Skateboard Camp

I put Christian in the much anticipated skateboard camp over spring break. 

All of the boys had such a good time out there.  They would hang out on the couch in the lobby, watch skateboarding videos, play X-Box, and goof around with each other - when they weren't learning tricks and going down ramps, of course.  One day, the older guys were riding a desk chair (the kind with wheels) down a HUGE ramp! 

The skatepark has an incredible mentor program.  One day, Victor (the guy who runs the skate park) found an unlit cigarette on the ground.  He walked in the lobby, aka the hangout area, and acted like it was his.  (Using reverse psychology to get someone to fess up)  He said "Hey guys, I am gonna step out for a minute to smoke.  I'll be right back.  I found this on the ground.  Free smoke for me!"  One older kid stepped forward and said it was his.  Vic acted like he was gonna hand it to him, and then crushed it in his hand.  The kid got mad and said he was gonna smoke that.  Vic told him that friends don't let friends do dumb stuff like smoke and that no one else better try it.  He told everyone how gross smoking is.  I thought it was pretty cool.  All of those kids watch Vic's every move and really look up to him.

Josh was the other instructor.  Vic and Josh both kind of took Christian in under their wing since he was the youngest camper.  Actually, since Vic, Christian, and another boy named Wade (who, by the way, is very talented!) all had the exact same hair... they joked that they were all brothers. 

CK and Josh

 Wade, Vic, and CK (the triplets)

 She loves to wear hats!  Check out her hands... she is totally posing!

Another new talent

Um, so what if I tie my aunt's shoes?  Who cares that I learned in like 5 minutes.  I already knew I was cool. 

Now off to the skate park!

Hallmark

Christian made a birthday card for Chel and Penny.

I would buy it!

Life's a Stage

I love when kids start playing pretend!  Its one of my favorite games to watch.

Taylor has a favorite that she plays quite often...

She grabs her purse

 Puts it on

 Says "Bye Bye Bye Bye"

 Waves

 And leaves.

 Toodles!  I've got shoes to buy!

And scene.

I think she is going to be a major prissy girl (but with a bug-loving, dirt-playing, beat-up-the-boys edge).  She loves glitter, excitement, shoes, and anything girly. 

Sassy Britches

I swaddled Taylor in something called a Woombie.  Its WONDERFUL.  Its so simple, and if you're forced to swaddle for almost a YEAR... its such a time saver.  Taylor required me to swaddle her.  She would not sleep at all unless she was all bundled up, but she would get out of her blanket while she was asleep.  This would wake her (and me) up.  Not fun.  Thus, we bought the amazing Woombie... 2, actually.  I made sure we got the Houdini Woombie, guaranteed not to let your little Houdini escape.

I wondered how I would know when she was done being swaddled.  I looked for subtle signs.

I guess Taylor wanted to let me know in a very obvious way.

I heard commotion coming from her room and walked in to this:

 Is this a game?  Is she laughing at me?  She must be!  Because how funny is it that....

She somehow got herself out of the Woombie while it was completely zipped up???  Check out that tiny neckhole.  Now remind yourself of her tummy.  The math just doesn't add up!

Houdini Woombie, I think you need a new name.

So, no more swaddling for Taylor.  She is now a free bird.

Valentine's Day

Crumbs on the floor?  Check.

Crying baby?  Check.

Tired 4 year old?  Check.

Pet pig in the laundry room?  Check.

Fancy plans?  Negative.

Clean and showered?  Negative.

Sounds like we're all geared up for a romantic Valentine's Day at our house!

I made us all a big pot roast with some veggies.  Christian set the table and even wrapped the silverware all up with a napkin.  (Aaaawwww!... right?)  He opened dinner up with a sweet prayer to thank God for everything from his towel to the couch.  (I think he just looked around the house and mentioned what he saw)

My gift to Ryan was tackling some yard work myself, something that is usually all up to him.  So, I cut into our existing flower bed in the front yard and extended it a bit.  All hard manual labor!  It is hard work tearing up grass with nothing but a shovel.  I did learn afterwards that there is some sort of a tool made specifically for tearing up grass... BUT do they pump up your guns like my way?  I think not! 

