Passover

Jen was gracious enough to host Passover dinner for the whole (and extended) family and made it really fun for everyone.  She bought masks and games and lots of other creative stuff to make the seder fun and understandable for the kids, with food and wine to make it equally delicious for the adults!!

All 8 kids were attentive for the most part - excited to see what props from their goodie bags would be next

Then they took turns saying what they would take with them if they had to leave the house quickly to journey across the desert -- Isaac said "my wallet" (hilarious for many reasons, one of which is that he doesn't have a wallet) 

then they rebuilt the egyptian temples with blocks

Having the opportunity to spend holidays with the family - even when they are in the middle of the week - is one of the really special parts of being here for the kids and for us.

More snow days!!

Okay- it's April 15th and we are over the snow and ready for Spring! Unfortunately, the weather gods of Colorado disagree and we have about a foot accumulated with the predictions calling for that much more overnight and tomorrow morning! How is it possible that we were playing outside with no jackets yesterday?? At least Isaac, Caitlin and Bill made the best of it by roasting marshmallows in the wood burning stove :)

Colorado Springs

Bill and I had a fantastic weekend in Colorado Springs -- including a couple of beautiful hikes around the Garden of the Gods and up the "Incline". The weather was beyond gorgeous, as were the views.

Afterward we relaxed at the beautiful Broadmoor, had a delicious dinner, drank too much wine, and slept late -- a perfect weekend away!

St Paddy's Day

We started off the day with a trip down south to visit Grandma Rhoda at the nursing home.  Grandma Gerri brought clover glasses that the kids loved and we joined Grandma Rhoda for a music lesson which was as much fun for the kids as it was for the grownups :)

Next we stopped off at a friend's birthday party and got to see the "real Elmo" which absolutely blew the kids' minds :)

Then we headed home in time for a big St. Patrick's Day feast with homemade corned beef, cabbage, soda bread, and a LOT of beer and a whole bunch of friends...with kids...for a fun, chaotic party. No pictures of the actual party, but I did snap a cute one of the kids with the Anderson siblings before everyone else showed up.

Caitlin's First Haircut!!

Although I had to promise both Bill and Isaac we wouldn't get a lot cut off, we finally got Caitlin her first haircut.  She was super-excited and sat very still the whole time, watching everything the stylist did carefully.  They only cut a half an inch - just to make it healthier, but she told me that it felt different afterward :)  

She picked out pink and purple bows (she couldn't pick just one favorite color) for her adorable post-cut hairdo, and a matching pink lollipop and already can't wait to go back for her next haircut.  Bill would be happy to let it keep growing forever... :)