Birthday Boys . . .

Samuel and Levi are like two peas in a pod . . . very similar and both very silly. Their brains are wired alike and they love that they have one another to conspire with in their silly schemes. Their birthdays are about a month apart and they decided this year to do a joint party (since they wanted to invite the same people and both had a very similar party in mind ~ a "Hot Wheels / Spy / Inventions" party!) My "guys in ties pretending to be spies" enjoyed the adventure!

Moogie Moosky! (aka Samuel)

Samuel turned a big SIX today, hard to believe, especially for such a tiny little guy. He is a delightful bundle of silliness, giggles and great ideas! (a lot like his brother Levi ~ the two are nearly inseparable!) On one hand, it doesn't seem possible that six years have passed since Samuel decided to make his appearance a full 30 days before his due date, sending our family into a bit of a dazed tailspin for a few weeks. At 7lbs, 9oz . . . he was one of the biggest "preemies" the NICU had ever cared for. Those were a very long 11 days (driving back and forth to the hospital for most of my waking hours), but once we got through those crazy first few weeks, it seems impossible to think about (or remember) our family without our little Sam-Sam! The third little brother welcomed and adored by a big sister who had been patiently praying for a sister! We wouldn't trade him for the world, such a blessing he is! Happy Birthday lil' mister!

Father/Daughter Dance 2011

The girls were delighted to have a night of fun recently at the Father/Daughter dance. They enjoyed the special time with daddy (and their friends), the chocolate fountain, and being treated like princesses! It was a Hollywood theme, so dad slicked his hair back and donned his shades . . . along with his "Winnie the Pooh" tie, of course! (he's bound by tradition on that one!!)

Valentine's Day Fun

Brrrrrrr!

Colorado seems to be joining the rest of the country in a moment of climate confusion and weather extremes. A week and a half ago it was 67 degrees, sunny and scrumptious! (I even cleaned the garage!), a few days later temperatures plummeted to -14 degrees (which is extremely cold for around here) . . . and it seems like it's been snowing ever since! AWANA was canceled tonight for the second week in a row. Community Bible Study was canceled last week (forcing us to eat our Groundhog's Day cupcakes all by ourselves!) Emily, however, was delighted that dance started back up again today, in spite of the steadily falling snow.

The kids aren't minding the snow at all since it's one of our family traditions to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast when there is new snow on the ground . . . plenty of happy breakfast moments around here lately! Levi has also been enjoying plenty of snow shoveling moments (his favorite!). He was thrilled to venture out with Kevin Sunday morning to help shovel the walks at church also! We had good friends over for the afternoon of the Super Bowl and the kids squeezed in some sledding time at the park across the street before the commercials and snack-fest (and game!) began.

A recent highlight for us was the chance to share an afternoon and evening with Emily to celebrate her "half birthday" (she's halfway to 23 ~ oh my!). The other four kids enjoyed hanging out with their cousins while Emily tried out riding an indoor zip line, indulged herself in her favorite treat from Wendy's (french fries dunked in a Frosty-cino with whipped cream!). We also took her to see "Secretariat" and topped off the evening with her favorite ~ Chinese food! Without a doubt, half-birthday celebrations have become one of our most treasured traditions.