J.D.'s 2nd Birthday

J.D. turned 2 today! I can't believe that I have a two year old. He is so fun... I always thought that I loved babies the best... but this year from 1 to 2 has been so much fun. He has learned so much- gotten to be such a great participant in our family- and continues to surprise us every day.
Today, we started with cupcakes for breakfast, followed by opening gifts from mommy and daddy (okay, next year, EVERYONE needs to play along with the birthday move... remember we are going to officially celebrate on 6/23 from now on...), followed by making gingerbread houses with our new friend Garrison (ate more candy than actually got on the house), took long naps and then went out for pizza.
It was a great day. And, I think we have started some fun new traditions- cake for breakfast and gingerbread houses with friends!
Here are some pictures from our wonderful day!

Future Mountain Climber

Our Miss Natalie has learned how to climb stairs. She is quite the independent child. Last night, we were getting dinner ready... and I heard a distinct LACK of sound from Natalie. So, I started to look for her. It seems that she had made her way up the stairs by herself... no one watching (yes, we have put in our application for Parents of the Year). Here are some pictures from tonight (12/23) of her an her new great skill. She is actually very teachable and has learned to come down on her belly- she is into the sliding motion- so it works out well.

Mispronunciations and Cute Phrases

Here are some of J.D.'s latest:
1. Tandy... means Candy
2. Beanas... means bananas
3. Tow... means Snow
4. Natawee... means Natalie
5. Go Tour... means go the the store
6. Trick Treat... means give me candy (seems to have held onto this one from Halloween)
7. Toffee Take... means anything sweet for breakfast (i.e. Coffee Cake)
8. Musa on... means Music On (for nap time, bed time, anytime)
9. Sok Off... means Socks Off... the child has hot, sweaty feet already... oh, Lord!
10. Shoe On... means let's go somewhere
And our most recent favorite:
11. Diat Pepi... means Diet Pepsi... I think his Nana taught him this

Another Blizzard

Yes, we had another blizzard. Two within 3 months is pretty crazy. But, we survived. Here is what got us through: 1. Heat! Thank the Lord for a roof over our heads and a job that pays the heating bills. 2. Hot Chocolate and Christmas cookies. 3. Beer, wings and movies from Blockbuster (Devil Wears Prada and Invincible). 4. Kids that wear themselves out in the snow and go to bed by 7pm! Woo-hoo. 5. A hubby that loves the outdoors so much he shoveled our driveway and our neighbors driveway. 6. A desperate trip to Target last night... just to "see people" as J.D. puts it! 7. Christmas music, 24/7 on the local radio station (and a new CD from my mother) 8. J.D.'s cutie-pie antics (more on that later) 9. Natalie eating snow off of her fingers... I think it is the first time I actually let her touch it. 10. Flannel Sheets! All is well here... it snowed sideways on Wednesday, snowed like a winter wonderland on Thursday and today we were out and about without coats on- incredible!


Does this look a little out of place??




Yes, Mamaw, I got him new snow boots!

Thanksgiving Adventure

The day after Thanksgiving we loaded the kids in the car for a grand Colorado roadtrip. We were in the van (God Bless the DVD Player) for 12 hours. Yet, we were only about 2.5 hours from home at the furthest point out. We saw beautiful mountains, snow, ski slopes, ski villages, etc. We saw the Collegiate Peaks in Buena Vista, CO. Then, headed north through Leadville (yes, like in the Broadway play The Unsinkable Molly Brown), stopped at Copper Mountain, had dinner in Breckenridge, drove through South Park (yes the crude TV program is based out of there) and then headed back home under a blanket of stars that was the most incredible I had ever seen. Here are some pictures of what we saw:

December Pictures

We 'trimmed' the tree this week. It was fun to discover all the ornaments we had (since we skipped putting up a tree last year). Anyway, we have entered the world of fake trees. It is so dry out here... most everyone has a fake tree. We borrowed this one from some friends of ours. It will certainly stick out in our mind as our first tree in our first house. Here are some pictures from the fun!

