Copper Mountain

 We went on our 2nd, and likely last for the season, ski trip a couple of weeks ago.  The boys had such a good time.   The weather was beautiful and the boys did great.  There was no pausing at the top of the lift for them - they took off down the mountain and didn't stop until they were at the bottom and back in line to get back on the lift.  Video of Ryan and Luke skiing. 

 We now have several months to look forward to skiing again.  I don't think we'll have time to head up again.  Also, I'm done with winter and snow - and I'm looking forward to summer and warm weather and the pool.

It's Cold Outside!

 We are in the middle of a fairly big snowstorm.  The bummer part is that it is Sunday and the roads will likely be clear by tomorrow for school.  Hopefully it will last long enough into the night - but I can't count on that now.  Ryan loves the snow and headed out into it earlier.  He traipsed through the backyard and even went down the slide.

 He also tried to write his name in the snow with his blue snow marker.

 He even attempted to sled, but there was too much snow.

Other things going on:  The boys had their 1st grade musical earlier this month.  Each boy had a line.

 Ryan got to play the part of one of the children - easy costume.

 Luke was a bat.

The annual Valentine's Party was quite a hit.  This year the boys had to create their own Valentine's box at home.  Luke made his one weekend while Greg and I were still in bed.  It is a black widow spider (can't you tell?).

 Ryan and I made his -  he was really worried about it getting torn up at school.

Overall - Feb. has been a good but very busy month.  The boys are now taking piano lessons.  Luke is trying to learn to Lean on Me and Ring of Fire.  Ryan is doing a great job at reading music out of his music book.  Luke has also been taking an art class at school and Ryan is in a theater program and will be in a play in April.  Greg and I are really looking forward to Spring Break at the end of March and our trip to Jamaica!

Skiing

 We tried our first round of skiing this season with the boys last weekend.  Overall, it was a success.  Greg said it went remarkably better than he had thought.  We headed up to Loveland Friday morning to take the boys on the cheap green lift in hopes that we could get them comfortable enough with skiing to avoid another lesson this year.  I'm sure a lesson would be more effective, but our way worked, too.  The first 2 times down the mountain became a huge lesson in frustration and highlighted my lack of patience.  But after lunch and hot chocolate, the boys did great and didn't give up.  They aren't proficient at getting of the chair lift on their own yet, but they are pretty close.  We'll head up to Copper Mountain at least one more time this year.

 It was a really cold and windy day.  I think I was affected by it more than the others - partly due to  my developing cold that ended up putting me in bed the rest of the weekend, and partly because I hate being cold.  The boys were total troopers.

 Greg and Ryan heading down the mountain.  By the last few runs, Ryan didn't fall down at all - he is really proud of that fact.

Luke did great - he was really good at practicing turns.  He fell down quite a bit, but would just lay there and wait until I was there to help him up. 

Ryan wrote about our weekend for his "Weekend News" writing assignment on Tuesday.  Below is his story, with his own spellings to go along with it (he's in the 1st grade - spelling comes later).

I wint to the maowtins.  I wint skeeng thar and it was lots of fun.  I even had hot choklit.  It was hot but it did not hrt my tung.  It was cold awt side so it did not hrt my tung.  Then we cep sceeng and sceeng and I didnt even fol dawn.  I rele rele rele like sceeng.  Sceeng is so so so fun.

Nuggets Basketball Game

 We went to a Denver Nugget's game last night.  It was the first NBA game for all 4 of us - and I must say, it is way more cushy than a Bronco's game.  I really don't care much about basketball, but it was enjoyable and the boys had a good time.  Our school district had a fundraiser where a portion of the tickets go back to the school's foundation.  The boys; school sold enough tickets to allow some of the kids to give the Nugget players high-fives before the pre-game warm up.  Ryan and Luke thought this was pretty cool.

 Luke is hiding behind one kid - but you can see Ryan  - 2nd from the bottom left.  Luke told Greg he thought that the basketball players were 5 feet taller than him (Greg) - Greg thought that was a pretty fair estimate.

And of course the real highlight of the evening were the dipping dots. 

They also thought the picture as a player was pretty cool, too.

Overall, it was a fun evening.  A lot more comfortable (and affordable) than the Bronco playoff game that Greg and I went to a few weeks ago (where the temperature was around 15 degrees).