While I was in the backyard putting away all of my yard tools, Ryan was setting up his gifts inside.  I walked in to this:

See that little limo on top of my card in the middle?  That was a hint.  I opened up my card and there was a brochure for a fully paid limo ride for all of us girls to and from the Ke$ha concert!  He totally surprised me with that! 

And the kids got some stuff, too. 

Now how 'bout that limo ride!!!

Partaaaay for the baby girl!

Taylor's party was sah-weeeeet!  Literally.

I set up a sweet shop with all kinds of candy and cupcakes.  The cupcakes were from Frosted Pink, so of course they were FAB!  I could eat that cream cheese frosting all by itself.

We also had almonds and my mom made her famous old fashioned popcorn for those that can't handle too much sugar.
My talented cousin make the tutu and applique shirt, which I fully planned to pay for... but she gave it to Tay as her present.  ADORABLE!
(And I ordered this super cute hat from Etsy)

One of my worst fears happened!

One of my worst fears is getting into a wreck with my kids in the car. 

It happened.

While we were in Colorado, a snow storm hit.  Everything was completely covered in snow.  Snow isn't bad to drive it, especially in Colorado.  They use some kind of anti-freeze on the roads.  We were on our way to go snowboarding, taking our time, being extra careful.  We made it all the way down the mountain where we were staying and on to the highway - the far right lane because there is less stop and go.  I don't even know what happened but we suddenly starting spinning circles.  The car would not stop or slow down.  We kept spinning and spinning until we had cleared 4 lanes on the highway!  We missed every car on the road.  Then...BANG!  We took down one road sign.  BANG BANG BANG!  We went up over the side embankment of snow, ice, and rocks - almost flipping us.  BANG!  We hit a very large road sign, stopping us.  I then quickly turned around to check on the kids.  Both were crying, but neither were hurt.  None of the airbags deployed, luckily.  But, we had all of our equipment in the back... Ryan's snowboard helmet had shot up over the seat and hit Taylor on her chest.  Our jack set, which had been locked in a compartment in the rear and weighed at least 15 pounds, had come out of the locked cubby and catapulted over the seat right towards Christian's head.  It sat on the seat right next to him.  We were stuck.  The doors would not open.

Two other drivers stopped to talk to us.  The told us that our car was buried in snow, which is why our doors would not open.  They made sure we were okay and then left. 

Ryan pushed the doors open as I called for help.

This is the damage:

The whole underside of the car had been ripped apart from the embankment we went over.  The frame was pushed inward, so everything was off alignment.

The police lady was clearly having a REALLY bad day.  She had Ryan fill out the report so she could sit in her car.  Then she gave us a ticket for "failure to maintain control of the vehicle".  No kidding!  If we could control the vehicle, do you think we would be sitting on the side of the road in 4 feet of snow?!  Plus, we have Texas tires.  Not meant for snow.  I argued with her for a long time, but she was not going to change her mind. 

The tow truck came and realized that they could not tow us.  Instead, they sent a flat bed trailer thing.  We all rode in our broken car on top of this huge thing.  We were up soooo high!  It was the best part of the day.

We called our awesome friends and my brothers.  They all met us at a local diner, where we waited.  They rushed in and hugged us.  I broke down at that point.  It was great to just hug.  Our friends were so encouraging and uplifting.  They even offered to drive us all the way back home!  It sure is great having such true friends.  (We really couldn't ask them to do that for us, though.)  They told us that is was such a good thing that we didn't drive up the mountain because the roads were awful and wrecking on the side of a mountain could definitely be really bad.

Ryan started working on our rental immediately, and ended up getting us a mini van.  Woop woop!  Haha!  If I had to pick any rental car, this would definitely be it!  That mini van had LED lights around the ceiling all limo-style, bucket seats in the middle, dual remote sliding doors, satellite radio, floor storage compartments... you name it, this thing had it.  So, we drove that back home in style and complete comfort.

Our search for a new car started about 2 weeks after the wreck.  One day we drove by a car lot and decided to "just look".  We came home with this guy about an hour into our "just looking":

Christian thought he was really cool sitting in the seat like a big boy! 

(We drove across the lot to Ryan's car so I could get the car seats)

There really were a lot of blessings in disguise in this situation.  So many things could have been so much worse.  In the end, things ended up better.