Finishing Up February!

Wow! February has already come and gone, and March is here-- hopefully bringing spring with it. Between work and church and school and new babies we've been all kinds of B-U-S-Y! I guess that's here to stay. Here's how we wrapped up the last half of the month:

The Denver City Zoo has free-to-the-public days every now and then, so Jon and I met up with Kylene and her kids for the most recent one. We got there right when it opened, and were met with a decent amount of crowds (we figured most kids would still be at school) and beautiful blue skies and a 60 degree day. Here's Leah and Isaac admiring the giraffes.

We got a great view of "Simba" (according to Leah)-- and unfortunately the sun was right in our faces so this picture isn't great, but he was literally laying right up against the glass! Yikes! We could have reached out and touched him on the nose. 

This was Leah's favorite part of the zoo-- the tropical fish aquarium. And it reminded Jon and I of vacations spent cruising, and beaches and snorkeling, so it was probably our favorite as well. Hopefully we'll see these guys in their natural environments in the not too distant future! We didn't get to stay long as Jon had to be back for work, but it was a great zoo, made even better by the fact that we got to see it for free!

That afternoon Lucy's 3rd grade class had a "Rockin' School Night" which was basically an open house to show parents and siblings everything they'd been learning in their rocks and minerals unit. Lucy never ceases to amaze me, and has become an expert on all this stuff. Her group made a Twister game complete with trivia questions on rocks and minerals. She even wore her dad's old Temple University lab coat so she'd look like more like a geologist.

Here she is proudly showing off her homemade archipelago display! They had refreshments and games and a skit written and performed by the students. It was so fun to see what she'd been up to in class, and even better, Elizabeth napped the whole time so I could enjoy it too!

There's a brand new cupcake shop called "Smallcakes" that's been calling my name, and it's located in Castle Rock right by Jon's office. We met him for lunch one day and I was dying to try one and see if they compared to Gigi's from North Carolina. We got the cookie dough and Reeses PB cup to taste test.

Leah got this gorgeous hot pink sprinkled vanilla cupcake and was in heaven! Cupcakes are still hands down her favorite treat. And when doesn't a cupcake make life better?

Lucy's BOB (Battle of the Books) team just keeps on surprising everyone and winning!! They won their last two district battles, one of which was the quarterfinals, and they now are officially competing in the semifinals. They've impressed everyone since their team is all 3rd graders, and they're competing against teams with all 4th graders who have the advantage of having done this last year, too.

Here's her team, the Lightning Rebels. They're now into single elimination rounds, so this Tuesday is the semifinals, and if they win they'll be competing for the District Championship, then move on to the CITY Championship. If they lose, they're out. Lucy is the MVP (in my opinion). She's now read all 10 books, and every time there is a question the whole team looks to Lucy to see what she says first. Wish her luck this Tuesday!

This little goober is just growing and growing and growing. She is getting chubbier by the day, and we looooove seeing that double chin. She is always so serious, but is starting to finally crack some smiles. Here she is all dressed up for stake conference. She is definitely rockin' the pink dress!

And other than when she's eating or being bounced, her next favorite thing is to be in the bathtub. She LOVES bath time! She is happy and peaceful and just chills in her little "boat" in the water. And her siblings love to help give her a bath too (you can see Leah's toys and her playing with Elizabeth's toes).  

Lucy had "Twin Day" at school and her teacher sent me this cute picture of she and her friend Sophia dressed like "twins." It's nice to know she's made so many new friends this year in Colorado.

Last weekend Jon had his second seminar in Chicago for the implant course, so I was flying solo Saturday and Sunday. While he was working on cadavers (shudder), I was getting lunch at my favorite place just up the road (Kneaders), and taking the kids to the park to enjoy the sunny weather. We met Isaac and Sophie there and the kids had a blast running around and burning off some energy. We rented "Minions" from Redbox and made a movie night out of it. 

Sunday I decided to be brave and go to Sacrament meeting with all 4 kids by myself. I was scared thinking of if Elizabeth woke up and I had to go nurse her, what the other three would do when left to their own devices, but I really just needed some church in my life so I did it anyway. Isn't Lucy so photogenic?

They all did great! Elizabeth slept, Lucy helped with Leah, and Zach worked on his drawings, so we all survived! I just LOVE those chubby cheeks!!

Leah was invited to a birthday party for a little girl in our ward who was born on Leap Day, so technically even though she was turning 4, this was her very first birthday party and her parents went all out! It was cowgirl themed and Leah was SO excited! 

They rented ponies and had pinatas and birthday cake and it was a super cute party. Leah even celebrated by wearing her very own cowgirl boots.

One night while I was making dinner Elizabeth was fussing, so when I went to check on her Zach had picked her up and was holding her while playing Wii. Ha ha. She looks pretty happy to be playing video games, right?? Now, bring on March!

