F-I-V-E!

What a year it has been for this little man! The changes I have seen over the past 12 months are remarkable. Luke is becoming a boy. Not a toddler but a full fledged boy. 347 questions each day, inquistive, helpful, loving, and full of energy. His tender heart shows all its colors when he takes care of James and his eye's get teary at the thought of hurting another. He is sensitive and sweet, this boy aims to please. 

 This year he wanted a birthday party, so a birthday party we had! We had lots of giggling boys and girls to help us celebrate and best of all, Grams and Pax were here. It was an obstacle challenge party in our backyard-  the sticky cotton ball game.....

dangling donuts.......

squirting guns......balloon races and a pinata......

Happy 5th Birhday my Lukester!

Professionals.

 Grams and Pax have become professional travlers. They were sweet enough to come out and celebrate Luke's birthday with us.  Everyone was excited and they got a big welcome at the airport!

This picture was taken at the bike park, also known as the "taco". Lucky for us, no one suffered a heart attack as Luke was performing his new bike tricks- riding on the seat and dropping into the skate park from the highest point. Eli is just as daring on his cute little skuut.

Everyone was excited when James finally let Grams hold him. That boy is a momma's boy, shy's away but this was Grams lucky day and look, James is even smiling.

Thanks for coming Grams and Pax, we will cherish these memories made.

Happy Easter!

Say what?

Sweet Baby James.

Dear Sweet Baby James,

Is it really almost a year since you came into our lives? Funny how you never can imagine life any different and then your sweet smile expanded my heart ten fold, completing our family. Your delivery should have clued me into your personality from the get go, laid back and in no rush at all. You watch your older brothers play, anxious to get a hold of a ball, always beaming from ear to ear but content in your momma's lap. No need to walk or even crawl for that matter, you would prefer a hug and sweet kiss on your cheek. You love it when dad hums in your ear and holds you close. Often times if you are crying it is because you want to be held and loved on. Your love of food and sleep can not be forgotten. Down at 5:30pm and up at 6:30am make for a well rounded night. You love quinoa and salmon burgers, avocado and banana, green smoothies and english muffins, often times eating more than your older brothers. You are such a sweet miracle and God has so truly opened my heart with you as my third son. Thank you Sweet Baby James for all of your love!

A family affair.

This year we all took up snowshoeing. No better way to spend an afternoon than bundled up, making fresh tracks in 2 feet of snow in South Valley.

Rub a dub dub....

three boys in the tub. Seriously, having them all take a bath at once is sooo much easier and lots more fun. Everyone gets drenched!

My wish for these three boys is that they will share as many laughs as best friends in adulthood as they do as children.

3, couldn't be!

How is it that Eli is already 3? We decided to host a big birthday bash for the first time EVER. Usually we keep birthdays low key, family only, but the boys asked for a party this year so we decided to go for it. 18 kiddos, 22 parents, jumping, screaming and tumbling. The Little Gym was the perfect spot. The line of the day, "Eli, how old are you?" Eli answers confidently, "16!"

Eli, my love, your heart is full of fire and compassion. As much as you love to win, you love to comfort. Your spunk, determination, and sweet ways surprise me everyday. You are pint size but so daring and brave, keeping up with and standing up to your big brother. You never miss a beat and truly love to learn. My most favorite times are when I find you covered in books sleeping in your bed or organizing all of your dinosaur cards or race cars in a row on the table.

I am so lucky to be your mommy and love you to the moon and back!

Going for it.

So we finally decided on homeschooling Luke. Phew, it was all a bit rocky for awhile. We live a few blocks from one of the best elementary schools in the state and have an amazing community of parents and families to fraternize with. Why would we consider anything else? For us, it feels like the right path to take. I am working on getting a curriculum together now and figuring out our schedule. Luke is also enrolled in a program called HOPE which is basically a co op for homeschool parents and will start in August. All of it is a bit overwhelming but, seriously, I will research this thing to death if I let myself. I just need to jump in with two feet. My heart is in the right place and I am so grateful for this opportunity to teach, learn and be such a huge part of my son's life. We have not officially started but so love this break through moment Luke had the other day.

Bad things come in 3's.

So, it all hit at once.

1. The stomach bug- three kiddos over 5 days and one trip to the ER while Matt was out of town. Sleepless night full of worry, countless loads of laundry, lots of time spent disinfecting. Luckily (or unluckily) I got it the day after he got home. At least I was able to lock myself in our room and rest for a quick recovery.

2. A dog bite. I take pilates classes at an in home studio where the instructor allows her dog to stay while we work out. He is a rescued, albino, mostly blind and mostly deaf great dane. About 180 lbs and big. Normally he is gentle and just lays quietly on the ground next to my machine. This particular morning, as I went to pull my ponytail from behind my head he took my neck in his mouth and bit me. Luckily (or unluckily) if he had wanted to really hurt me he could have and all I got was this-

which warranted a round of antibiotics and some apprehension about dogs.

3. All others pale in comparison to when my mom called to tell me her doctor had found a polyp on her colon during her last colonoscopy. Colon cancer runs in our family with my aunt passing away at a young age with it. My mother gets checked every two years so as optimistic as we all wanted to be it rang too close to our hearts. The next procedure brought stress as the doctor never followed up and a nurse ended up telling my mother, on the phone, she had colon cancer and the doctor would call her soon. Turns out the sample had to be sent for a second opinion which resulted in laparoscopic surgery to remove it. All in all, luckily (or unluckily), we are as thankful as ever it was PREcancerous, is now removed and my mother is recovering. We are counting our blessings and sending sweet prayers to my momma.

Hoping the next several months are uneventful.

And then there was 1.

1 child in diapers, really? Oh yeah, with a huge sigh of relief. This is how it all went down- 3 days of Eli by my side. Teaching him how to notice the urge and encouraging him to run to the bathroom. Lots of praise, jumping up and down and high fives. Throwing away ALL the diapers and staying dry through naps and bedtime. This kid knows how to rock it!

Some serious moves.

So close yet so far away.

All you need.

Sometimes all you need is finding a Chick Hicks matchbox in your green smoothie to turn a grouchy mom into a smiling one. No joke, the car came shooting out of the ice dispenser and landed right in my mug. Haha.

We love it!

We were all thrilled when Aunt Dana and Gino made the trek to Colorado for a visit, the only missing piece was Uncle Sammy (next time, we hope!) To say that Luke and Eli were excited was an understatement, they were beyond thrilled. And James actually let someone hold him, it was like I was on vacation! The boys showed off their mad gymnastic's skills at Little Gym, the big boys headed up to Copper Mountain for some skiing and sledding, there were S'mores (of course) and Minute to Win It. Aunt Dana even broke down and spent an afternoon playing Mad Scientists with Luke and his experiment kit.

If you ask Luke about his Aunt Dana he says, "She is smiley and always funny. She says, "I hope you eat all your dinner so I don't call the dupa police." And Gino has grown into such a handsome and caring young man. When most college kids would prefer to be out cruising the town, Gino is right at home reading books to these little guys. Their hearts were overflowing with love and eyes were filled with tears when we all had to hug good bye. These memories will be etched in their little hearts forever.

Granby Ranch.

We took a family ski vacation to Granby Ranch. Beautiful weather, me getting my bearings on a board again, Luke catching onto skiing and Eli making his way down the magic carpet made for a great long weekend.

By the end of the weekend Matt and Luke were cruising down the blue runs. Matt said it was one of the best days of his life. The love you can feel for your child is something so hard to explain but you know that your parent's love for you is just the same. To be loved and return that love is the greatest of all gifts.