How to Play Pitch

For a writing project at school, D-man documented the rules of pitch. As his teacher put it, playing cards is really a lost art. It's fun to see him learning and playing cards. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Pi Day

Well, it is Pi day. Don't want to disappoint the kids. A good way to kick off the weekend. Maybe one day I'll make one. Oh, who am I kidding? 

Spring has Sprung?

Yesterday, baseball practice started for D-man, T-man and I read books on the back deck, and the boys found flowers in the backyard. Of course, it snowed today. Spring in Colorado. 

Flowers (weeds) 

Reading books outside 

2 Epic Days

A day of amazing skiing in Vail on a bluebird day followed by another gorgeous day skiing in Beaver Creek. Truly 2 epic days of skiing. The icing on the cake? Only about a 10 minute delay on the drive home. How lucky we are to enjoy a weekend together outside. 

T-man on the catwalk 

Dave and Marshall 

Lunch outside 

On the lift 

Après ski 

View from Beaver Creek 

A New Record

Last night, we headed up to the mountains. It's a 2.5 hour drive to our friends' house. In January, it took us 5 hours. Last night, it took us almost 6. 6 hours. 150 miles. The silver lining? Boys were great. We enjoyed a couple cocktails and great conversation wen we arrived. The pass is closed right (no skiers getting up right now) and it is supposed to be an "epic day" of skiing. 

Trees in Vail last night 

Foggy here this morning, but it's sunny in Vail. 

Quick Trip

We enjoyed a quick visit from Nana and Pop this weekend. It snowed and it was pretty cold (still warmer than Nebraska though) but we kept entertained with board games, card games and shopping.

We also enjoyed a nice evening out for dinner (followed by Sweet Cow ice cream of course) on Saturday night.  It was great to not have to be running around and just be able to hang out together. 

Thanks for coming Nana and Pop! 

T-man's choice of attire for dinner 

Cards 

More cards 

Dinner! 

13 Lucky Years

We hired a sitter on Monday night and headed out to an Italian place close to our house to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary. It was happy hour all night and we enjoyed some speciality cocktails, vino, and a variety of small plates to share - including some delicious cheese from the mozzarella bar. 

It's a great to get out on a weeknight and even more of a treat to celebrate 13 years of marriage. How lucky we are. 

Marshall with our yummy cocktails 

Prosciutto and Mozzarella. Yum! 

How Valentine's Day is Supposed to Be

Because we know Valentine's Day is always crazy and our anniversary is so close to the 14th, we don't go out for Valentine's Day. But, the boys didn't have school and I took the day off so we met Marshall downtown for happy hour.  We beat the crowds, had some fun cocktails and great food and then walked down 16th Street Mall in search of the elusive frozen yogurt (and got some education in homelessness and protests) and further validated of why we don't go out on February 14th. 

It was a great day filled morning coffee from Srarbucks, watching the Lego movie and enjoying lunch with T-man, D-man enjoying some freedom with a movie and lunch with a friend and his older brother, a nap, and a night out with all my loves in the city we used to call home. 

Cake pop! 

Happy hour at Panzanos 

16th Street Mall 

My (homemade) Valentine

It's 9:20 and D-man sits at the dining room table snuggled in the blanket he got from Nana for Christmas writing personalized Valentines for all of his classmates. He has also spent the week making them each a bracelet on our new Rainbow Loom (purchased especially for this occasion). It's great he wants to do them and it's definitely opportunity to  learn about time management. 

T-man addressed all his Valentines on Sunday and finished them up tonight (he has the benefit of Mom helping with time management). And then we made also made a very retro Valentine's Day box (no searching on Pinterest for inspiration here. We pulled out the 1970s style and with a bit of tape to make it look a bit better, T-man was pleased. 

I've also already received a homemade Valentine from each boy. I guess homemade is pretty sweet. 

Making bracelets 

The "Star Wars" Valentine box 

My Valentines 

I Promise

We have been staying up way too late watching the Olympics this week (and trying to avoid any live updates). While snuggled up to D-man on the couch last night watching the Olympics (T-man had gone to bed), I asked him if he would still watch the Olympics with me in four years. I joked around and said that in 4 years, he wouldn't want to be hanging of with Mom. 

When I put him to bed that night and gave him a hug, he said, "I promise." Man, that just melted my heart. I do hope it comes true. But, for now I will cherish our time watching the Sochi games and watching him (as I left after volunteering at the school), completely oblivious to all around him, as he "skated" on the ice and was working on his jumps and turns. The Olympic dream is in all of us. 

The Olympic Dreamer  

Future Olympians?

A few videos of the boys hitting the terrain features when we were in Ski Granby Ranch a couple of weeks ago. Very fun to see them improving every week.

D-man and his friend trying out the rails (D-man is the first one to go and he was excited about how well he did!) 

Party Time!

D-man was able to celebrate his 10th birthday on Superbowl Sunday before the big game with 5 friends. Even more special, his good friend from our old neighborhood spent Saturday night and was able to join us for the festivities.

We started the party here with pizza and cake and then headed to "Xtreme Challenge." The boys had a good time (and Marshall and I even participated in some of the activities). It's great to see D-man developing new friendships here and still maintain his good friendship from Denver. Happy 10th Birthday to our big boy!

party decorations 

good friends 

Broncos cake! 

T-man human wrecking ball knocking D-man down 

D-man reaching for the ropes

T-man flying!

Getting ready to race 

Our two monkeys 

Colorado!

Colorado! Colorado! It's called the Centennial State. 

Last night we learned all about Colorado during the fourth grade musical production. D-man chose to dress up like a skier. I really appreciated how the music teachers worked to bring in all different types of music (rap included) actions, and each student had a speaking part. 

Check out D-man's part here: 

http://youtu.be/_kyi2PvVXoM

Really happy that BVSD has a music program - one of the many reasons we chose to live where we did. 

D-man is in the back with the goggles 

At the microphone 

Will the Tooth Fairy Make It?

The tooth is gone! 

I'm not sure how the Tooth Fairy manages to fly in subzero temps, but here's hoping she finds her way to find T-man's FIRST TOOTH!! He lost it during the basketball game so I'm just glad it found its way home. 

It's taken awhile, but the day is finally here. He was SO excited and really wanted to see what he looked like without this tooth. So fun to see and hear the excitement only a child can truly possess. 

Identity Crisis

We braved the sub-zero temps to cheer on the Cougs and the Buffs playing in Boulder. We even had our Coug flags! It ended up being a pretty close game and we all had a nice time on a special weeknight outing. 

Sharing a shake at Smashburger. 

T-man was favoring the Buffs and D-man was Cougs all the way (although he did have a Buff shirt underneath his Coug sweatshirt). 

GO Cougs! 

Our Beloved Broncos

Our beloved Broncos did not win the Super Bowl (I'm not even sure they showed up), but we are still fortunate to have cheered for our team and Peyton Manning. And while not easy, it is a life lesson. Even the VERY best in the world mess up. And life goes on. But it still stinks. 

Go Broncos!! 

Snowy, Lazy Morning

Enjoying being home on a Saturday morning, sipping a cup of coffee, and appreciating the pretty view out the window.