Merry Christmas

We hope everyone had a wonderful week or so of fun and family. It has been a bit since my last post, mostly because I broke my foot last weekend and it has taken every bit of my energy just to keep the kids and house from exploding. No good story behind this one, just walking and carrying too much ski gear and a kiddo-Sherpa Mama should have taken two trips to carry the load. The weather has been wonderfully wintery which is great for those who are still skiing, not so charming for those of us on crutches. Aside from the inconvenience of my injury and the absolutely insane hours Trevor has been putting in at work, the kids loved Christmas this year. They were so funny and excited about the whole thing. We did make it to see Santa again so that Colter could tell him that he wanted a Bow and arrows--"a real one" and a rocket. He woke up Christmas morning saying "Mom, Dad, let's get downstairs so that I can see my Bow and Arrows" Colter was not disappointed and the smile on his face in that photo says it all! Both boys were amazingly patient while opening presents and would open one at a time and then play with it for a long while. The entire event took well over two hours. I can't believe I actually put up a photo of myself with no shower, early in the morning, ugh, it is pretty sweet though. Colter picked out his and Dylan's blue outfits for Christmas Eve service. He wanted to match and also liked the idea that Dylan would be wearing the same outfit that Nana had bought for Colter's first birthday party. Very cute these days with the clothes and shoes. I can feel the days of me just picking out anything that is clean for him to wear coming to an end. He definately has an opinion about his fashion. Today, after skiing for a few hours (with some friends and other parents---not me) he came home, put on his shark flip flops, laid his blanket is a sunny spot on the floor and declared himself "Mexico Man" He wants to open a SCUBA shop in Mexico (because it doesn't snow there) and a fancy restaraunt like Wendy's. Yeah, we know, we need to get him out in the big city a bit more. I'm afraid he is going to be disappointed that we aren't going to Mexico this January. We have gone the last two years, which is half of his life, and he thinks that is what January is for. We are lucky that Colter is a great skiier and loves to go out with just about anyone. My cousin Tim took him out the other day and was amazed at how fast he skiied. Tim thought he would be waiting on Colter the whole time and instead said he was going "medium-fast" just to keep up with him. They went on Colter's favorite blue run "Enchanted Forest" where they have huge painted wooden animals hidden in the trees and apparently this year there is a tree with eyes, nose and a mouth on it. If we didn't have the outside with other people option it could be a very long six weeks inside with Mommy! Dylan is in his own funny little state of mind. Everyday he runs up to the Christmas tree and screams "ohhhhhhh" until we turn on the lights and then he screams "ohhhhhhhh" even louder. He loves the lights. He loves to sit in anyone's lap and read books, usually about ten times. Still the master of repitition. Dylan is a very good communicator with very few words. He has added a few animals sounds to his list of grunts, growls and screams. My favorite right now is his shark noise that he will make as he chases us around with this funny little chomping shark. Trevor, Colter and Dylan are all into knights, castles, dragons and saving the Princess Mommy. Trevor made them all cardboard sheilds, swords, knifes etc and they run around the house saving everyone and pretend sword fighting. I am pretty convinced that aside from "mama", "dada", "dol-ta" (Colter), and "izzykitty" Dylan's newest word is "on-god" (on guard). I will put a pic of that funniness up top in a minute. I guess that is about it for now. Little Noah is starting his next round of procedures tomorrow. Please send positive thoughts and prayers to him tomorrow morning and then for his next open heart surgery that should take place on January 6. He is big and strong and we know he will pull through and be home in Telluride soon!

Powder Day!

