Happy 4th!!

Keillor celebrated his 4th Birthday this last week and what fun he had. He and his friend's made Camouflage shirts with paint (which took about 4 minutes), and snake hunt with plastic snakes, and "water fun" with water guns and water balloons. His theme was Camo. Whenever we would ask him what he wanted for his birthday, it always was proceeded with "camouflage". It couldn't be a backpack, it had to be a camo backpack. Helmet? Silly parent! It had to be a Camo helmet. Trash Truck? Wrong again. It was a camo trash truck. As there is no such thing in the real world as a camo trash truck, his Grandma bought a trash truck that was multi-hued, and camo duct tape, and covered the whole truck with camo duct tape. He will probably be asking for a camo colored car any day.


Birthday cake with a transforming tank? What could be better? Oh yeah, a camouflage transforming tank!

Lorna was very excited to show off her taffy that she grabbed when the pinata was broken open. Don't let Daddy see me chewing on that sweet tasty morsel!









On the weekend, the celebration continued, as his Tia took him to the Air and Space Museum. He was enthralled with all the big planes, and loved his special ride sitting in a helicopter. What has two thumbs and loves missiles?...... This guy!

Finally back

Sorry it has been such a long time! Almost 1 full year since some sort of update for the masses. Or at least what I think might be masses. Maybe it is just 3 people......

Anyway, I will try to update more regularly. I don't know about the rest of you, but blogging seems daunting to me. I feel that if I have gone a month or more, I need to update with some grandious post that has people either laughing or crying.... or both. I think I need to just focus on getting something down. More for my recollection and enjoyment than others. I am sure at some point I will look back on this and smile with warm memories of the thoughts that were fleeting at the time, and only triggered the memory by re-reading the adventures.

So trying to update for the past year would be impossible. Here are some updates. Kinda like a Christmas Card, but more like a Cinco de Mayo Card. Happy 5th of May everyone!
1.) Fun adventure in Oregon with the extended McClellan clan. This involved walking on the beach, and the kids looking for the "pirate's" treasure that Grandma Jody and Grandpa Tom hid. The kiddos sure do love their new cousin Silas.
2.) Lorna turns 1, and Maya turns 6. M enters the first grade and takes off reading like a champ.
3.) Skiing in Breck and Beaver Creek with Gma Sandy and Gpa Ron. Well, at least Gma Sandy. Ron ended up busting both knees off of a ladder, so only Sandy was able to ski this season. The kids will be ready for 2012-13.
4.) M finally took off her training wheels! It felt as if she was ready forever, but finally after getting on a road that was straight, and not our round cul-de-sac, she picked it up easy. Looks like I should have been looking for a straight road earlier!
5.) We have chickens! Urban farming here I come. 4 eggs a day almost every day. I think it is finally down to around 3-4 bucks a dozen, but it is pretty fun to go out and grab our own eggs.
6.) Father Daughter dance at M's school. I was pretty happy to be able to where my motorcycle jacket again.

I will hopefully update again soon! See you all then.

K turns 3!

K had his B-day a few weeks ago, and what fun he had! We had the full families over for a great time. K got a new bike, which he loved. We will have to work on his peddling skills, as his current skills involve me pushing him while he laughs and wiggles the handlebars back and forth. It seems to be a current theme, as I was his main controller while skiing as well! Thanks to all the great gifts of trucks, outdoor equipment and dinosaurs! He plays with them alot.

 He was pretty psyched about his birthday cake too. The cake itself? Secondary. He hardly ate any. But the excavator and dumptruck on the cake? Now those were cool! He ate about 2 bites of the cake, but is still playing with the excavator 3 weeks later.

I got to enjoy holding my new nephew at the party as well. He was such a sweet baby. It is amazing how you think that your own 11 month old is so small, but once you hold a 2 week old, the 11-month old then seems gigantic! Everything is relative, isn't it?

Running the Bases

The kids got an opportunity to run the bases at Coors Field. They all had a blast, and Debbie even got to run because, well, Lorna just can't quite do it herself. I know she at least felt the significance of being on the field. Hopefully the kids will understand someday that they got to run the same bases that Tulo does.

K has found a new passion for crazy dressing. He and an older kid of our friend have connected on a new level. K becomes his mannequin, and he just sits there and lets the creativity juices flow! Hats, huge sweaters, funny glasses, good accessories. They both have a ton of fun. He also currently has his toenails painted dark red. Nothing like having a kid with a bunch of flair.

Easter Dust Bunnies

Happy May everyone. Easter came late this year, but that did not deter the kids from enjoying the spring (or snowy?) weather and find what the Easter Bunny had left them. I am not sure why the Easter Bunny mistakenly left 24 months of candy for the kids on one day. I may have to talk to him next year.............

Snow on our Tulips outside. Only 300 tulips to look at! Maybe 500 by next year!

The kids met their new cousin Silas in March. What a cute and lovable kid his is. It is amazing to see their gentleness with little ones. And now Lorna no longer seems small. She is HUGE next to a 5 pounder!

I am not sure if you can tell, but we are so lucky to have kids who have fun together.............. most of the time!

Rocket Skiing

For Spring Break we got to go and visit Beaver Creek with the Cousins and try our hand at skiing. Maya took a day and a half of lessons, and then was ready to go on the big hill. We took some runs on the bottom, and then ventured all the way to the top. She has the "pizza" stop down pat. We are expecting some jumps and rotations out of her this next year. Maybe she can create her own trick called the "pizza-wedge-lobster-hands-720". I think it'll catch on. We would show you some pictures, but our camera saw an untimely end. Good thing we had our video to capture the rare moments.








Keillor also had a great time. I put him on the leash, and he was off to the races. I believe his most common words while on the mountain were "Go faster daddy!". Must be nice being able to point your sticks down the hill and not worry about gravity.





Lorna is also moving around like a champ. If there is something on the floor that she shouldn't have, she beelines to it without hesitation. This video shows her army crawl, which is from back in March. She is now fully mobile on the floor, and has started to learn the stairs. As Maya says (becuase she hears us say it!) "We are in trouble now!"

Kids say the darndest things!

Another month has gone by so fast! Snow in the mountains and attempts at skiing at Breck with the kids. M took 5 runs and K took 4. M had a blast, but at the bottom of each "run", she would ask me, "Are we done?" I would say "No, just 3 more times." She would then resign herself to the treachery of me pushing her 50 yards up the hill, and then scream with delight as she sped down the hill with me running next to her. A successful first try at skiing for both of them.

In preparation for the gardening season, we have 3 yards of compost and 3 yards of mulch delivered to our driveway. Seems like way too much to go into our garden, but I am sure we will manage! K & M were very helpful, taking wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of dirt to follow me to the garden with my load. K decided that it was boring to just wheel the barrow to the backyard, so he would actually pick up his wheelbarrow and carry it. I wish I had that superhuman strength to do the same.

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Funny Quotes by Maya:

During a movie the other day, the movie states "there is no Easter bunny, no tooth fairy and no Queen of England". Maya asks "Is there a Queen of England?" Grandma answered that of course there was a Queen of England, to which Maya replies, "Well, I know the other two are real!"....... Long live the Queen!

L is now crawling around and sitting up from any position. She has also decided that walking would be a boring next step, and has decided to take up the hula hoop. M says, "Uh, oh. Now we are in trouble!"