Living large in CO: December 2014

Wow, it's been a busy week for us. We still didn't get to have our Frozen Birthday Party. We're gonna hold out until after the new year. We have all been well now for about 4 days, so we are just keeping our fingers crossed that it stays that way.

But we did have a little celebration for Amara on Monday for her Birthday. Since I didn't want to make 2 dozen cupcakes for just the 5 of us (really 4, because Riley got sick that morning), Amara and I took a trip to Butter Cream Cupcakery - one of our favorite sweet shops! I let Amara pick out all the cupcakes, and she loved it! She was so exited! Until, I sat her down with the box on her lap to take a picture. I couldn't get her to look at the camera. She just wanted to get the box open and eat them! lol. guess I should have done a better job of preparing her that those were for later!

That night after dinner we did the cupcakes and presents. She loved it! Daddy had to help her blow out her candles, she wouldn't get close enough to blow them out! My little cautious one! But the cupcake was yummy, especially the frosting, since that's about all she ate. ;)

She got to open presents from us, Grandma and Grandpa and Unkie Rodgie and Auntie Kathie. Also, our friend Jan left one for her to unwrap. And I have to say that one is her favorite! But what little girl wouldn't love a tea set!

(she was so cute unwrapping the gifts. she's the clean one, so every piece of paper she pulled off, no matter how big or small, she would had to Daddy instead of throwing it down like most kids, before she moved on to the next piece.)

Elsa Dress and Tiara for her bear

Unwrapping the tea set from Jan, you can already see the joy on her face! Oooooo!!!

Daddy doing a great Job of dressing the bear!

Christmas Eve was another special time. Of course we went to our church service, and the kids behaved WONDERFULLY!! We were so surprised, they are never that good in church, and got many complements. We also got to finish out our Advent Nativity. My friend Jan had the idea to do a nativity for/with the kids that they could play with. I have a couple of nativity scenes, but haven't put them out in years because of little inquisitive fingers. So she found a wooden one online and then came over before Thanksgiving and we all painted them. She also found verses to match each of the 25 pieces in it, each relating to that figure for us to countdown to Christmas. The kids loved it! Thanks Jan!

Then Christmas morning!! Apparently I didn't take to many pictures yesterday. Sorry! But we still had a great time together. The kids woke up early, but thanks to our "can't leave your room until 7 am" rule, Mommy and Daddy got to sleep for a little while. (since they were up late the night before). but it was a free for all after that! By the time we got downstairs at 7:02 the stockings were already dumped on the floor and the boys were playing catch with a set that Riley got. There were a lot of really fun things in their stockings this year! Santa was on board with our "less toys" idea, and so the kids got fun things like activity books, character band-aids, candy, tatoos, stickers, ornaments, glow sticks, and socks. The boys (and Cameron) received cute visors with the Colorado flag logo on it. And we each got some Colts cups!! Santa also only brought them each one big gift, and then a gift for all three. Riley got a kids version of a GoPro Camera, Jayce got an educational Drill set (there's a board to drill the colored pieces on, and sheets of patterns to make) and Amara got a Big Bean Bag in the shape of a Cow!! Other presents included LOTS of books, coloring books, puzzles, and movies, a big Olaf for Jayce, and a set for Riley to build his own gyroscope toys. They made out pretty good!! I finally have a dehydrator (now I need to go to the grocery so I can start making stuff!) and Cam got a portable foldable hammock - no trees required! But the best part was spending the whole day together just lounging around the house playing with all the new things we got! We watched all the movies, made bruschetta stuffed chicken for dinner and skyped/talked with our family. It was great.

Amara's Bean Bag

Opening a Santa Gift - Towel sets for each of them

Amara's Favorite gift - a Super Soft Blanket from Aunt Anna and Chris

Jayce and Olaf

Riley and his Minecraft Paper crafting set

Raider hanging out in the trash box.

That afternoon it started snowing and we finally got a decent snowfall for the year! There were still a few places we wanted to go check out Christmas lights, so after dinner we decided to take out our NEW JEEP!!!! to test it out!! Yep, we Got a Jeep!!! We actually ordered it back in September, but Cam wanted a Hemi in it, so after it came in, the dealership went straight to work on it, lifting it, putting the hemi in, and who knows what else. It was supposed to be ready in the beginning of November (in plenty of time for us to use it to go in the mountains for our Christmas Tree), but there were a TON of delays with it, and they kept pushing back the delivery date. FINALLY the Saturday before Christmas we were able to pick it up. Cam took Riley, to surprise him, because we didn't tell the kids we were getting another Jeep. And Jayce and Amara got to see it when they came home. It's really nice!! I'm really happy about it, and excited to spend next summer wheelin' again! The kids love it too. Anyways, we took it out in the snow Christmas night. There was already about 5 inches on the ground, perfect powder for testing out a new 4 wheel drive vehicle. Except . . . we discovered about 15 miles from home that we didn't have 4 wheel drive! The country roads near our house had enough snow on them that there was a decent amount of traction. But once we got into Fort Collins the ice and slush took over. Cam went to put it in 4 High and the Jeep just made a funny noise. So he tried 4 low, same funny noise. At the next stop light he tried some more, but there was no resistance, no indicator lights to let us know it was working. So here we are, at least 30 minutes from home in 5 inches of snow, with no 4 wheel drive. Fabulous. Thankfully Cam is a safe and experienced driver, and we made it home with no problems at all. And he has also fixed the problem. Apparently, it was just a connection clip that came undone, so after a little research into what it looks like connected he was able to put it back together without us having to drive all the way back to Boulder to get it fixed! So now we can REALLY go play in the snow!

Today we went sledding. All the fresh Colorado powder was calling to us, and since we don't ski, this was the next best thing (and the better choice with kids). Cam had bought a couple new sleds earlier this year, and the boys had a blast with them! We went to a park near the condo we used to live in. It has a great sledding hill, with a lot of room when it gets busy. And Busy It Got!!! Sledding wasn't Amara's favorite part of the day, but once she figured out eating snow is fun, she was able to tolerate the rest of it! lol So I'll leave you with some pictures of us sledding today, and Wish everyone a Happy New Year!