Trevor and I got to go snowboarding together today! That is quite an event these days and we thank Modee for letting us out the door for a few hours. It was a BEAUTIFUL powder day with 14 inches of new snow and lifts opening all over the mountain, we saw lots of friends out playing today. Our friends Keith and Julie are visiting from Cali and we all had a blast. Did I mention that is was freezing cold? Not like a little bit of winter, but frostbite, bitter, chill you to the core cold. We were all recovering for hours after and I think Julie is still chilly. It is supposed to snow until Thursday, we'll see. Trevor took Colter out for a few runs in the afternoon and they made it all the way home on the road just before freezing to the point of crankiness. Skiing all the way home is one of Colter's favorite things to do. Colter and I went to see The Nutcracker on Friday night. It was very entertaining and I think he really liked it. Some of the plays and productions at our local theatre are surprisingly professional for such a small town, others are just fun to go to. This one falls into the second catagory. There were two really good dancers that were very nice to watch and then a bunch of people who love to be on stage and put on a great show! I love the music Colter recognized alot of it from listening to it on my IPOD. He has a great ear for music and an amazing memory for plays, books and music. He keeps telling me that he wants to be on stage and act in the plays, maybe when he is 6 or 7. He has started reading Dylan books from memory, and he is fairly accurate. Dylan continues to show us his personality, good and not so charming. He was sick this week for two days, high fever, pukes etc. Not so fun for anyone, but he recovered quickly and the rest of us seem to be missing out on this round. Colter only felt bad for a few hours. Mom and Dad's house got here this week and is now set on the basement. It looks pretty good, a few things to address and fix, but overall in very good shape. They should be living in it by Feb. I can't believe it is only two weeks till Christmas. This holiday season has gone by so quickly, I am very thankful for that, as the last few have been brutally long and not my favorite time of year. Hopefully I'll have some cute photos to post soon.

Santa, christmas trees, skiing...oh my.

Sorry, I know some of these are blurry- but they are worth it!Here is our week in review. It has been a good one. Our first round with Santa will have to be repeated for several reasons including Dylan was horrified and was either crying or diving away-- understandable, those costumes are scary-- and Colter got so excited about the pictures, he forgot to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. I'm sure we will find some more Santa visits in the area over the coming weeks. We went Chrismas Tree "hunting" last weekend. We went up to Karl and Anneliese's cabin and chopped down some huge trees and took the beautiful tops! Usually not looked upon as a good idea, but they are building a barn next summer and need the thick parts for timbers. Colter also dressed himself up as a tree so that Daddy could see him in the window when he drove up. Colter and I spent Sunday decorating the tree and getting the house ready for the holidays. Really cute. Dylan is starting to enjoy winter a bit more. He thought skiing on the Magic Carpet was a good time and loved chasing Colter down the run. I was holding him between my legs, of course, and Colter was racing ahead of us. I took both boys skiing on Monday. That was so much fun and also a bit tricky. Three sets of skiis, two kids and only two arms doesn't quite equal out. Colter was a huge helper and very patient with having to be back on the Magic Carpet--he is too big for that now you know. He is excited to teach Dylan to ski. Today is the boys first day of "Modee School" and they are having a great time. Colter is going to Rainbow School only once a week now and both boys are hangin' out with my mom on Thursdays. Colter has been so excited for this shift and has made big plans, I hope Mom is ready!

Ski season is here!

I have to admit that I hate to put a new post up as it will bump the last one down a bit and I think that picture of Dylan is so funny!
We are having a great Thanksgiving weekend with food, family and fun. It is that time in life when Trevor and I are realizing that we will be skiing on our OLD gear while the kids get NEW gear. I never understood why my parents didn't just buy all new stuff all the time- now I get it. Colter went to Bootdoctor's today and got his first new pair of ski boots (his others had been hand me downs, and lasted three years!) He was so excited after finding a pair of black, red and white boots that look like his black, red and white "race" skiis that he and Daddy went out on the slopes. His skiis are much bigger this year, so we were afraid he would have a difficult few days at the start----not the case at all. He had a great time and only fell down twice, one of those times was because he was skiing backwards! We are looking forward to a fun year on the hill with him. Dylan will now inherit the ladybug skiis and has been carrying them around rhe house all week. He puts them on the floor and stands on them, just like his brother. Dylan was pretty bent out of shape when Daddy and Colter took off down the slopes without him, so we will get him out on the Magic Carpet in a couple of days. Tomorrow we are going Christmas Tree hunting- hopefully the weather will improve a bit from the snow we have had the past few days.
Dylan is learning animal sounds these days and now has several different grunting noises that represent everything from a cow to an elephant. Pretty funny. Colter is still very curious and inquisitive and has always "just one more question" Today ended with "How do bees make their nest?" and "How did God make God?"

Off season? Seems busy to me.....

Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks. Winter visited in a big way and then it has actually warmed up again. Colter is really excited to help me shovel the snow, hopefully he will continue to be excited for years to come! We went sledding down at Town Park with our neighbors. I had to zoom in on Dylan for you because that was so stinkin' funny. That is what I mean when I say he is not impressed with the cold and snow so far. On the two sleds is Josh, Baby Roman, Jasmine, Rocky and Colter. These past few days have been busy. On Friday we went ice skating. Dylan loved it and pushed the walker all over the place. Colter was very excited and was skating around slowly with his skates this year, no walker. He did take Dylan around with the walker a bit and told him all about the skates he would get to wear when he was three. Colter was interviewing all of the other boys there to see how old they were and if they were playing hockey yet. He can play next year and he is counting the days. After that we went to Colter's friend Lily's 5 year old dinosaur birthday party. It was so cute! They had a fossil dig with geodes(sp?), amber and shark teeth, costume dress up play with a drama teacher, cookies and so much more. It is getting harder to keep up with these cool parties. Next up, Colter and Mommy date night. We went to dinner at Fat Alley with Jill and Booker than we all went to see the African Children's Choir at the Palm. It was a great show and I am so glad we went. Colter had a hard time with the orphan concept and felt very sad about these kids having no mommy's and daddy's. It took him most of the show to ask all of his questions about war and who takes care of these kids. He is very wise and has a deep sense of social justice. It will be interesting to see what he does with that when he grows up. It was a lot of activity for one day. Saturday was another day in Ridgway trying to make hydropower. Mom and Dad's house is coming along and we spent a nice sunny day playing with dirt and rocks, riding bikes and swimming in the hot springs. Today was more outdoor play with the neighbors, mostly Roark and Colter digging for more dinosaur bones. The sun was out and most of snow has melted, atleast on the south side of things. Ski season starts next week and we are excited!

Let it snow....

So tonight I was filming the boys running around the house, jumping off things, riding their big stuffed dinosaurs and Colter decides to tell the camera a very detailed story about a trail that his daddy took him on to go four wheeling......it was fun, lots of water, on and on...then as he is looking straight into the camera he says "OK guys, The End!---true story, really" It was not a true story, but it was a good one.
We went sledding today. It is officially winter, no going back now. We had a huge storm last week and went from pleasant fall days to cold and very snowy ones. Dylan is less than impreseed with the process of getting all of his snow clothes on to go outside. I can't say that he is any happier once he gets outside. He toddles around all bundled up like the Staypuff marshmellow man and screams for someone to pick him up. I think he takes after me and likes warm weather better! He will come to love it once he discovers the fun side of winter. I think he is going to love skiing, he likes to be in fast motion! This year is so fun with Colter, have I said that I love 4? What a fun age this has been so far. Another bonus is that he can get dressed to go outside, mostly. That is a huge milestone when that alone can take me 20 minutes for the two of them. He was climbing up the sledding hill alone today and getting all the way to the top! He loved it and can't wait to go skiing. He is also excited to get his new black and red racing skiis from Kendahl and pass his little red lady bug skiis to Dylan. I am excited to take him out on the slopes and see what he can do this year! We finished last season on blue runs with his favorite one being The Enchanted Forest. I am getting very excited for ski season for the first time in a few years!

