Thanksgiving 2013

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving at our house with just the 4 of us for the first time ever. We had a lovely day that started with pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes and the parade, followed by a ‘turkey hunt’ hike with our friends Tanja and Lyra. Pumpkin grilled cheeses for lunch and homemade pumpkin bread for a snack. It was a gorgeous day so Lilly got some bike practice in before we headed home to finish making our Thanksgiving Day feast. This has been an incredible year and we have so much to be thankful for!

For the complete set of photos, click here.

8 Year Anniversary

Happy 8 Year Anniversary to my #1 Love! We spent the evening in the best way possible, dinner and looking through our wedding album with the girls, good beer from the corner brewery, and Love Actually.

Picture Perfect

Love this photo from our short hike with Nana and Boppa on a picture perfect Colorado day!

Ski School

L has had an incredibly busy Fall with school, her sports class, private swim lessons, and now ski school at Shredder. She has really been enjoying ski school and surprising us with how well she is doing. They go over basic fundamentals and technique, and she is already doing turns down the big hill with the older kids. That’s my girl!

Sisterly Love

I love the bond that Lilly and Robin share as sisters. Today I was starting dinner when the girls were playing downstairs and I overheard this entirely unprompted mini-conversation between the two that made my heart sing.

Lilly (to Robin): “Are you best friends with me?”

Robin: “Unh-hunh” (yes)

Lilly: “I’m best friends with YOU! But most of all, I love you more than anyone else.”

No Training Wheels Required

November 14th – after realizing that Lilly has practically outgrown her Strider bike and is accomplished at balancing on it, I pick up a $15 20″ bike for Lilly just to ‘try it out’ and see if she is ready. We spend 15 or 20 minutes during R’s nap riding up and down the sidewalk and talking about safety rules, but I am helping her at all times.

November 15th – I pick up a slightly smaller bike (12.5″) thinking that it might fit her better. We spend a few minutes riding up and down the sidewalks again. Then Nana and Boppa come over and the first time L is on her bike she takes off! Woohoo!!

Lilly’s Swim Lessons

After not being enrolled in any classes (aside from school) or swim lessons for some time, we decided to sign Lilly up for private swim lessons with an instructor at CAC for awhile. Bill has been taking her while I spend time with Robin, but last weekend I had the chance to see how Lilly is doing and I was amazed at her progress! She did the backstroke for almost the entire length of the pool (35 meters) while I was there and is also able to do a (very messy) forward crawl for a good 8+ feet. I was exhausted watching her – it is so much work but she enjoyed every minute and had an accomplished smile on her face at the end. Way to go, Lilly!

Bedtime Conversation w/Lilly

Okay, so Lilly is four years old and I’m already finding it difficult to answer the many, many questions that she has. She is in a newly intelligent phase of wanting to understand things. Tonight Bill put her to sleep as usual (after reading a book about machines and Curious George) and we were cleaning up when 5 minutes later Lilly calls me in to her room to ask me these questions:

L: “Mommy, what are spiders made of?”

Me: Well, spiders are a living thing so they are made from similar things like you and me…

L: “No, but if there were no spiders in the world, then how did they even get here?”

Me: …pause…okay, say something smart Kristy…blah blah blah something about evolution

L: “And what if there was an animal that only ate spiders but there were no spiders?”

Me: Then that would be really sad because the animal wouldn’t survive since there’s nothing left for it to eat. That’s why we have to take special care of all living things.

L: “Okay, goodnight, Mommy.” (satisfied with my answers for now)

Not only will I not be able to help her with math once she reaches the 3rd or 4th grade (that will be Bill’s territory), but I am finding the ‘simple’ day to day tasks of answering her questions and stimulating her curiosity to be a full time job!