James loves...

Ski Trip- Part 3

James did more skiing this morning! He is definitely going to be ready for ski school next time we go skiing.




Here are some videos of James skiing




Then we got some family shots





We were having a great last day in Park City until we heard that Seth hurt his knee. The scene of the crime:

Seth before the accident:

Seth after the accident:

The poor guy hurt his knee on a black diamond and had to be escorted down the mountain by 2 paramedics. Not just any paramedics came to Seth's rescue, but the only 2 female paramedics on the mountain came to his rescue. :) Todd enjoyed documenting the entire thing! Seth was checked out by a DR and has a sprained MCL. A few weeks of R & R and hopefully his knee will be back to normal!

Ski Trip- Part 2

Saturday morning everyone was up and ready to hit the slopes. James did more skiing with Todd and is LOVING it! The boys and I once again hung back at the condo for the morning. Uncle Seth wasn't feeling great so he stayed behind too.

It snowed most of the day and it was gorgeous! Here are a couple views from our condo.


While James napped(he has slept in our King size bed during the trip)

Blake did a lot of exploring..


Around 1:30pm I headed out skiing with Dad, Jack and Gillian. Today was much more my speed. We mainly stayed on greens so I got my confidence back a little.

We all met back at the condo for the evening. Seth and Dad went to Whole Foods and brought back an assortment of good food for dinner. We ended the night playing Skipbo and Yahtzee!

Ski Trip-Part 1

After a late night of traveling we made it to Salt Lake City, UT. We were supposed to leave KC about 5:40, but were about an hour delayed on the tarmac waiting to be de-iced. James did great on the plane and we brought our Sit n Stroll for him to sit in. We got it second hand before traveling to FL last Christmas. We love it and it makes traveling much easier for us. It is used as a carseat on the plane and in the car. It also acts as a stroller too. This may be James' last trip using it because it is getting tight. It goes up to 40 lbs and he is 38 lbs. Blake on the other hand had a rough flight. Usually he is a very happy baby and rarely cries. I'm not sure if his ears were bothering him or if he was over tired. I nursed him 3 times the first hour and finally he just refused and screamed, screamed and screamed some more! He finally fell asleep for about 45 minutes and then screamed some more. Todd had the magic touch and Blake finally stopped crying. He was happy the rest of the flight and chewed on a plastic cup. I guess he just wanted to be with his Daddy and big brother! We slept in Friday morning and then got fitted for our boots/skies. They brought everything to our condo which was really convenient. Here are some pics of James getting ready to ski.




James did great skiing and Todd just took him right outside our condo so he wouldn't have to take the chair lift. He enjoyed it for about 30 minutes and then was done. Todd went back out skiing while James, Blake and I had a relaxing morning at the condo. James took at bath...

Drank Hot Chocolate(and then quickly dumped it out all over the floor)....

Played Play doh


Blake took a good morning nap and woke up happy..

After lunch I headed out to ski while Abby and my mom watched the boys. Blake is only getting faster crawling and is getting into EVERYTHING! This is a video that Abby took while I was out. I think they both wore them out!

I skied about 2 hours. The skiing here is a little more challenging than I had hoped. They were mostly blues and very hard for me since I haven't skied in 4 years. I'm sure I looked ridiculous with my giant slow plow going down the mountain. I was also very intimidated because all the advanced skiers were just flying by me. I'm just glad I survived and made it down in one piece! I think Saturday I'm going to find the ski school area!! :( Sorry no photos to document my skiing adventures!
We went to downtown Park City to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was delicious and margaritas were definitely a MUST after my rough afternoon!

"Hummmmm, what should I order?"

The life of the party!

Yummy puffs!

Most of the group!

Birthday Weekend

Yesterday I turned 32. I had a wonderful weekend celebrating with family! Robin, Justin and Tatiana arrived Friday night. Robin brought steaks and cake and both were so delicious. Todd took them to LS Wests "Wizard of Oz" play after dinner. Everyone really enjoyed it! Saturday we went to watch Gillian and Jack play in their basketball games. From there Todd and I went to Lawrence to watch the KU game. It was a great game and they won! After the game we enjoyed a little shopping and then dinner at the Copa Room. We haven't been to the Copa Room since when they were downtown and we have really missed it. We wish it was closer to us. We really enjoyed our time alone and I think Robin enjoyed her time with the boys just as much! Sunday we had a relaxing morning before going out to brunch and then over to my parents for a pizza party later in the day. I realized I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few to share..

This is one of Blake's favorite activities right now. We removed two legs so that he has really been able to play with it for the last few months. He loves it!

He is so close to being able to pull up on things. Just a few more weeks and he'll be standing.

Here's the gang at one of our favorite brunch locations, The Sawmill. Unfortunately, they no longer offer the "all you can eat" brunch buffet on Sunday. The new breakfast menu was really good though so we will definitely be back!

Blake and Grandma Robin!

James and Grandma Robin!

Cake with cousins!

James really enjoyed having his "East coast" cousins in town. It would be wonderful if they lived closer. We only see them about 1-2 times a year, but it is always so good to get together when they are in town.

Blake was worn out after his big weekend.

Watch out world... Here comes Blake!

School news

James and Blake are still doing great on their school days. They are at school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9-3:30 while I'm at work.

James had a major break through at school last week. He has been doing very well using the potty at home since early January. He usually makes it to the potty about half the time when we are at home. This is a huge improvement from December when he had NO interest in the potty so we feel like we are making small strides. However, at school he had no success with going on the potty. Last Wednesday he finally went for the first time at school. I think this is a big step for him and I'm really hoping he'll be close to trained by his birthday in April. He HATES the feeling of his diapers and is constantly pulling and tugging on them so I know eventually he will just make the decision to wear big boy pants all the time.

James had his Valentine party at school today and came home with way too much candy! He was so excited to show me everything in his backpack. At the beginning of the year I had to carry his backpack, but now he takes a lot of pride in his backpack and HE wants to be the one carrying it in(even if that means dragging it on the ground). I asked James' teacher if he ate a lot at the party. She smiled and said, "that boy really likes to eat." She went on to say that "hands down" he ate more than any other child in the class. She jokingly said that most days at snack time, "James would drink the entire pitcher of milk all by himself if we let him." I'm sure they are wondering if we feed him at home.

Blake is in class with 2 or 3 other babies. In the morning he has 2 caretakers when there are 4 babies and in the afternoon just 1 when there are 3 babies. Blake always gets a good report and is known as the laid back boy. He doesn't nap well and really fights sleep when at school. Somedays he will only sleep 30-45 minutes the whole day whereas when he is at home he can take up to 3-4 hours in naps. Ms Amy says she will lay him in his crib when he gets tired, but rather than sleeping he will grab the rails and smile at her. He doesn't want to miss out on any activity. He usually falls asleep on the way home and then goes to bed for the night at 6pm on these days. He is wiped out!

They both love their school days!

Happy Valentine's Day

Blake is 8 months

Blake you are 8 months old today! We are currently in a blizzard and enjoyed the day at home as a family. So far they think we've gotten around 15 inches(according to weather.com). You are starting to get very active. You are going to be crawling really really soon, like maybe tomorrow! You are still a very happy baby. You got your first cold-like symptoms yesterday but it isn't phasing you too much. You have a runny nose and have woke 2 nights in a row around 8-8:30pm crying, but once back asleep you have slept all night. We love you!