Elizabeth's Newborn Pictures

My friend Katie Ash from our ward came over one Saturday while Jon was at work to take some newborn pictures of Elizabeth. She was just shy of being 2 weeks old-- and they change SO fast I really wanted to get them done. I LOVE how they turned out! I had grumpy kids, a super fussy baby, and I was operating on like 4 hours of sleep and am a terrible model anyway. I hate having my picture taken, especially right after having a baby, so Katie definitely had her work cut out for her! Here are some of our favorites:

Sweet picture of Elizabeth and her brother. He just adores her.

Sisters!

I just LOVE how the sunlight caught the fuzzy hair on top of her head!

So perfect for our sweet winter baby!

A Week Full of Love!

We are slowly but surely settling into a new routine with baby Elizabeth. Just in time for Jon's work schedule to be overhauled and changed in March, ha ha! Supposedly the new schedule will be better in the long run and not burn everyone out so much, but it means more evenings, so here's to hoping that's true! The sunsets here in Colorado are gorgeous-- let's start the week with that. 

Here's Leah practicing making all different kinds of faces. Angry, Happy, Scared, and Silly. She is SUCH a character and cracks us all up on a daily basis. She's been much happier and more "settled" since Elizabeth arrived. Maybe it's just knowing she's not the baby anymore, and there's another kid in the house while Lucy and Zach are at school.

I got home from meeting Jon for lunch one afternoon and found the baby sleeping like this in her car seat. I'm not sure what horrors she was attempting to shield her eyes from-- but Leah said it looked like she was trying to play Peek-A-Boo. 

And here she is all duded up in her pretty Valentine's dress that Grandma Joanie bought her. She looked like the sweetest Valentine ever! She is still just tiny. For all the time she spends eating, at her 2 week check-up she was only back up to her birth weight and exactly 6 lbs. 15 oz. We need to break that 7 pound barrier! 

Jon had a half day on Wednesday, so that morning we went on an impromptu early Valentine's date for brekky. We found a little French bakery and patisserie called Le Baguette de Normandy in Parker, which is run by a French couple and has won all sorts of "Best of" awards. Jon got a delicious berry tart.

I went all out and actually got breakfast-- an egg, cheese, and ham baguette with french potatoes. It was really good, but the baguette was to die for! I wonder why Americans never figured out how to make European bread?!?

Leah got to tag along and ordered a raspberry cream cake-- she picked it mainly because it was the only pink thing, but it was sure yummy too!

Thursday afternoon we got to go collect Auntie Whitney from downtown Denver so she could spend the weekend with us. We were SO excited!! We hadn't seen her since this summer, which feels like a long time ago. Friday morning (after she ran 10 MILES in preparation for her half marathon) we took her to the Denver Science Museum, and checked out this cool new chocolate exhibit. 

Leah was pretty disappointed those chocolates on the wall weren't real, but we loved showing Whitney all the neat exhibits.  

I think Leah's new favorite (since Snow White is gone) are the dinosaurs. She loves the little baby ones. Lucy was pretending to be terrified of these two fighting dinosaurs! 

We tried Elizabeth in the front pack for the first time ever, and she did pretty good! I'm not sure she liked it all that much-- but she slept most of the time, and only got super ticked off right at the end. She was sure cute to peek down at though while we walked around, and I had the best view!

We decided to expose Whitney to lunch at Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs (from last summer) and it didn't disappoint! She got a beef dog with caramelized onions and cream cheese, which was pretty tame, considering their menu, but Jon was adventurous and tried reindeer. So really, J-Man ate Rudolph, but who's keeping track?? Jon had a Scout camp-out that night, so Whitney helped me hold the fort down and get the kids to bed. 

Saturday morning she helped me run errands at Costco once Jon got home, and then they went to Castle Rock to fix some dental work that afternoon. That night I took Whitney out for a belated birthday dinner. After a few failed attempts (most places were PACKED due to Valentine's Day and Jon was babysitting Elizabeth so we didn't have time to wait), we finally ended up at Mellow Mushroom for some Saturday night pizza. Yum! Sister time is the best.

Sunday was of course, Valentine's Day, so Whitney helped me make a special breakfast of red velvet pancakes with cream cheese icing, yogurt parfaits, and scrambled eggs. So I guess sometimes having 1 p.m. church is okay so we can have breakfast feasts like this! 

With baby Elizabeth on the way, I didn't pull out very many Valentine's decorations, but here is the most festive part of the house, ha ha.  

This is the cute Valentine from our Zach-O, isn't his handwriting the best??

Whitney and I and the kids went to Sacrament meeting while Jon stayed home with the baby. Then we switched for the last two hours. It was sure nice to have an extra set of hands all weekend to hold the baby, play princesses with Leah, play the Wii with Zach, and help cook meals. I could really get used to that!

All too soon it was time for Whitney to fly back home to Arizona. She and I got to have lunch one last time at Kneaders and then it was time for her to leave for the airport. I sure hated seeing her go! She's so fun to be around, and even though we weren't very fun hosts (we had the Bohnanza game out all weekend and never played once), she was so good to help out and sweet with my kids. Baby Elizabeth was so glad to meet her and so thankful she took the time to come visit!! This is her sad, serious face because Whitney left. But isn't she looking very grown up?? It was her 3 week birthday yesterday and I just can't get enough of that sweet little face!! We love you Auntie Whitney!