Breckenridge Snow Sculptures

Once again it is time to go up to Breckenridge to check out the sweet snow sculptures that are carved up there.  The kids were excited, I was excited, and we were looking forward to a great day up in the mountains.  We loaded up the car with all of our snow gear and braced ourselves for 1-70 traffic up to the resorts.  The traffic was slow, but we didn't care too much since we knew what was waiting for us when we arrived in Breckenridge.  Once we pulled into town we easily found a parking spot and dressed everyone.   Surprisingly no one complained about their snow clothes at all.  I am loving this!  We made the trek down to main street and saw....that we were there the wrong day!  I had written down the date wrong on the calendar and we were one week too early.  Instead of seeing beautifully carved snow sculptures, we saw beautifully packed snow blocks.  

Playing soccer with ice chunks.

Looking back, it seemed a little quiet as we were walking through town.  Even though I truly messed up, no one seemed to care.  We found a field of snow and just decided to play instead.  It was deep and soft.  As I walked through the snow I frequently fell up to my thigh.  The kids all had to crawl through it to move anywhere.  

Kelton's face was so close to the ground as he crawled that I'm surprised he wasn't wearing a white snow beard.  Each time I looked at him he had a big goofy grin on his face.  

The snow was too fluffy to build a snowman with, so we buried the girls in it, threw them across the field, and made them race through it.  

A nice side-effect of being up there the wrong week meant that we had the snow to ourselves.  The kids could just run and play without getting in anyone's way.  And look how beautiful it was that day!

They also had their pick of pristine icicles for sucking on.

Their bellies started calling to them after awhile and we trekked back to the car for lunch.  I'm not sure if we will make it back up for the actual viewing week or not, but it sure was a lot of fun anyway!

Nursery! Hip, hip, hooray!

This little dude is officially old enough to hang out in nursery during church!  I can't tell you how excited that makes me!  He wasn't incredibly difficult the last few months, but it's just so much easier now.  For the last few weeks we've been poking in to nursery for a few minutes at a time to check it out (and to give me a small break each week).  I like to think that it helped.  He hasn't had any problem going in to nursery yet, but I've been sneaking away while his back is turned.  I just hope that he likes it in there, because I have to admit it's nice being able to go back to class.  It's also worth noting that at his 18 month appointment this week he weighed in at 20 lbs!  This means he is back on the chart!  (Insert celebratory dance here).  He is only in the 5th percentile for weight, but he's 25th percentile for height.  I still wish he'd put on a little more chub, but most of my fears were alleviated when he made it on the silly chart.  I think his vocabulary is up to eight words: quack, sock, stuck, yuck, mom-mom-mom-mom, uh-oh, hi, more, book, and roar.  Does that last one actually count as a word?  Oh, and he also sings "Let It Go" anytime he sees Elsa's picture.  It's adorable.  Anyway, he is a cutie and I love his sweet smile to pieces! 

Lollipops

My kids love lollipops.  They each earned a treat after dinner last night, and this is where they ended up eating them.  It was such a quintessential mom moment that I had Jeremy run and grab the camera.  Love these kids!  (Sticky fingers and all).

McKenzie turns 5

Age for kids is funny.  They may spend one month being 4-years-old, then suddenly jump to 4 1/2, because they are almost to five!  And that extra half year is super important!  I even found myself talking about my kids' ages as though McKenzie had already turned 5 three months ago.  So now that it's finally here, it doesn't seem as strange as I expected.  McKenzie had definitely been counting down the days and she was really excited to choose the meals for the day, eat her surprise birthday cake, and have a friend over to celebrate with us.  She was so excited in fact that she and Cambrie came into my bedroom at 3:30 wanting to know if it was time to make waffles, and to make sure I had purchased strawberries and whipped cream.  I admit, I wasn't too pleased with the day starting out like that!  But when the sun finally rose and it was time to celebrate McKenzie's birthday we were ready.  We had balloons blown up, banners hung, presents wrapped, her birthday dishes ready to go, and strawberries for the waffles. 

 School was still out so we took our time celebrating.  It was really nice actually.  After lunch McKenzie's friend, Brielle, came over.  McKenzie wanted to go to Jump City for her party.  It seemed as though every other kid in Denver wanted to go to Jump City too, because it was incredibly crowded.  The girls had a lot of fun even with the crowds.  We slid down the tramps, played Don't Break the Egg, dodgeball, bounced off walls, and raced down the trampolines. 

 It didn't take them long to tire out and they started asking for cake.  

Jeremy had stayed home to watch a sleeping Kelton and to finish the cake.  He did a fabulous job yet again.  Since McKenzie is obsessed with Elsa, we didn't have to think too hard about a theme, but I knew he was stuck with some of the specific details.  I was very surprised to come home and find a glowing sugar ice castle!  McKenzie had to close her eyes while she walked through the kitchen and kept trying to peek while we finished things up.  Not soon enough it was time to enjoy that beautiful cake.  

We sang Happy Birthday, she blew out the candles, and we served up enough cake to turn each girls' mouth blue.  

To top it off, we even had blue Elsa punch which was super tasty.  

Because of Christmas and an early birthday party, this girl has had a lot of practice opening presents.  She flew through them in no time.  

She received a bunch of Elsa toys, accessories for Caroline, and a fun new snow princess towel. 

I can't help but take a moment to brag about this little girl.  She is seriously the least selfish girl I know.  She will give you her last lollipop, the last bite of cake, the first choice of games, and will go out of her way to make you feel better.  I took this picture because I think she looks beautiful, but truly, she has the most beautiful heart also.

New Years Eve

We normally don't do anything crazy to celebrate New Years Eve, just a simple night at home with snacks and games.  In fact, I am very grateful for the computer and online streaming so we can watch New York's celebrations two hours early.  My girls had no idea why we were celebrating, what the party hats were for, or why we kept talking about the ball dropping.  The only thing they understood was that we were letting them stay up past their bed time and they were able to play games.  Jeremy picked up party costumes and after we put them on we were definitely in the mood to party! 

We started off with Twister.  I'm not sure who has the advantage in this game, the super bendy little ones, or the big ones with long reaches.  

Whoever won the round got to throw Jell-O jigglers at the losers.  

From there we moved to Yahtzee.  This time the winner got to spray the losers with silly string.  The first time McKenzie was hit she thought it was the most disgusting thing ever.  "Get it off!  Eew!"  

Cambrie on the other hand thought it was pretty awesome stuff.

  

When it was midnight (East Coast time), we pulled out the bubbly and started counting down.  They were very worried that the ball would break when it dropped.

The girls had no idea confetti was going to be part of the party!  They picked it up and dropped it at least ten more times before we told them it was time to go to bed.  

Happy New Years everyone!