conrad jay - week 45 & 46

Well we had quite the last two weeks.  I'm going to do my best to recap our goings and comings!  We started the week out with fun - some bird watching at a friends house.  We are trying to have one nature outing a week but with the cooler weather, we toned down our plans a little.  

Cool stickers and lots of exploring made our bird watching a success.  Nyssa, I can't tell you how many times Silas has mentioned the Black Capped Chickadee since then. 

We made our usual run to the library.  Conrad is finally getting big enough to join in the train fun!  Amos is perusing the books, of course.  He's become quite the reader.

Ivan is still as cuddly as ever, and a week away definitely amped up his need for cuddles.

We celebrated St. Patrick's day with green pancakes and sprinkles.  

We attempted our hand at some St. Patrick's Day crafts, but didn't have much luck at folding a 4 leaf clover.  We settled on a drawing lesson.

Look at this BIG brother helping his little brother.  These are the moments I intend to remember.,

With his new crawling skills, he's finding all sorts of new places.  Number one favorite thing:  pulling everything out of drawers and cabinets.

Someone was exceptionally sleepy the day before we left for our trip.  Luckily, whatever it was, was short and he was back to himself the next day.  

"What do you mean you're leaving me for a week?"

The boys did great at Nana and Papa's house they had lots to keep them busy and I think Ivan had an ice cream cone every night.  It sure was a blessing to know they were in such good hands.

It was amazing how much bigger they seemed when we picked them up the next Saturday.  Ivan was quick to give us hugs and kisses, but Conrad didn't seem to know what to think about things right at first.  He kept going back and forth between everyone's hands.

While we were away, Conrad got his first tooth. He's also getting a lot better at standing on his own and loves riding on things.  

We spent most of the weekend catching up!  A week away will do that for you.

spring break ski trip

At Christmas, Grammy and Gramps blessed us with a ski trip to Colorado with them.  We've been anxiously waiting since then.

Sunday morning, we loaded up early and hit the road.  We, of course, stopped for donuts along the way.  It was a tight squeeze, but we headed west in the mini-van.

Not to Colorado yet, but the plains of Kansas can actually be beautiful.

The 12 hour trip was passed with color books, audiobooks and snacks.  The way out never seems too long.

Our cabin was nice and spacious.  The only complaint was that they were still in the dark ages and there was absolutely no phone service and no internet!  We found out quickly how much we rely on those things to check things like recipes and weather.  Not to mention anything about other forms of entertainment.  Good thing we all had books to read and games to play.

The game plan was to spend the first day teaching Jason and Isaiah to ski.  They were both newbies, but took to it quickly!  There were a couple of really funny moments, jumping off the ski lift and speeding out of control down the mountain, but by the end of the day they both had the hang of it.  Although, their day eneded before the lifts closed, so Dad and I took advantage of the time and hit up some blue runs.

The boys had fun playing with Grammy in the snow for the first time this year!  They even built a snowman.

On day 2, Amos, Silas and Grammy joined in on the fun.  We spent the first half of the day teaching them how to use the lift and snow plow down the mountain.  

Silas woke up in a bad mood and wasn't too sure about any of it.  Amos was up for trying anything, but he still had to learn the feel of the mountain.  They took a break after lunch and Jason and I got to go back out just the two of us.

The next morning, we left the boys at home and went back out.  This is when Jason really started to figure it out and started having a blast.  We really started covering some ground.

This is right after Jason landed a back flip!  I joke!

The boys and Grammy joined us again for a half day of skiing.  Silas was in a much better mood and really started improving.

Amos got down the turning and stopping.  Both crucial for skiing down the mountain.  Once he figured that out he told us he wanted to go by himself and for us to watch him.  After he did that on his own he spent the rest of the day going up and down the bunny slope.  Jason asked him if he wanted to take a break.  He said, "No, I just want to keep doing this and get more better."

It was so much fun to get to ski with our family!  

Thursday we just spent in the cabin and doing a little shopping in Salida.  The boys even went on a little hike with Dad and Gramps.

And Friday we drove home.  Not surprisingly, the trip felt a little longer going that way.  Maybe it was because we all had trouble walking everytime we stopped to get out of the car.

Even though we were glad to be back home and sleeping in our own beds, the trip was AWESOME and we can't wait to go again.