Fun on the 26th

"Me not Tommy, me SUPERman!!"
Superhero through and through...such a BIG boy wearing "UNDERwear."
Noah's first attempt at rice cereal...he's not a big fan so far. Tommy LOVES that Noah is now eating his FAVORITE food..."see-yull!!!" Tommy asks for see-yull at least twice a day, if not more!

Outside time with Gammy and Popsy by our walking and bike trail.
Paris loves her "Jackie," a polar bear from Poppy. She got the prized mystery gift from him this year!

Gammy and Popsy's Christmas Visit 2010

Five kiddos with their Gammy on Christmas morning.
Girls decked in red on Christmas Eve.
Playing Black Jack and War card games with Popsy on the 24th. Poor Gammy hearing MUCH chaos from the main floor with happy screaming, jumping, banging while she was laid up in the basement guest room with a terrible migraine. Sad! Praise God she got some medicine and was better for Christmas Day!

Paris' Second Riding Lesson

Christmas Week 2010

Gammy and Popsy arrived on Thursday, Dec. 23rd, and we went straight from DIA to Paris' second riding lesson. It was so fun to share the watching experience with Gammy and Popsy. Paris was so pleased.
Mommy with her boys...Tommy LOVES his monkey shirt (a beloved hand-me-down) from Fletcher's kindergarten days in Ashburn. Tommy will get to wear it again next year, too.
Trying to get pictures with all five of them (cheerfully together) was nearly impossible!

Getting excited to see these two in NC next month!

The Denver zoo is really fun, but especially, when Gammy and Popsy are with us!

Fletcher got to baptize Paris

Fletcher shared the gospel with Paris on June 8, 2009 and she said, "I want to pray and ask Jesus to be my Savior." Six year old Fletcher led his four and a half year old sister through a prayer that went something like this, "Dear Jesus, I'm a sinner. Sinners die. I want to be forgiven of my sins, Jesus. Please come into my heart. Thank you for being my Savior. Amen." I got to hear the whole conversation about sin, death, and being separated from God by our sin from the kitchen as they talked around the picnic table on the back porch when we lived in the Walsh's house. I was eavesdropping on them as I put lunch together. I'd heard him sharing Truth with her in the past and she'd always say with an annoyed tone, "Fletcher, I know!!" Occasionally, she'd say, "Fletcher, stop telling me that!" But not on June 8th. She listened quietly. Apparently her heart was softened because she had ears to hear what he was communicating. The cool thing about June 8th is that I'd prayed that same prayer asking for Jesus to forgive me of my sins and be my Savior sixteen years ago to the day! Paris became my sister in Christ that day...my daughter always and now my sister, too! I am sixteen years older than her in Christ. God's timing is so fun!

Our adventure at the Buckhorn (circa 1893)

The Buckhorn was started in 1893 and is Denver's oldest restaurant. They are famous for their ambiance as well as their quality food...almost every imaginable animal hangs on their wall somewhere (and it's not a huge restaurant, quite small in fact!) They had SO many choices of meat (supposedly you can point to the animal on the wall and say you'll have that tonight for dinner!) Sarah had her heart set on trying rattlesnake so she tried it in the form of rattlesnake queso (chewy I'd say!) I ordered duck and the sauce was good; the dish was okay overall. The elk was by far the best meat ordered by our party (thanks to Mom who picked it! We'd heard it was the favorite dish to order at the Buckhorn.) The quail was also good. Paris LOVED her Daddy's ribs (of course, Charlie ordered RIBS, his favorite!) Parie still talks about how good she thought they were, "I Woved Daddy's wibs!"

Kids' first ski lesson (thanks Gammy and Popsy!!!)

We headed up to Loveland for the first of three ski lessons the Thursday that Gammy and Popsy were in town. We all decided we are a Thursday ski family....awesome day to go to Loveland! An hour and a half drive, free (close!!) parking, GREAT SKI INSTRUCTORS...we LOVE mr. steve and "marley" who the kids got for their first lesson. Mr. Steve was SO kind, patient, and helpful to Paris and Fletch. Paris said on the way home, "Mom, Mr. Steve was my nicest teacher EVER!!" Sarah's coach, whom we nicknamed "Marley" b/c of his (fake) dreds on his ski hat, was the greatest as well. He and Steve praised the kids highly and were super sweet to them the whole day. We loved Loveland! The kids could NOT wait until their next lesson!

New Year FUN

Some great pictures from January 2010!