Halloween and other fall fun

We have had a busy, fun-filled last week or so. Bonnie and Mimi flew in from Austin to spend some time with us, see Mom and Dad's new land and help Rob with Eli and Gideon while Sheila and Noah were back in the hospital for a few days. Although Colter was initially disappointed that Michael didn't pop out of Bonnie's suitcase, he recovered when they started baking pumpkin pies! He is already planning our next travel adventures to Bonaire, maybe Texas or Mexico- where ever Mom, just make sure Michael comes along! We had several nice walks and fun times while Bonnie and Mimi and the boys are all big fans of Bonnie's pancakes. Mimi brought each of the boys a handmade wooden cross with a child kneeling in prayer on the front. Colter and Dylan have theirs hung on the wall and now when Colter goes in his room he says "Hold on mom, I have to pray. Ok. I love you God, Amen." One time he said "Do you know why we have to say "Amen" to God? Cause that is how he says "Good Bye". Mom, does God only speak Spanish?" Yup, he keeps us on our toes. The weather has been amazing and we have been doing our best to soak it up. Just today it is starting to feel like winter is coming for good. It is actually shooting off some thunder and lightning right now! It was so nice on Halloween that I was wearing a sleeveless costume and flip flops. Pics are of our weekend with Mimi, Bonnie, Eli and Gideon and the Halloween parade down main street with my little Ninja and Tigger. I will have more Trick or Treat pictures soon. We went to a fun party on Friday night in town, ate pumpkin lasagna (very tasty in case you are wondering) and went trick or treating to a bunch of very scary houses. Colter was excited that he is a big boy now and can go after dark. Dylan was just excited to be in the middle of the action and really enjoyed grabbing the candy and shaking it. He did manage to get a few open and in his mouth. Next day was a fall party at Finn's house. We had a great big pile of leaves, pumpkin smashing, mountain biking in the river (oh wait that was just Colter and Finn-----they are good buddies these days and love to see what they can do), Trick or Treating to every door in the house- more tricks than treats for this game, and swimming in the pond! Yes, swimming..I'm not going to lie to ya, it was cold and I didn't get in very far, but some crazy folks went all the way across the pond! It was possibly the party of the year, rivalled only by Colter's birthday party. Dylan had a bunch of his little buddies there too and it is fun to see them begin to play together. Today we spent the day in Ridgway, playing at Modee and Pappy's land, hiking through the trees and up the mountainside and trying to make some hydropower. The learning curve has been steep for Trevor so far, but he actually got the plant to start up and run for over two days now. Next up is working on holding the power levels.

Pumpkin patch, pots and pans, Moab

The leaves are down

One big wind storm and the trees are ready for winter! The "forever" greens, as Colter calls them, now stand out on the mountainside. It has been a busy week or so and I am tired. We went to Moab last weekend and enjoyed 60 degree weather while it snowed and blowed back home. Some time at our favorite music park, some nice walks around town and some great yard time. Trevor went on a long motorcycle ride and Colter went with him for a four wheeler ride the next day. It was nice to get away and cold when we came home. The rest of this week has been sunny and mild (atleast in the middle of the day) and we have been soaking it up. Our new addiction around here???? FACEBOOK. Geez, I just figured out this blogging thing and then we gave in to those relentless Friend requests from Facebook. Now, Trevor and I are sitting next to each other on the couch, each with our computers looking up old friends from high school and checking in on people that we still see around town. Nice social life eh?
Dylan is getting to be such a little person. He still climbs and runs and jumps and twists and moves and moves and moves.....now he is starting to communicate a bit more and is asserting himself even more with other children. Was that a nice way of saying that he is stealing other kids toys and running? Colter is full of action and funny comments. Trevor's parents arrived last night and he proceeded to tell story after story at the dinner table including hand gestures, sound effects and appropriate punch lines. He decided tonight that he wants to go to Iceland like Aunt Ruth and ride in the boats that have wheels, we were looking at pictures on Facebook---- and then he asked "hey mom, where's Frog?" (Prague is where Ruth lives) Tonight after a discussion about borrowing another of Roark's toys and me telling him that he can only borrow one at a time, we came home to get the toy and go back and trade, he says "mom I want to borrow all of the cars, oh wait mom, my brain is talking to me" What is it saying Colter? "It is saying "only one car at a time, only one car at a time."" They can be taught! More from the land of off season later...

Beautiful day in the park

The first three pictures were from our adventure to Town Park today. We met up with friends Annika and her 6 month old Rider and also Sarah who is expecting Baby Stogner any day now. It was one of those amazing sunny, warm fall days that makes me love the season so much. We floated leaves down the river, made giant piles of leaves and jumped in them and took some great pictures! The fourth pic is from the window of my car as we were driving up valley near Illium and the last picture is from our deck! That is the view from our living room right now. I love it! Colter and Dylan loved playing in the fallen leaves and throwing them up in the air and at each other- a classic childhood comfort memory! Dylan is sliding down the hill in his picture, he truly has no fear these days. He is in constant motion and is starting to really get his big brother's attention- good and bad. Dylan loves everything Colter does and imitates as much as possible. For instance, Dylan watched Colter climb up in our tall barstools today to get something off of the chest height bar and then figured it out for himself and did it ten more times! Colter did have a good time teaching Dylan how to spin around in circles until they both fell over dizzy.

