Linda came for a visit just before Christmas. On the day she came, we went out for dinner to a very interesting "country style" restaurant and Santa was there. Kate had her picture taken with him, and was very excited about it. Athena sat on his lap reluctantly, and Amber declined for the first time this year. After dinner we went into downtown Denver and rode a horse drawn carriage and saw the Christmas lights. We had a great time. Thanks Grandma Nink Nink!
We got our tree up last weekend and decorated it with the girls. It's always fun to look at the ornaments we've collected over the years and to reminisce. This is the first year Kate's been able to really help. It was great to have Grandude her as well.
For a couple of weeks now, whenever we ask Kate what she wants Santa to bring her for Christmas, she tell us carrots! I have no idea why she wants carrots, she doesn't even like them. I asked her why and she said, "so I can crunch them, Mommy!" I guess Kate will be getting carrots in her stocking this year.
I haven't gotten anything posted in a while, so here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks. I don't have any great shots, but you can see a little of what we've been up to.
We played Apples to Apples the other night with the whole family (Kate played with play doh). This is a great family game. Here's Mark's poker face, and Amber signaling Athena across the table.
Mark and the girls hung lights up outside.
We've been having really cold weather lately, so the kids have been stuck in the house. They had been running around being rowdy all day, and this is how Mark dealt with it.
Here are Kate and Mark being silly.
We had a very nice Thanksgiving. It was great to spend the day cooking and eating. Athena was a great helper all day. Kate "helped" too. She stood on a chair by the counter carefully watching me prepare the turkey. I turned around for a minute, and when I looked back, Kate was licking the raw turkey! Then she exclaimed that it was squishy. I was horrified!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Kate inherited this Bronco's jersey from Athena a while back. It's obviously too big, and Kate usually refuses to wear it when I try to put it on her when Mark is watching a game. I picked out this cute outfit for Kate to wear to school the other day, and she insisted on wearing the "Bronco dress" as she calls it. She is very opinionated these days.
Today is Mimi's Birthday. Amber, Athena and Kate wanted to wish her a happy birthday. We love you Mimi! You're the best Mimi ever!
I have a couple of new kids that I'm watching now. This is Spencer, she is exactly Kate's age (within a couple of days). They have been having a great time together, as you can see!
Kate loves to cook, and do everything that Mommy does. While we were cooking, Kate decided that the counter needed cleaning. So funny.
While I was in the bathroom the other morning, Kate decided to "feed" Toby. After she had dumped dog food all over the floor, she proceeded to feed Toby one piece at a time. Toby loved the attention, until I came and spoiled all the fun and told Kate she had to clean it up.
I decided I better help Kate find something constructive to do, so I let her use watercolors for the first time.
We've been having really nice weather, so we took a hike down to the lake and had snacks in the afternoon. We had a great day.
We had a great Halloween. Kate dressed up as a giraffe and had tons of fun trick-or-treating in downtown Evergreen.
Kate had lots of fun carving pumpkins with Mimi and Papa here. Holidays are much more fun when you have little ones to enjoy them with!
Kate couldn't wait to get her snow pants on.
In the snow...
