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!



Kim's Pictures from Estes

Kim got a fancy new Canon Rebel EOS camera and boy does it take great pictures!  The Kerschen family is going to have to upgrade our photography technology in 2014 to keep up!  Here are my favorites from her collection:

Aunt Kim is the best!  She makes beautiful sugar cookies and
 lets us decorate & sample them right after breakfast!

I just can't wait till tomorrow...I have to know what's inside!

Thank goodness Noah's Ark had enough animals to share!

Keira in her holiday best....too bad her nose is as red as her gown...poor sick kiddo!

Jak's pretty proud of his walking skills around all these baby girls!

Handsome Hanou Boys!!!

Love thy brother (at least till Santa comes!) Ha ha!

Grammie and her boys!

Lillian's new dishes from Grandpa Kerschen - real porcelain!

Since we neglected to bring batteries for the new Keyboard from Grammie & Opa....Uncle Severin made the box a fun gift!

Lillian's new shopping cart - to go with her play kitchen, food and new dishes!

Very serious shopper!

Growing up...

Holden and Lillian were glued together this week!

Apparently, that's not what she wanted!!!

Scariest coat ever!  The girls pretended to be scared to death every time Everett chased them.

By next Christmas, we won't be able to tell the age differences between these 3 cousins! (Currently 8 months, 9 months and 16 months)

As if these girls needed a "uniform" to bring them closer!  Love how Kim caught their hair in full swing.

Holden was so good to all her younger siblings & cousins!

We finally got a shot of all 16 of us awake at the same time!  Granted we weren't all dressed for the day yet ( or are we back in our pajamas???)

Opa, Grammie and their 6 grandkids!

Christmas 2013 - Estes Park Again!

For the fourth straight year, the Colorado Kerschens have woken up to a view just like this on Christmas day, thanks to a very great tradition Grammie & Opa have started!  Instead of giving gifts (grandkids excluded), they give us a mountain get-away.  The 4 Hanou Kids and their spouses know they're welcome to stay the whole week but it doesn't always work for each family.  But, this year it did!  At least for part of the week we had 16 of us stay together in Estes Park in a HUGE 5 bedroom "Cabin". 
As you can imagine, we didn't get a whole lot of sleep last week - with 6 grandkids under 6.  But it was fun, fun, fun - as Lillian would say!

Lillian's Christmas began with a BANG! She finally got her own kitchen.  Big thanks to her cousins; Holden & Everett and Aunt Kim & Uncle Ian for the hand-me-down.

We got just enough snow for Uncle Ian to take the "big kids" sledding down the middle of the road.  They loved it!

Red headed cuties! Carolyn 8 months - Keira 9 months



Snuggling Aunt Kim!

Snuggling Grammie!

This is what you call Grandma Heaven...

Opa gets the best giggles from Lil....

And Jak!

The snow melted, the sun came out & we walked up to St. Mary's Lake.  The kids loved throwing stones in the water!

Love these boys....

Such a "snapshot" of these 3 kids lives right now.  What 2 1/2 year old doesn't like to put olives on their fingers or wear no clothes?  What 8 month old doesn't chew on pretty much everything - teeth coming?  And what 1 1/2 year old doesn't rearrange everything they can get their hands on?  What handfuls!

Love appetizer nights!  So glad Uncle Severin, Aunt Colleen and baby Carolyn made the trip.  We loved being with them!

Once her cold cleared up, Carolyn turned on the charm!  What a cutie!

The best pic of the Colorado Kerschen Clan on Christmas day.  Had to have at least one picture of us not in our pajamas! Jak was wiggly - surprise surprise!

Looking pretty darn happy & relaxed...vacation is good for us!

Aunt Casey is going to kill me for this one!  For as little sleep as she had all week....Casey actually hung in there like a champ!  She's the one who wanted to stay up after the kids went to bed & party!

Jak & Keira - they seem to speak a secret language...

And they hug each other pretty often too!

Jak at the Stanley Hotel admiring the Christmas tree.

These little rocking chairs were just the right size for Jak - if he wasn't rocking in them he was standing up & trying to surf on them!

Happy Keira!  Same as Carolyn - once her cold cleared up she sparkled!

The official end of 2013 Kerschen Picture....until next year!