Last weekend we went to a birthday party and Oktoberfest. Both fun, but the weather was not ideal and luckily we were expecting a lot more snow than we actually received. Good news for me.

Thought I would add two more pictures to this post of me and the boys--

Photo from my phone

I'm trying out my new "crackberry" phone. Soon these phones will take over the world! Hopefully, there will be a beautiful picture of the aspen trees that Colter and I took from the gondola.

Pretty leaf collages....

The boys and I went on a beautiful walk today and collected lots of leaves. It is that bittersweet time of year and it is amazing to be here in the mountains! Colter came home and decided to make Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Lester a pretty leaf picture. He knows how much Aunt Bonnie likes the colors in the fall since she was here the last two years in September. After he finished his masterpiece he made one for Mimi and is planning on another for Micheal (at that point he told me it was "so he would know what he was missing") That kid cracks me up. Four years old is so much fun, actually he is "four and five quarters". I am really enjoying the stages that the boys are at right now. They are both so much fun to hang out with and they still like me! I don't know what age that ends, but I will be crying. Dylan is a strong willed little man and has a very good idea of what he wants and when. Let's just say that he is learning about Time-Outs months before Colter was introduced to the subject--and we thought Colter was a busy boy. After Dylan and I being gone in Denver for a while, Colter decided we needed some at home time and informed me that we could stay home and lay around for one whole week and then have some days in Moab. He has it all figured out.
Last weekend we all met up in Grand Junction. Trevor and Colter went to an Air Show where they saw the Blue Angels, a bi-plane, a stunt plane and lots of other good stuff. Colter cannot get over the diesel truck that had a jet engine. "Mom, it shot FIRE! And it raced the airplanes, and at the end it blew smoke and the plane flew through it and , and , and...." he can talk about that thing for hours. He met the driver and he got an autographed picture and "Oh my gosh Mom it went so fast! It was so COOL, MOM!" We stayed at Shawn and Jamie's house on Saturday night and had a great time. Colter and Brooklyn play so well together and we always enjoy our visits with them.
Noah is continuing to fight and improving everyday. It will be a long road, but I know he can pull it off!

Noah Blakney

Many of you may have noticed a gap in my posts. We have put our own adventure on hold as we are helping Rob, Sheila, Eli, Gideon and Noah with theirs. Little Noah is fighting hard and we are very hopeful. He was born on September 8, 2008 with a congenital heart defect known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome or HLHS. Please visit his CarePage website for up to the minute news. Go to www.carepages.com , register as a member and then click on the VISIT link then type NoahBlakney. That should take you there.
As far as our crew, we are OK. We did enjoy one nice day and night in Moab with beautiful weather and our friends John, Melissa and Brooke. When Noah is doing better, we will definately go back!

Blues and Brews

What a fun festival! The weather was beautiful, the music was great and the food and beer were plentiful. I ran my massage booth all weekend and stayed very busy. When Dylan got to warm, he would just walk up and climb into the ice chest for a while and hand people water and ice. I think he had about 100 pictures taken on peoples phones and cameras! The boys had a great time running around, dancing, playing with friends and on the giant slide and bungy thing. Yes that is my four year old in a harness, the guy pulled him down and then let go and Colter would spring way up in the air (over 20 feet!) and bounce up and down. He thought it was so funny, he did it three times! We are so lucky to live in such a breathtaking place with some much to do!

Welcome Race Fans......Ready, Set , GO!

The great 4 year old birthday weekend extravaganza is winding down. It was so much fun and the weather was amazing for all of our festivities!

Pic 1 is the line up for the big bike race. I have to say it, Colter won by a mile! He has practiced so long for this race and he was so happy. Most parents were surprised that he was riding so well for his age on just two wheels, you know Trevor was beaming. Trevor and Colter had even built some ramp jumps for the race course and he was flying over them. Eli did great as well. They were the only two without training wheels. All of the kids had fun on the ramps, there were tricycles, big wheels, bikes and some just running and jumping. He loved his new bike and probably did 100 laps around the little race course. It was a great party and all of his friends that made it had fun going over the ramps, eating cupcakes and cake, playing at the Imagination Station and in the sand at the volleyball courts.

