Nick the Karate Kid

Karate "chopping " in class


The Kindergarten Karate Kids: Callan, Avery , Nick, and Mason

Nick at his graduation ceremony. He loved receiving both the medal and certificate!
Nick took a karate course through his school and loved it! It was a five week session after school and his was thrilled that several of his friends were there too. We are not going to continue at this time though. WAY too expensive (try $198.oo per month for a five year old?!) and I don't think five year olds have the necessary attention span for martial arts. The kindergarteners were spacing out half of the time and busy karate kicking each other the other half. Whereas the older kids (3rd grade and up) were doing great. I think we'll give him a couple of years to mature and try again.

Rocky Mountain Wildlife

Sunday was warm and sunny (Yeah!). In an attempt to amuse our children, we decided to head out and find the reputed herd of buffalo in a park off of I-70. After an hour in the car with three kids crying, screaming, and/or fighting we finally located the park. Unfortunately, we neglected to take into account the unpaved roads and the fact that all of the snow was melting. The result? Lots and lots of mud. (Mud, kids, and a clean car are not a great combination.) And for all of our trouble we saw one, lone buffalo. So here he is! I am sure they are much more impressive in size if you are actually closer. But the herd is fenced off with signs posted warning how ill-tempered and unpredictable buffalo can be and advising sightseers to stay at least 3 feet from the fence. So I think this distant view will do nicely.

Miss America 2025

Little Miss "Fashion Girl" as she calls herself, all dressed up this morning and ready for her close-up.

Bathtime Fun!

Climbing out of the tub...

Hi Mom! I'm not doing anything....


William just can't figure out where all of the water goes. It mystifies him every time.

All gone!

William at 10 Months

Wow, time flies! This was a fast month, probably because I spent it chasing after the little guy! He has one tooth through the gums and three more right behind it. He loves any big people food that we give him and he is really good with the sippy cup. He is a really good little baby, but has quite a temper if thwarted. William's goal in life is to defeat any and all childproofing products and get his little hands on all of the big kid's toys. He has started talking a little, right at 9 months just like his big brother! He says cheese (sounds like "chz"), points and says this and that (sounds like "dis" or "dat"), we have also heard DaDa and Hi. He plays pat-a-cake, So Big, and peek-a-boo and loves to sit nicely and look at books. He is lots of fun, but boy is it exhausting chasing after a baby/toddler again!

(yes, that is a piece of fluff on his nose. I didn't see it there until after the pictures were loaded. Sorry!)

Pizza and New Teeth

We tried giving William pizza for lunch today, do you think he liked it?! Tooth number one is getting bigger every day and there are three right behind it. No wonder he has been cranky the last week.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,

Nick, Ellie, and William
xoxo

Uh Oh! He's starting early...

Turn my back for a few moments to let the dog out, and this is what I find...



Lunch was not five minutes prior to this...


"Hi Mom! Don't mind me!"
"Is the box edible too?"

I have another monkey to add to the mix! This week, William just discovered the pleasures of being naughty. He pushes the kitchen chairs across the floor and slams them into the wall/glass sliding door/dog. He has discovered the pantry (obviously) and helps himself to snacks. The fireplace is a HUGE attraction and he is actively trying to figure out how to get through the child proofing. Drawers, cupboards, closets are fun to get into and throw everything out. He would love to play with or eat any cleaning product he could get his hands on. And his favorite activity would be a tie between playing in the toilet or slamming doors. This is challenging as we have two potty trained kids in the house I can't lock the toilets or all of the doors. Grrrr.

Lookout Mountain

It was a beautiful day here in Denver, 58 and sunny. We decided to get out of the house and explore some parts of the Denver area that we haven't seen before. We ended up near Golden and discovered why it is called "Lookout Mountain"...




This is the view of Golden from above: (yep, that's the Coors plant dwarfing the rest of the town)


And here is the city of Denver:
Nick brought his cowboy hat for the trip.

Lookout Mountain is also home to the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave. The museum was really interesting, the big kids got a huge kick out of all of the cowboy/cowgirl relics from the days of Buffalo Bill's traveling show. William however decided to scream through the entire museum so I didn't see much of it.



Eleanor as the "mean cowgirl". Look out Annie Oakley!


Nick and Ellie dressed up for riding and roping in the kids section of the museum. (Elle is in back hidden by the rope)

William taking a break from a full pitched scream.

Buffalo Bill's grave on the top of Lookout Mountain. We are loving the snow/bright sunshine/warm air combo! Just awesome!

The Little Rascal

Getting his hands on one of his big sister's precious babies...




And then giving it a big, wet, sloppy baby kiss on the lips.


Checking out the dog's ears. Must not be terribly interesting as he moved on quickly. Payton doesn't even awaken from her nap. By the third exploring baby she knows the drill.



Far more exciting are his big brother's Spiderman toys. Try though we might William still manages to get into Nick's toys. I think it's so funny that he seems to know the difference between the "girl" toys and the "boy" toys even at 9 months. He makes a bee line for the boy things, and anything that has buttons (ie. TV remotes, telephones, car key remote, DVD player, etc.) Must be a Y chromosome thing!

The First Tooth!

Sorry about the messy face and baby drool BUT, we had to show off William's first tooth! The corner actually poked through on Monday, but I couldn't get a good photo of it until today. He is still cranky and lots of bumps on the gums so I suspect several more are shortly to follow...