Giddy Up!

The National Western Stockshow comes to town every January, it's a big deal in Denver.  Mike and I debated whether or not the kids would enjoy it - I know it will be a favorite event when they get older - but we were afraid they were too young to appreciate it this year.  Boy were we wrong!  It's great for all ages. The petting zoo was hands down the highlight of the experience.  Next year, we will know to bring lots more cash - everything costs a dollar or two (or more!). The petting zoo was free, but you could buy feed for the baby animals for a couple bucks.  There was all sorts of carnival games, an indoor playground, a miniature train ride, a huge steer (with horns weighing 60 pounds a piece) and my favorite, a carousel with real live ponies!

Rub and Scratch and Pat

Like most 2 year olds, Lillian has mastered the art of drawing out bedtime.  Every night, she requests we "rub and scratch and pat for 2 minutes".  Mike and I consider it a great night if I can get out of there in under 30 minutes.  That, of course, doesn't include the time it takes Mike to get out of there after she calls him up - to "rub and scratch and pat".  We know we should tighten up our bedtime routine, but as working parents we really value this end of day time with our daughter.  She always shares something about her day with you in those final few minutes.  Somehow, in the 5 minutes after I leave her bedroom she completely changes topic and has something else she just HAS to say to her daddy.  Mike swears she talks more than a teenage girl...I say, oh just wait! 

She tells us all about her day at school, she tells us about her friends and her teachers (there really isn't a line between the two - Lillian thinks of her teachers as her friends...she's always asking us if they can come over to her house to play!).  Her best friend Marek, has moved up to the next class so lately we hear about Mia and Sofia the most.  Lillian is still swimming twice a week and getting more and more comfortable putting her face under the water....that's always been such a scary thing for her.  We still wash Lillian's hair "salon style" in the kitchen sink so she doesn't have to fear water getting in her eyes.  Hopefully our trip to Mexico in February will help her learn to love water!

After dinner we do a variety of pretend play scenarios with Lillian.  Quite often she's the teacher and we're the students.  We listen as she "reads" us a story, puts us to bed or puts us in timeout.  Then she reenacts her morning drop-off routine she and her Daddy do at daycare.  She'll say "Goodbye Daddy, I have to go to work now, go to the window so I can make silly faces at you."  She'll take a few steps then turn and stick her tongue out and wiggle her fingers like antlers by the side of her head.  All the while shimmying her hips back and forth.  I can close my eyes and picture what Mike must look like doing this in her classroom window every morning!

Here's a few recent pictures of us at Aunt Casey's new house with our friend Margee.  Margee graduated high school with Ian, moved out to Colorado for a year and has been back in Maryland for the last few years.  We sure do miss her but we're so lucky her boyfriend's family is from Colorado - we get to see her every so often now!

Lillian has really "shot up" these last few weeks.

As you can see, Jak had little desire to have his picture taken.  He was much more excited to run and play on this warm January day!

Jaks First Mug Shot

We're prepping for a family vacation to Mexico in a couple months.....1st order of business....PASSPORTS!  Who knew they would be so much trouble to get?  First you need an official passport picture (with specific measurements), then both parents and the child have to be present at the post office, only certain post offices administer passports and only during certain hours (and those hours are right during nap time) and your form needs to be written in black ink.  So, how many of these things did the Colorado Kerschens do wrong?  LOTS!
We took Jaks picture at Walgreens after daycare, his hair, face and shirt are a mess. Mike calls it his first mugshot (does that imply more mugshots in the future???).

Of course....when we got to the post office and waited in line for a 1/2 hour, we find out that the dimensions aren't the appropriate size and they wouldn't accept this picture.  Lucky for Jak....His replacement picture is much better!

The boy's got skills....

Jak's new Christmas gift has already brought hours of entertainment to the Colorado Kerschen household!  Aunt Cathy sent the kids a basketball hoop for Christmas.  All of us enjoy shooting balls from across the room over and over and over.  Thank goodness it came with a ball return or we'd be chasing balls all over the house.  Usually, Jak walks right up and "slam dunks" his baskets.  But he's beginning to take shots from a distance, like this one...

Looks like "Little Joe" is already taking after "Big Joe".  Grandpa Kerschen was quite the basketball champ!