Changing weather

 The changing of the clocks, and the shift in the weather bring such incredible hope. Something internally changes and hope in renewed that winter will end.
This past week we were sure to spend time outdoors. The kids rode bikes on campus. (Lilia has the biggest smile on her face in this picture.)
Alex and I went hiking on Wednesday when it was almost 60 degrees. We stopped for lunch at Pei Wei and headed to the Wissahickon.
We started at the Valley Green entrance and headed to the left of the parking lot, maybe north. We hiked all the way to the next bridge and back. It was a grand total of 2.5 miles! The trail was muddy and icy in most places, but we loved it. One thing my dad passed on to me was a love for nature and the outdoors. Now I get to pass that onto my kids.
As we started off on the trail Alex's words were beaming with excitement. At one point he said, "Can we do this every day after school?"
The guy at Pei Wei gave us a ton of fortune cookies. We packed some for fuel to hike. However by the end, no amount of fortune cookies helped Alex. He was wiped! I was so proud of him once we reached the last stretch on the trail, which sadly is up hill. He's my long distance, endurance guy.

 He asked me at several points to take his picture. He also wanted to take mine. Oh, that boy is so cute! What a joy and a delight he is growing up to be!

Yellow Belt!

On March 4th the kids finally got their yellow belts! They've worked so incredibly hard focusing on formations, punches and kicks. Now that they are in an older class they do a lot more sparring.

Lilia's 8th Birthday

 This year I gave Lilia the option to go to Sweet-n-Sassy with a girl friend or to have a party at our house. She chose a party and she wanted it to be a Lego Friends themed party. I was thankful to already have some great ideas in my arsenal of party planning. We stole some ideas from Alex's in October. However I did try to keep things more simple.

On Thursday, March 6th we had a huge snow storm dumping 7.5 inches throughout the entire day. The kids had no school Thursday nor Friday. That also meant that I could use the flowers I bought for the demonstration of an American wedding that was to be held on Penn's campus Thursday evening. So our house was booming with flowers. It looked like a flower shop!

 Aunt Karen and Jesse were able to come in for Lilia's party. It was so wonderful and special to have them there. I know it meant a lot to Lilia (and my mom) to have her there.







We FaceTimed with Grammy and Grandpop back in CO. They watched Lilia open her present. They got her a riding lesson with Sarah. Mom made Lilia the most thoughtful journal as another gift.

 She got three Lego sets and had them all built by dinner Sunday evening.






We played a few awesome games. I did another Lego Bingo, but a Friends version. I found another game on Pinterest. You have a bucket/pile of legos. Roll the dice and what ever number you roll is the number of legos you pick up. Go around the circle until all of the legos are gone. Then the kids create something and explain it. There were some pretty fun creations.

And of course...photo booth! I made new girl faces (this time out of yellow cardstock, DUH - why didn't I think of that last time!)

We sang to my beautiful birthday girl. Oh I love her smile, and her laughter. It brings such joy to my heart. Happy 8th birthday my beautiful, sweet little angel pie! I love you Lilia.

Happy 1st Birthday Twins!

Myself with Claire

 Their birthday was February 4th, but you can see from my recent history that I haven't been as up to date on blogging. I blame it on Instagram. The pictures/moments/stories I would post here, I just instantly upload for family and close friends to instantly enjoy.
Alright, enough excuses...
So Claire and Naomi turned one!!! Matt and AnnMarie had a big party with family and friends, including a parade around the inside of their house. The girls were kind of clueless as any one year old would be. But we had fun celebrating them none the less.

Nannie with Naomi

Naomi

 They loved their cake as you can see from the pictures. The twins did it well. They kept shoveling whole pieces into their mouths enjoying the sugary treat of birthday cake.

Claire

Colder than cold

 This winter has been one of the coldest. On average the temperatures have been in the 20's and 30's. We experienced temperates in the negatives with the wind chills. I don't ever remember a time like that. Because it's been so cold, it's been a really difficult winter. I've been depressed, much like a lot of people I talk to. Every day you have to wear leggings under your pants to keep warm and at least 3 upper layers. I remember last year having to do that a few days of the week, but not every day. It's entirely draining on the mind. I'm so ready for spring!


We've had only a couple of snow storms. This first one in late January barely left us enough snow to sled.

Valentine snow storm; our first good storm.

 We just had another snow storm Valentine's weekend that dumped about 4-5 inches. That was great for sledding. We met up with the Scott's at Clark park and had fun. Then went back to their house for hot chocolate.

Lego City

 The kids have worked hard building houses and vehicles for all of the lego people they have. They've created a city, suggested by Nannie, for them all to enjoy. Even since this picture they have added more houses. Things are always changing in the city too. They make vet offices, parks, etc. I love their creativity and the way Legos brings them together. They play Legos for hours! It's really quite beautiful.

Christmas 2014

The kids were so excited to buy each other Christmas presents. I took each of them shopping and they carefully decided which Lego set to get the other. They loved what they got each other. It was so sweet to see how much they love each other and want to bless the other.

On Christmas Eve we promised the kids they could sleep together. (They had been asking for weeks.) Around 3am Alex came running into our room, "Is it morning yet?"
"No buddy, it's still a long way a away. Go back to bed." - I mummered
At 6:30am they charged in our room together and ready to open presents.
This year was a Lego Christmas. They got mostly Lego sets from everyone, except from my brother and AnnMarie, they got sleds. Lilia and Alex had been working on a Lego City and wanted sets to add to their city.
Lilia was most excited about her Jungle Vet Set, and Alex loved his Chima Rhino rock thrower vehicle.

 As per our tradition, we open presents at our house, and head up to my parent's after breakfast and showers. I love spending the day with them; the warmth of the house, and just hanging out enjoying one another's company.



Later in the afternoon my brother and his family came up. We all had dinner together and then opened presents.
This year Ellie had specific presents she wanted to buy for the grandparents. She bought my mom and watch and my dad an American flag. It was pretty adorable.

Naomi playing with the ornaments.

Claire attempting to open a present.

Ellie opening presents.

Olivia enjoying her new coloring book and crayons.

Matt and AnnMarie

My parents with all 6 grandkids.