Only in Colorado

On Wednesday we enjoyed a 50 degree zoo day with a new friend (who had never been!  My kids couldn't believe it!)

And this is the view out my front door right now.

It's supposed to be -1 tomorrow.  for the high!  Ugh.  What is it, January?

Happy Birthday Mady!

Sunday was Mady's actual birthday and we had lots of fun!  She was thrilled to go to church (no really, she ADORES nursery!) and even said her own prayer (rather loudly) during the opening prayer in Sacrament Meeting.  The same family has had the unfortunate chance to sit behind us for the past month.  At least they should be entertained, right?

Here's the little miss with her presents.

 

 Very intent on those presents.  She kept asking, "Is this mine?"

 She got a baby lion (Target has awesome after Christmas clearance so she always gets some really fun presents!) and some princesses.  She was thrilled and has carried them around for days!

 She was very happy about us singing to her (despite the face) and keeps saying, "Happy Birthday to you!" over and over!  It's very sweet!

A bit about Mady: she has always been a girly girl and has recently found a love affair with dresses. She won't take them off and always chooses to wear one if given a choice!  She loved the skirt she was wearing that day and had a fit when I took it off for her to eat cake. She cried, "My Tutu!" She's such a little bundle of pink and so much fun!  We love you very much Mady!

A Birthday Girl!

Surprisingly enough, my baby didn't stay a baby for long!  She's 2 now!  On Wednesday we went to the zoo and she got her free ice cream cone and carousel ride.  On Friday night we went to Chili's and the servers all sang to her.  She looked confused until they put a nice big molten chocolate cake in front of her.  Then her eyes got huge and she said, "WOAH!"  The whole meal was worth that moment!  On Saturday morning we took the girls to see Tangled.  All the girls loved it and Aaron had fun taking his little princesses to the show!  They did great, so I think they're finally at the age that we can take them!

 Saturday night was the annual "Little Girls Party!"  Mady has 2 little friends born within 3 days of each other, so we always have a party for them. Remember last year?  Mady was awesome and went to town on that cake.  This year was similar.  They all ate their cake this year, but Mady dove in before we could even get a picture of the girls!

 Look at these little princesses!

 Mady had some of the french vanilla/blackberry cake I made, but then ate 2 of the chocolate cupcakes that were provided for the adults.  She knows the good stuff!

 Even the crown slipping over her eyes didn't slow down her eating!

 All the little girlies enjoying some cake!

 Opening presents - there was an accidental My Little Pony Theme!  Always fun!

What a fun day for these little girlies!  We're all so excited for them to grow up together and be good little friends!

Me Favorite Book

When Aaron got home from work last Thursday, Mady came running up to him with a phone book.  She yelled, " Daddy, this is me favorite book!"

She's sort of easy to please.

Helper Fairy

A few nights ago we were having dinner and Mady wouldn't try it.  Sydney decided to help out and speared a tortellini on a fork to try and feed it to Mady.  Mady finally obliged and tried one.  Sydney was elated and said, "Good job Mady!  She tried one!"  Mady decided they were actually pretty good and Sydney proceeded to feed her the rest of her meal!  What a good helper and sister she is!

Winter Days

We've been having a bunch of slow, fun winter days since Christmas.  Most mornings start out with the girls running downstairs, snagging a box of crackers (Sydney) and sitting under the kitchen table giggling while munching on them.

 Don't they look darling together?

 Snow Days!  Around New Years we finally got enough snow to play in.  It took so long to get them ready that I almost didn't want to go out and play with them!

 But it was worth it!

 Mady's finally figured out that snow is fun, although she can't figure out why her hands get cold when she plays in it!

 Sydney got a Toy Story Memory game for Christmas and she has loved playing it.  She's also gotten really into puzzles and is trying to figure out Candyland and Chutes and Ladders.  It's very fun to see her learning and figuring things out.

 Look at that happy face!

Christmas Eve

Here's our little girl on Christmas Eve!  She was so excited!

 Here's Sydney and Mommy being silly!