The Driving Range

 

 We had a beautiful weather this weekend.  All of the snow finally melted and we enjoyed the warm weather by going to the driving range.  Just in time, too, since it snowed a few inches 2 days later.  The boys had a great time hitting golf balls onto the frozen pond.  Quite a few didn't make it past the rocks next to the tee - but both of them got several good shots off. 

 

 

 

Fortunately, there are no pictures of me attempting to swing.  I whiffed more than I actually hit,

End of Christmas Break

 Today is our last day of Christmas Break (or Winter Break as it has be referred to at school).  The boys and I had a good day.  We started by going to Target to pick out a couple of t-shirts (Pac-Man for Luke, Star Wars Angry Birds for Ryan), lunch at Chik-fil-a, riding new scooters at the park, and then a few hours at the pool.  The boys were thoroughly exhausted by bedtime, and a tad bit too grumpy.  But overall, an excellent day.     
We've had a good break overall - it even included the boys' first sleep-over at our house with their friend Henry.  All 3 boys got along and played lots of Beyblades, Legos, Star Wars Angry Birds Jenga Death Star, Creationary, and other games with their stuffed animals.  The best part was that they fell asleep within minutes of going to bed.  Greg and I thought for sure that we would have to go into their bedroom every couple of minutes for at least an hour to get them to be quiet.  The sleepover ended the next morning with breakfast at IHOP.  I can't believe that my babies are now old enough to have sleepovers.

Ryan and Luke each got a new Razor scooter for Christmas.  It has been too cold and snowy for them to try them out - but today ended up being a beautiful day and we took advantage of the melting snow and warming temperatures to scooter around the lake.  I think they had a great time.  Ryan thanked me again for getting him a scooter on our way home.

 There were lots of prairie dogs in one area of the lake.  I love prairie dogs - I know they are rodents- but I think they are so cute, especially when they stand up.  We had a good time watching them watch a dog that was desperately trying to get off its leash to run after them.

After a quick trip home to change clothes, we headed to the pool.  Luke loved going down the giant slide.  Ryan wouldn't try it because he didn't want to take off his goggles, but both boys had a great time in the lazy river.  They also practiced their free-style stroke with the hope that they'll be ready for the swim team this summer.  They both swam the full length of the pool (25M) at least twice (Ryan 3 times) without stopping.  Luke even was somewhat successful with swimming the breaststroke.  We finally got home around dinner time and headed out to Macaroni Grill for dinner.  They had worked up quite an appetite, but ended up being too tired to eat much. 

Our weekend plans include Greg working the boys on their Pinewood Derby cars (complete with the new Dremel Greg bought for that purpose).  I am hoping to sneak out long enough to see Les Mis. 

Ranching Heritage Center

 While we were in Lubbock during Thanksgiving week, my mom and I took the 4 kids to the Ranching Heritage Museum.  It is a really neat center with farm/ranch buildings from mid 1800s to the early 1900s that had once been on various ranches and farms throughout West Texas.  It is a great way to learn about life on the Plains and what it took for early settlers to make it on their own in pretty desolate country.  The kids had a great time and it was a beautiful day.  They had fun running from house to house and they obliged me for many pictures.

 My sweet boys.

 Luke, Jacob and Ryan - these 3 boys will grow up together and even graduate from high school and head to college at the same time - I hope they will always be great friends.

 The Ranching Center includes a train station from a nearby farm town complete with a train and cattle cars.  The kids had a great time playing on the caboose and climbing on the engine.  We also went into the train station's ticket office.  It is the same station that my Uncle Charlie played in when he was a little boy growing up on a nearby cotton farm.

 Texas Tech's campus is home to hundreds (at least) of Jackrabbits.  They have always been one of my favorite things to see around Lubbock growing up.  The Ranching Heritage Center had quite a few running around that day.  If you've never seen a Jackrabbit - they are huge and I love their big kangaroo-like ears.

 My beautiful niece, Olivia.  I can't believe she that she will be 10 in March.

West Texas lacks classical landscape beauty.  It is hard to beat seeing the snow-capped mountains and rolling foothills on my way to work every day.  But West Texas has its own unique beauty, as well.  I have always loved flying into the area - the cotton fields have always reminded me of a patchwork quilt.  The sky is huge and the view goes on forever.  I truly can't imagine living on the Plains during the Dust Bowl or even before air conditioning and running water - but I do love the area and what it has provided for my own family's history.