I Heart Faces - Innocent Wonder

The theme of this week's I Heart Faces photography challenge is Innocent Wonder.  This is a picture from last Spring, but I love it.  It was the first year Nathan really got it as far as an Easter egg hunt goes.  I love his enthusiasm for life.  It always makes me smile.  I also like the fact that Elizabeth is zooming by in the background.

Head on over to I Heart Faces to check out the other entries.

You are my snuggle

Last week when I went to drop Nathan off at preschool he insisted on holding my hand.  I didn't mind that one bit.  Then he told me that I "had to" hold his hand.  I asked him why and he said, "Because... you are my snuggle".  How sweet is that?  I told him that I love being his snuggle...  I sure hope this stage of life lasts a long time.  I love my daytime and bedtime "snuggles" with my youngest boy!

I Heart Faces - Winter Wonderland

I haven't joined in an I Heart Faces challenge in a long time.  The theme this week is Winter Wonderland.  I love the expression on Alex's face in this picture.  He was having a blast playing in the snow pile.  Check out the other entries here.

We got 23 inches of snow last week and are predicted to get more tomorrow.... along with a thick coating of ice.  Nice!

You know you don't iron much when.....

You know you don't iron much when your 3 1/2 year old doesn't know what an ironing board looks like.

I have been interviewing for a new job (my current job will be ending soon) and when I do, I have dressed up more than I usually do.  My husband knows how much I dislike ironing (I will go to great lengths to avoid it!) and offered to iron my clothes for me last week.  Nathan observed Daddy taking out the ironing board and asked, "What that thing?".  Daddy responded that it was an ironing board and Nathan asked, "What you use that for?"  Daddy got a kick out of the fact that Nathan had no clue what he was looking at.  I informed Daddy that he is equally to blame for Nathan's lack of education in that department!  :)

Winter Wonderland!

We woke this morning to a Winter Wonderland and it is still snowing now.  The kids were and are thrilled... the parents... not as much.  The storm is set to wind down soon and snowfall totals are close to two feet.  We haven't had such a big storm in many years!

This is the view out our front door (as seen from Nathan's height)

Three older kids getting set for their "adventure"... off to dig a trench and build a fort.

Andrew sporting his new snow clothes (Christmas gift).

The two older boys... best buddies at the moment much to the chagrin of Elizabeth who oft times feels a bit left out.

Sweet Elizabeth checking out the snow ramp built by Daddy and the boys last week.  Their sled ride down the hill isn't as fast with all the snow.

Alex demonstrating how high the snow is.  He is standing in the trench they built for their new snow fort.

Alex asked me to take this picture to demonstrate how much snow is on the roof of our house!

Nathan was so excited to discover that the snow was up over the top of the mailbox!

I didn't make any New Year resolutions... cuz I never seem to keep them.  :)  But, I do hope to do more blogging.  I know that I will enjoy looking back on all the pictures and stories some day... and if I don't write things down these days, I don't seem to remember anything!  :)

Macro Friday

I haven't participated in Macro Friday in a while.  We got back from vacation three weeks ago and life has been busy busy busy.

I had lots of fun playing with my camera while on vacation.  We spent one of our days at Bent Fort in Colorado and the kids found some milkweed to play with.  You can see pictures of Alex "dancing" with the milkweed here.

Here is my entry - a macro shot of the milkweed.

Head on over to Blogging From Bolivia to check out other fun entries.

Panning For Gold

On our last day in Colorado we got to try our hand at panning for gold at a mining museum.

The kids quickly learned that it was hard work.

With no results other than the enjoyment of panning for gold!

Even binky boy joined in.

The museum also had a "pretend mine" that Nathan thoroughly enjoyed playing in.

And Andrew got to try his hand at mining by hand!

Happy Birthday Uncle Mike

While we were in Pueblo, my brother Mike drove up to visit for a few days.  It just so happened to be his 40th birthday, so we got to have some fun celebrating.  We went out to eat at Applebees and there was a man there who made balloon animals for the kids.  This is Nathan's snake.

This is Alex's fish.

This is Elizabeth's monkey in a tree.

And here is Andrew's frog.

The man truly was amazing.  He made this motorcyle for my father.

We gave Mike a few presents back at the hotel.

Got to love the Dora and the Carebear wrapping paper!

It was fun to see Mike laughing.

The kids couldn't wait for him to finish with gifts so that they could have dessert.

Alex hung out in a chair with a bright smile on his face most of the time.

The cake - not bad for decorating in a hotel room!

Milkweed

Alex found milkweed along the path leaving Bent Fort and had a delightful time playing with it.

It stuck to his hands and his clothes,

but it didn't seem to bother him one bit!

Off to search for more with Daddy.

Getting ready to let it go.

Dance of the Milkweed!

Love how happy he was here... feeet in the air and all.  :)

Bent Fort

On of the highlights of the trip for Andrew was going to see Bent Fort in Colorado.  It was used as a trading post in the mid 1800's.

The fort had thick adobe walls.

The kids liked walking along the second level of the fort and looking out over the top.

The inhabitants of the fort used to trade for buffalo hides and the next picture is a picture of the press that they used to consolidate the furs before shipping them.

The original fort burned to the ground, but they did a very nice job of reconstructing the fort.

An outdoor oven.

Nathan and I enjoyed following this peacock around.  I liked the reflection in the water.

A store inside the fort.

Andrew loved seeing all the guns, but didn't like it so much when they did a demonstration with the cannon shortly after we arrived at the fort.

Alex and Elizabeth liked this quill and ink.

I found it interesting that they used buffalo fur/hide to make weather stripping for all the doors and windows.

Believe it or not, I still haven't finished sharing pictures from our trip!  :)