11pm while the kids were nestled all snug in their beds. Lilly said she wanted to wait up for Santa, but she was just to tired to last much past 8. She woke up in the morning around 5:30 and we sent her back to bed, knowing if she stayed up she'd be a Grinch all day and she slept till about 7:30. When she woke up she was somewhat in a daze and it took some time to soak in what was going on, but when she caught on it was so much fun. Kyle took in everything with a smile plastered to his face. He wanted to watch everyone open their presents and didn't mind when Lilly helped him open his. We spent the morning playing with the kids and all of their new toys. (thank you to everyone who made this Christmas so special! I hope you know who you are. We are so blessed to have you in our lives) I made a special call to my grandma and we talked for close to an hour and after that we had breakfast and played some more. After nap time we went over to our friends house and the kids played while we relaxed and enjoyed good company and good food. The kids slept great that night and Ziff and I watched a movie together to seal in the wonderful day. Every year just keeps getting better. As Ziff and I grow closer to each other, our kids, our family and our Heavenly Father, we enjoy these special days so much more. Merry Christmas indeed!Kyle with his Santa present (the driving toy)

Lilly with her Santa present

The first picture of just Ziff and I since the kids were born (I think)

Enjoying good friends

Lilly and her friend Julia and Julia's big sister playing

Kyle and Calvin are 2 weeks apart