Welcome to our World

After a few days of worrying that she would turn into a boy like her brother when she turned 3, which was quickly solved by showing her Kaelah's 3-year-old scrapbook, Michelle was  super excited for her birthday.    She wanted princess balloons, paper ware, and  Rapunzel cupcakes.  Can you tell that's Rapunzel's hair going around the cupcakes?  Thanks, Grandma Karyl!  The whole family is pretty excited to attend Disney on Ice like we did last year for Michelle's 2nd birthday.  If something is that big of a hit, why not make it a tradition? I think one of the best parts of Michelle's birthday was to see how excited Kaelah was.  She was bouncing up and down on the sofa with joy and all smiles.  Kaelah truly loves her little sister so much and is very excited to have another one to take care of, especially since Michelle has gotten so independent in many ways recently.  We also had a bit of fun interviewing Michelle for her birt...

What are the chances Danny and Michelle got invited to their very first birthday parties on the same day?  Feb. 23rd Danny went to his first at 1pm -- he was the only boy invited, but luckily Audrey W. has 2 big brothers and Danny is totally in love with the entire family now.  It is so cute to see Danny & Audrey together in sunbeams.  Sorry the picture didn't turn out better!  Michelle then went to Kayla's birthday party at 3pm.  If someone were to ask me if Michelle had a best friend, I would undoubtable answer Kayla S.  But, as I found out a couple days ago, Michelle says it's really Mommy.  (:  And don't worry, Kaelah got to do something special that afternoon as well -- attend a baptism for Elizabeth R.  (She really likes going to baptisms of children she knows.)  So funny how most Saturdays are pretty dull and then all the action happened on the same day that month!  Another first was that all my children were o...

Valentine's Day this year including love notes, decorating cookies, and our turn to teach our co-op preschool the first two weeks of the month.  I just had to include that picture of Kaelah posing with her work.  (:  And Lexi was so sweet to help Michelle complete her projects -- we always print one extra b/c she loves to be included and does a pretty good job keeping up with the others.  I'm going to try sending her with Danny to our preschool co-op next year and see how she does.  This year Kaelah is the oldest & Danny is the youngest while next year Danny will be the oldest and Michelle might be the youngest.  We took our last turn early since I'm VERY pregnant right now.  It was strange to know I was all done with my turns for the year the first week of March.  I'm glad, though, b/c I can't get anything done when it's my turn to teach.  I have noticed Kaelah and Danny sure have wanted to play hooky!  Wondering if they thought si...

The Butterfly Pavilion gave us a chance to meet the very rare Atlas moth and demonstrate what a great dad Dan is by allowing himself to be used as a step stool. Grandma Karyl helped us enjoy the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on a free day at the Zoo that wasn't as warm as we had hoped.  We did manage to walk over and ride the train and carousel as had been promised the day before after discovered a section of the museum we had never seen before:  the Native American Culture exhibit, complete with hogan.  You would think by now we would have seen it all!

January was pretty busy for someone who is used to being a stay-at-home mom.  Other than going to Steamboat and Dan switching jobs (which means he is home about 10 hours less a week due to an increased commute), some other great things happened.  Christy and I earned our Young Womanhood medallion, she as a mom and me as a leader.  Every year the stake puts on a nice dinner and I was happy to celebrate, especially with Rebecca, Alex, Lora, and Camille as well.  I miss being able to hang around my Laurels every Sunday and Wednesday, but am loving my calling as Personal Progress advisor too. My dear husband let me throw a Chinese New Year party with the families of these Taibei missionaries.  Can you believe there are so many people in our little city who served in the same mission?  It was the biggest party I think this house has ever seen.  I was worried we would feel like sardines, but putting the dozen children in front of Ni Hao Kai Lan's Hap...

My hubby turned the big 3-5!  To celebrate we took a trip to Steamboat Springs.  The condo we stayed at was great, thanks to some vacation points my in-laws couldn't use while serving their 2nd full time mission together.  It came in handy to have such a nice place for the children and I to be in the chilly weather while Dan went skiing an extra day by himself.  Thank you, Wayne & Nita! This also provided us an opportunity to see the ice castles again in a new location, go sledding, spend an afternoon at a bounce house, go bowling as a family of 5 for the first time, children's first gondola rides, and the big event:  Kaelah & Danny's first time skiing!  They loved ski school and did a great job.  Kaelah was a natural and Danny was a full 6 months younger than anyone else in his class but managed to keep up.  It was a pure joy to watch them!  They have already asked more than once to go again.  (: And the oth...

 Our last of 9 Christmas seasons in this home was peaceful, fun, and great in every way.  I love my house.  It will be so hard to move next summer, but whenever we have done what we prayed and felt good about, we have been happy, so move we will. Every year I vow not to send out Christmas cards, but always end up doing so.  The children had a blast with our tree made of cards and even drew pictures of presents to put on the wall with it. Meigo put up with the craziness and handled the bow we put around our neck by looking pathetic on the couch. On Christmas Eve my parents and our wonderful neighbor, Marshon, whose husband had to work that night, came over.  I am impressed with how well she is at picking out presents for my kids! I love love love this picture of my parents with my children.  Certainly going next year's calendar.  (I make a calendar as a Christmas present to my parents every year.  Tradition!)  Although not offi...