The first things J.D. taught Natalie

Well, J.D. has had an exciting week. He is demonstrating that he is going to teach his little sister all about life! This week he taught her:
1. How to lick a lollipop
2. How to beat on a drum
3. How to eat a cookie

More cute things:
While reading the story about Jesus birth... we got to the part where the Three Kings bring gifts to Jesus. J.D. said: "Bring candy". So, apparently, Jesus received candy (not gold, myrrh and such...).

I am teaching J.D. about the Christmas story. He knows:
Mommy says: At Christmas we celebrate...
J.D. says: "Jesus BORN"

Mommy says: Jesus is...
J.D. says: "God's Son"

Mommy says: The angels said (what) when Jesus was born
J.D. says: "Glory"

In church on Sunday... Natalie, J.D. and I were singing. J.D. had the hymnal and said "Read Bible, Read Bible"- right when everyone was getting ready to pray. Then, we sang a song about angels and at the end J.D. said "Angels, Glory, Angels, Glory" - again for everyone to hear. Then, at the confession of sin and I had had enough of the squirmy children and started to get them ready to take them to Sunday School, J.D. protested all the way out saying "Sing Jesus, More Sing Jesus!"

Recent Photos

Yes, we are not kidding about the fox. J.D. named him Peter. I should have added a number to my last post... ZERO... the number of people here that were shocked that we have a fox living on our back porch.

J.D. playing dress-ups as the Army Man.

Yes, she is crawling! And, she gets prettier by the day.

Jason took these pictures from our deck this afternoon! Amazing!

Another picture from our deck this afternoon.

Important Numbers

Here are some numbers from our life here in Colorado Springs.

We are 6,035 Feet Above Sea Level
There are 35 Starbucks within 15 minutes of my house (56 within an hour), 7 with drivethru windows
14,110 Feet Above Sea Level in Pikes Peak... we can see it from the kids windows
7 airlines that fly into Colorado Springs Airport
$170- Total Monthly Payment, all-inclusive, for our utilities (with heat set at 70 degrees)
2 --- # of teeth Natalie has, # of naps she still takes per day, # of times she sleeps thru the night per week
3 Targets with in 7 minutes of our house!
4 bedrooms/ 3 bathrooms-- woo-hoo
60 women at MOPS! There must be a new friend for me in there somewhere
1 Fox living on our backporch
8-10 times it has snowed since Oct. 5th
"3 minutes"- what J.D. says when he wants us to wait "wait-a-3-minute"
Countless- number of times we miss you everyday

The TeePee

Before we left Annapolis, Grandpa John brought this wonderful teepee to us. Grannie Jill made it for the kids. It is the perfect new toy for our Wild West Family Adventure. Our new friends love it... J.D. plays in it everyday (I moved it to his bedroom... so it is up all the time).

Thanks Grannie Jill! We LOVE it!

Nana's Visit

Nana came to visit for 11 days! We had so much fun ( and of course got so much done).

Here are the hightlights:

Manitou Springs... drinking natural spring water throughout the town. "More Water, More Water"... and Nana would go and get him more!

Yes, the one picture below is a whole bowl of CHOCOLATE (with apples and bananas on the side). "More Chocolate, More Chocolate"

Garden of the Gods... a 1/4 of a mile took us about an hour!

Playing with the Fisher Price Farm set. "Park it, Park it"- refering to the tractor! And, Nana would have him park it in the barn, in the teepee, in the toy chest... anywhere she could think of.

Doing dishes with Nana... and drinking Pepsi. "More Pepsi, More Pepsi..." "More Diet Pepsi, Diet Pepsi"

And, almost everyday, Nana and J.D. would take a walk together. "More walk, More bike, More walk"

We had a wonderful time!

If you are going to be snowed in...

If you are going to be snowed in... be snowed in with a Wilkins!
Jason and I missed our first blizzard... we had Natalie in Denver for her tests that day. Drew and Lindsay stayed with J.D. (for much longer than they anticipated or signed on for) while we were away. That night, the blizzard blew through Colorado Springs and Drew and Lindsay introduced J.D. to the wild and wacky Wilkins' World... a world where everything is an adventure and fun and exciting!