When Aaron was little, he would wrap an empty box for Santa to fill, so Sydney did it this year.  This is her with her box and a note for Santa.

 

 Sydney and Mady both had so much playing with Grandpa John and Grandma.

 

Here's a hilarious video of Mady singing "Jingle Bells" on Christmas Eve.  Her version goes "Tinkerbell, All the way, Fun to ride a pony, YAY!"  It cracks me up every single time.

Christmas Morning was so fun.  I awoke to Sydney in my face saying, "Mommy, Santa came and put presents in our socks!"  She was right!

 Even Frodo got in on the action and opened a present!

 The girls got a sled from Nana and they immediately dubbed it "a boat" and have been sailing ever since!

 Grandpa & Grandma got some books of the kids to see all their cuteness when they are far away.

 Here is Sydney with her new guitar.  Mady got a piano, so I guess they can start a band!

 Mady got twin babies (one for each hand!) that she's been carrying around ever since.

We had a great Christmas and had so much fun!  Hope yours was equally exciting!  Happy New Year!

Christmas Week

The week before Christmas our ward had a great little party.  Sydney decided she wanted to go up and sing with all the other little kids. Never mind that she hadn't practiced with them.  She sat and twisted her skirt in her hands around her waist and smiled.  Cute.  Then Mady tried to play a piano solo.  She was getting up on the bench when I reached her and she cried, "Mommy, push buttons!" when I took her away.  That's her with the red poppy pigtails on the left.

 A special visitor even came - Santa!  See how nervous Sydney was?  She was twisting her dress like crazy.  Guess what she requested?  A rock.  Not even a special rock.  Just a rock.  We're pretty sure this is the only time she'll be so easily pleased.  After the party Sydney informed me that Santa "did not say 'Ho, ho, ho' or 'Merry Christmas!"  She's a quick one that little Sydney Bean.

 On Monday I took the girls to the zoo with some friends.  We got to see some fire dancers and it was very entertaining.  Mady was entertained for a little bit.  Sydney was entranced the whole time and could not be pulled away for a picture.

 On Tuesday Aaron's parents came to town and on Wednesday they treated us to a concert!  We all headed downtown to watch the Trans Siberian Orchestra.

 They had some really cool stunts they did, like in the opening number where the violinist and two guitarists came down from the ceiling on platforms.

 Then they had these cool wing platforms that came out over the crowd with performers on them too.

 There was also a stage not far from us so we got to see some of it close up.  There were some amazing performers and great voices!

 The violinist was incredible and I had never seen an electric violin, so it was really cool!

On Thursday we went to see the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Art Museum.  It was very cool, although missing some big pieces that I would have loved to see.  Mady had her hands all over the glass, which is apparently a big no no, because the guards came and told us the alarms were going off!

After that excitement Aaron's dad and I headed over to watch The Nutcracker (we're the only 2 adults that enjoy it!).  It was an AMAZING performance and totally the highlight of my week!  It was so fun and I'm so glad we got to go!

Festivus

A good friend had an awesome Christmas party a couple weeks ago for all the girls.  Our very own Festivus!  It was hilarious and so fun.  We had all sorts of feats of strength that we did that night including lots of food related ones.  My group started off the night by eating our way through piles of whipped cream on top of mustard and soy sauce.  (sadly, there is no picture of me winning that challenge, so use your imaginations).

These ladies had to do push ups to eat their gum drops.

 These ones got sandwiches with mayo, captain crunch, and pixie sticks on them.

 These gals were puppets trying to put on their makeup

 The lovely winner!

 I was involved in the eating ones.  Eating cotton candy off a baby's head.

 Wall sit champ on the right.

 Some of these girls had some great moves in a dance off on the Wii.

 The final challenge of the night involved rolling dice, eating as many skittles as you had rolled, but only being able to chew or swallow while it was your turn.  In between, you just had to hold it in your mouth, so you ended up with a big wad in there.  The game ended when the last person spit out all their skittles.  I must have a rock solid stomach (and my affinity for all types of candy helps too) because I won this one as well.

  We had such a great time and had so many laughs!  This was a great party!  Thanks Brooke!