Our Baby is no longer a baby

My, how time flies when you are parents. Our Little baby girl turned two on Monday, and we had a shindig for her this weekend with some of the extended family. We had take out pizza and cake. I will hopefully get a birthday video up soon, but here are some of the snapshots from the day.

                                                                     First we sing

                                                                 Then we blow out the candles    
                                  

                                                                       

Finally we clap and Cheer

 And then we eat cake....

And more cake.....

Still really good

With Frumpy being such a great shopper of clothes for the little ones, may times the girls will have the same outfits. It just happened that all the girls had on the same outfit for the party. All of them were adorable :)

We also had the doctors check up for the girl on Friday, and are very grateful to say she is doing well. She has gained some weight and is now in the 40%  (25 lbs), and she is 33 inches tall (70%). She is still working on her verbal skills, but we are hoping to have a speech therapist to help us soon.

Lauren with Dad

Now Mom, Lauren & Dad

Dad with the kids

Here are few more pictures of the birthday girl that I think we are pretty cute.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, and lets see what we can build

Breckenridge, CO holds the International Snow Sculpture contest every year in January. Joel and I had gone a few years ago, but thought the kids might enjoy seeing it.

All bundled up and ready to see the sights

From Breckenridge Snow

Cowboy -Up

From Breckenridge Snow

This one was Jill's favorite

From Breckenridge Snow

It is amazing what these people are capable of creating

From Breckenridge Snow

Cooper really enjoyed the snow

From Breckenridge Snow

Lauren liked it for a while, but then became cold - still had to check it out

From Breckenridge Snow

Waiting for a snack before we head home

From Breckenridge Snow

Stock Show Time

As has been our tradition for the last few years to go to the stock show. Joel and Sarah have a long and sometimes illustrious history with stock shows, so we are glad to share that with the next generation. The kids love seeing the animals, and eating the wonderfully good, if not necessarily nutritious food.

First stop of the day was going to ride the ponies. All the kids were excited, but Lauren thought it was better in principle then practice.

Waiting in line for our turn

From Western Stock Show

Reese riding around

From Western Stock Show

Cooper all smiles

From Western Stock Show

Next we headed to the petting zoo. Now, this was the place for Lauren. She found out she could hug the animals and she took this to mean the two legged kind as well. I am not sure there was one person or goat that escaped her arms. It was really amusing.

Goat in our sights

From Western Stock Show

This one was not moving so it was easy

From Western Stock Show

Here is one of the two legged friends that we also had to hug

From Western Stock Show

Can't forget Reese - she really needed a hug

From Western Stock Show

Maybe there are new people over there

From Western Stock Show

Or we can just feed these goats more hay

From Western Stock Show

Finally we hit the playground and Train - Smiles all around

From Western Stock Show

To make the trip complete I had a funnel cake and a Lemonade. All is All a great day with great weather and  I am looking forward next year.

Almost caught up .. Zoo Light and Little Mermaids

One thing I have always thought would be fun, but we never quite got there was the Zoo Lights and the Denver Zoo. Cooper has gone with Auntie Sarah, but never all of us. Well our friend Scott and Kim Turner from WAY south asked if we would be interested in meeting up and going. With the weather looking like it would not be too cold we bundled up and headed out.

Cooper on a Dolphin in the cold

From Zoo Lights and Aquarium

Lauren and Jill enjoying the Carousel

From Zoo Lights and Aquarium

All loaded up in the red wagon

From Zoo Lights and Aquarium

Cooper hanging on with those mittens

From Zoo Lights and Aquarium

We had a great time, but Lauren did get a little cold towards the end of the night, but as long as Daddy had her, she would stay calm. I hope that we can make this a thing we do most years, but I will still hold out for the good weather.

The other adventure that we used a cold day for was the Denver Aquarium. I have not heard really great things about it over the years, so I had put off seeing it. But I must say I was impressed with everything it had to offer. Not just fish, but a tiger and mermaids.... things that can be hard to find. We met up with the Sarah, Reese and Skylar and set off to see the sights.

Cooper and Reese get a new perspective on things

From Zoo Lights and Aquarium

Mermaids were very impressive

From Zoo Lights and Aquarium

Cooper and Reese watching mermaids swim

From Zoo Lights and Aquarium

Mermaids think Redheads are a rare sight as well :)

From Zoo Lights and Aquarium

Cooper may have found his profession

From Zoo Lights and Aquarium

I am not sure why we try, but we try

Well, as all parents know, we like having those family photos of the kids. We can just picture it in our heads, cute smiles, adorable outfits and the stages in life we know are going to past by so quickly that we have to capture it on film ( or on computers as the case may be now :) ) . All those cute family portraits we see of other families, and we think I can do that. Well lets just say famous last words.  I thought it would be quick and easy to take a fam photo at Christmas.... yeah right

Joel setting up the camera so Reese joins in

From Family Photo time

Already losing it

From Family Photo time

Not tooooo bad ???

From Family Photo time

Getting worse

From Family Photo time

Cooper's face says it all

From Family Photo time

Totally lost it

From Family Photo time

I give up

From Family Photo time

Well maybe with just two of them we can get the adorable shot

From Family Photo time

Nope.......

From Family Photo time

I give up..... maybe next year, after I have forgotten this incident.

A Little Pool Time

The kids love the water, especially Lauren. My little water bugs will stay in tub for hours if we let them. Living  in Longmont comes with perks, which include a nice rec center with indoor pool,  which has a great zero entry pool and great water slides. We try to get to the pool about once a month. Niether of the little ones are swimming on there own yet, but we are working on it. On the great days that Joel is able to come with us we can utilize all the pool has to offer.

Lauren all Smiles

From Feb 10, 2013

Cooper Loving the Water

From Feb 10, 2013

Little Legs

From Feb 10, 2013

Playing with Dad

From Feb 10, 2013

Splash down

From Feb 10, 2013

Here is a short video of all the kids playing on the slides