Pic 2 is Colter on the little four wheeler in his new to him, way to big chest protector and helmet for motorcycling (when he is about 10!) As you can see from Pic 3, both boys love to dress up and wear it around.

Pic 4 shows the new birthday bike. It has stunt pegs. Colter has no idea what to do with them, thank goodness, but he knows they are cool!

Pic 5 is so funny to me. Colter packed all of his camping gear in the back of the truck, including the four wheeler---just like Dad!

No, Mom this is how it goes.....

The first two are of Colter and Eli at gymnastics, the next two are in the ghost town of Tomboy (for you readers out there, the book Tomboy Bride is a good one)

We loved the last few days of summer and are welcoming the first days of fall. The weather has shifted, it was 34 degress this morning and we had ice on our windshield.

Eli and Colter are in gymnastics every Thurs. and they are doing great. They both listen to the teachers and love jumping from the trampoline into the foam pit. The car rides back and forth to Montrose have been both educational and entertaining. Almost four year old minds are a fun and exciting place and I love listening to the boys tell stories and jokes. It turns out Colter got his imagination back from Mexico and is happy to have it home. He gave me a lesson today about money. We were leaving lunch and the restaraunt had a row of those evil quarter toy/candy machines. He and Eli asked for a treat and I said "Next time if you want a treat from these machines, you should bring money from your piggy bank." Colter's answer "No Mom, let me tell you how it goes. The kid asks the grown up for money, the grown up gives the kid money and the kid buys a TREAT!" Needless to say, he didn't get his treat, but he is a very good problem solver.

Trevor's birthday was last Friday and he celebrated with a motorcycle ride with his friends and a weekend with us. We went over Imogene Pass on Monday, mostly because I had never done it before. It is the same road the boys went over a couple of weeks ago. Colter offered to hold my hand if I was scared and I took him up on it a couple of times! It was a beautiful drive and we ended up in Ouray for a late lunch and then to Ridgway for a soak at Orvis.

Colter's birthday is tomorrow. I can't believe he is already four! He is an amazing little man and I love him so much. For the last couple of months he has been planning his birthday bash. It is to be a BMX bike race party in Town Park. on Saturday.

More summer fun......

We finished up our week of soccer camp with amazing Coach Dave. How many almost four year olds do you know that get to go to camp with an "International Soccer Coach"? Yeah, only the best for our kids! It was a beautiful sunny week with lots of laughing and some learning. The first pic shows most of the group working hard at dribbling drills with our alpine vistas in the background. Next is Colter and Chloe goofing around when I asked them to pose. No. 3 is Dylan with Bryan, Shai Ann and her big sis Ayla.

Our weekend adventure took us to Grand J, Glenwood and the Upper C. We took Tim to catch his train to Cali and all weekend when Colter saw an Amtrak he would yell out "HEY, Tim we're gonna beat you there!" Next we went to Glenwood to meet Nana and Janet so that Mom could get her new car. We all went rafting Sat. afternoon from No Name to Two Rivers. It was perfect weather and we even stopped at some hot springs on the side of the river. Nana and Janet only had one rogue wave jump over the side and get them. I'll get some of those pics from Mom and post soon.

On Sunday we went up to Rancho and ran into Jen and Robert------what great timing! Nicole (Steve's soon to be step daughter) joined us and Colter was in love! He spent the entire day trying to entertain her and show all of his skills. Dylan tried to get in on the action too, but he doesn't have as much game as his big bro. We had a great afternoon trip and even stopped at the dinosaur tracks along the way. Colter was very impressed. We spent the night at Robert and Vannie's house in Eagle. They were very nice to host our travelling circus, especially since they have a three week old cutie named Megan and a two year old named Jack. It was nice to show up and see old friends with our random unplanned weekend style!

We stuck with the dinosaur theme with a stop at the Dinosaur Museum in Fruita on the way home. Colter was just about beside himself with this one and it got us some great behavior the entire car ride! The last two pics are from there.

Dylan is in constant motion with no more crawling. He is running and climbing everywhere and likes to be held less and less. He is also becoming more of fan of Daddy these days. Tonight he actually crawled out of my lap and onto Trevor's chest to fall asleep! Daddy is so happy and I'm a bit sad. My baby is growing up so fast!