Izee's Big Boy Trip

A couple weeks ago Izee decided he was too big to wear diapers. He was right. He has been doing an awesome job of using the potty. That's right; Our house is now diaper-free! WooHoo! Izee picked the Colorado Railroad Museum for his big boy trip. We decided to go on St. Patrick's day because it was the one day in March that the museum offered train rides.

The first thing we did after we arrived was ride the train. The train goes around the perimeter of the museum so you can see the whole train yard.

(The train turner)

(Izee on the train)

(Poppi and Kae riding the train)

Then we walked around and looked at all the different kinds of trains.

(Kae & Izee being silly on the manual push train)

(Daddy and the boys on the engine)

(Nonna and Izee on the passenger car. We could look in and see the pretty velvet seats but we couldn't go in.)

(Izee on the caboose)

(The mail train. No, those aren't real people.)

(Mommy and Daddy in the track service truck)

(In case you didn't read the side of the train, this is the kitchen car. We couldn't go in this one either but we could look in the door and see the cast iron stove.)

(This is the coolest and biggest train car at the museum, the snow blower car. Look how tiny we look next to this thing!)

Last we went inside to learn more about trains.

(Izee operating the track control board)

(Kae sending a telegraph message)

The boys were so good that they even got train sets on the way out.

Happy Birthday to Mommy

Mommy's birthday is a pretty fun time for the whole family. My little guys helped Daddy make me a bear-shaped strawberry cake with chocolate frosting.After the cake I got help opening my presents.For my birthday dinner I chose Benihanna. It was perfect! The food was delicious and the boys loved watching it get cooked.

Love

Izee loves his Daddy.

Kae loves his kitty, Chalkie.

Snow Day

It takes a fair amount of snow to cancel school in Colorado. About a week ago we got enough snow to cancel school and work. We had a family snow day. The boys couldn't wait to get outside to play. Daddy couldn't wait to try out his new snow blower. He had so much fun that he cleared the sidewalk in front of 6 of the houses on our street.
The boys had a snowball fight. Izee isn't a huge fan of being hit by snowballs, just throwing them. After Izee recovered, the boys moved on to making a snowman. The snow continued to fall all day so we spent our snow day alternating between playing in the snow and warming up in the house with hot cocoa and a movie.

Building Day

Izee was running errands with me and my mom one day and he found building kits at the hardware store. He picked out a pirate ship for himself and a race car for Kae. A couple days later the boys built their boat and car with Daddy.

Happy New Year!

We celebrated New Year's Eve with a family party. We had munchies, sparkling cider and Wii bowling.We all had so much fun an did pretty good bowling. Daddy even got a new high score!

The boys didn't quite make it to midnight but they did get to stay up until 9pm. Mommy and Daddy made it to east coast New Year (10pm). Happy New Year!

Happy Advent & Merry Chrsitmas

The boys love getting ready for Christmas almost as much as they love Christmas.

We start the day after Thanksgiving by putting up the lights on the house. A couple days later we put on our Christmas hats and decorated the tree.
The Monday after Thanksgiving we went to visit Santa at his workshop at Bass Pro Shop. Kae really wanted to do this as early as possible so the elves would have plenty of time to build the firehouse he wanted.After talking with Santa the boys got to play on the merry-go-round and wander around the store.
The last day of Kindergarten the Kindergarteners sang some songs (including Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer) and then decorated cookies and gingerbread houses.
After school was out the boys and I made cookies for my cookie exchange and cinnamon dough ornaments for our friends and neighbors.

The Thursday before Christmas Gigi (the boys' great grandmother) arrived from Texas. Friday we all went bowling and then came home and did some Wii bowling.
Christmas eve we went to church to see Kae and his choir sing at church. Then we drove around and looked at lights. When we got home the little boys put on their PJs and got the cookies and egg nog ready for Santa. Then we checked the computer to see where Santa was. It showed Santa in the Central time zone. When I told the boys that Santa was over The United States they ran downstairs and went straight to bed so they would be asleep when Santa came. It was the easiest time I have ever had putting them to bed.
When they woke up Christmas morning, the boys were super excited to see what Santa had brought and what was in all the presents under the tree. Kae even helped pass out the presents.Kae got his firehouse and some fireman stuff from Gigi. Izee got superhero dress-up clothes from Mommy.Daddy got a new radio for his car.Gigi got a really pretty bracelet.Poppi got an outdoor speaker. Nonna got a popcorn popper. The boys were super excited for her to try it out.I got a pressure caner. I'm excited to try canning some homemade broth and maybe some spaghetti sauce or salsa this summer when my garden explodes with tomatoes.
Gigi left the next morning, but before she headed back to Texas we had breakfast together and got a picture of the 4 generation together.