plumping up?

We had our official weigh in today.. and the little bird is only 4oz. bigger. I was just relieved she hit the 15 pound mark. She eats so much it is mind boggling that none of it seems to stick. For example her breakfast this morning. She put away more than anyone in the family with her 2 bowls of oatmeal and an egg with cheese and butter that she chased down with milk and cherrios. After all that she still manages to get in a few bites of my toast. Where does it all go??

derby time

Canyon went to his first pinewood derby. It was also my first time. I have to say I was pretty surprised by the fierce competition (people take these things very seriously). Canyon won all of his heats and made it to the finals. I think in his mind he thought his car would never lose and he would be the grand champion. So when the final round came and he lost coming in a close second he was a little sad to say the least. A few tears were shed and when you wipe those tears with graphite covered hands it is a sight to be seen. After a couple seconds he toughened up and came to terms with his sadness. He went up and happily accepted his awards for 2nd place with his post-crying face plastered with Graphite. It was the perfect pinewood derby moment. I wish I had a picture but he was embarrassed so he ran home and washed it off before I could catch him. His Grandpa Cox informed him that he is the first Cox boy in the family to win anything at a pinewood derby (scouting in this family does not run deep apparently). He thought that was pretty cool. Great Job Canyon!!

skim milk ??

Lucy had her One-Year check up and when she took to the scale..well.. you could say she came up a little short. The numbers read 14 lbs 14 oz. What! How can this be so? She eats everything in sight. So the nurse led me to another scale and once again the numbers read 14 lbs 14 oz. Those hard numbers tell a sad... sad truth of underweightness. It is hard to know why this is so. My friend questioned the quality of milk I produce "maybe it's skim milk" she says. But my diet that makes that milk is far from skimpy. So I would like to blame it on the fact that she has a Super Hero style metabalism that one day will make her a very lucky girl. What ever the reason, I guess we call her little lucy, little bird, little peanut and little miss for good reason......the gal is a little one. So what do we do?? Dr. Instructions are a high fat high calorie diet. So I make sure she gets a large sized ice cream on a regular basis (we save big greasy hamburgers for special occasions). She is very fond of this diet. Ice cream makes her very happy. So we will see in the next month or so if our little bird turns plump. There is a small chance you may not recognize her...but I doubt we will be that successful. Wish us luck. :)

(yummmm...icecream)

lucky kids

I have some pretty lucky kids. They quite possibly have the best Dad in the world. I knew when I married him he would be a great Dad and he is even better than I ever imagined. He LOVES to be with them and makes time for each one of them. I have finally convinced him that we could take a vacation alone and it would still be fun. He wants to take them everywhere it's kind of funny. He knows each one of them so well and loves them for exactly who they are and they absolutely adore him. He is a very popular man around the house everyone always wants to be with Dad. It makes my heart happy to see the way he looks at each one of them and how they look back at him filled with love. So Happy Father's Day to Shane from me and our lucky kids.

(Shane took the kids on a ride down this avalanche path. It was funny)
(double click for a closer look.)

For Father's Day we hiked to Stewart Falls at Sundance before we headed off to a BBQ. The weather was perfect but the hike well lets just say there was a lot of downsides. It did have it's good times like when we came across this avalanche path and we could slide down. The worst parts of the hike were as follows:
1. I gave Shane new hiking sandals for Father's Day. He wore them on the hike and well...his feet got sore and blistery really fast so he had to hike most of the way barefoot. I know what a great Father's Day present right?? Ellie kept asking him if he liked the sandals she gave him. He just kept smiling and told her he loved them. :)
2. I got the worst allergies ever. It took everything I had not to itch my eyes right off my head.
3. Canyon was running down the trail and tripped on a long and landed flat on his face. I guess he really was lucky because his face missed a small boulder by about an inch.
4. Ellie tripped and fell of the trail into a huge stinging needle bush it was so sad.. she had the worst welts ever.
So there you have it. The best Father's Day hike ever...well at least for Lucy. She got in a long nap and gazed around at all the beautiful scenery.

happy birthday little lucy bird

One year ago today I was holding my new little bundle in a surgical supply closet at the hospital. There were so many babies born that day there were no rooms left. Yah I guess I pretty much got the shaft but I was to out of it to care. Now my little birdie has a year behind her. It is truly amazing how much they change in a year. I remember when she could pretty much fit in the palm of your hand (literally) and when I put her in her car seat it made me cry because she was so small it felt like borderline child abuse. These days this little miss is a spunky thing full smiles and hugs. She has the cutest crawl in the world and dances up a storm. She has also mastered the loudest squeal that is humanly possible. I have yet to figure out how that noise comes out of such a tiny body. She is always surprising me with her language skills. She says a few words + woofs like a dog at all animals. Her newest favorite thing is pointing at anything in sight and saying "what's that" or at least it sounds an awful like it. She loves hide and go seek, pat-a-cake, jumping, downward dogs that have now turned into semi-summersaults (she's pretty tricky). She is amazing from head to toe. We love this little girl. Happy Birthday Lucy!

baptized

Canyon is officially baptized!! It was a great day for him. He was all smiles and loved being the most important person around for the day. I asked him how he felt and he said "I feel well and perfect". And on that day I guess he was. :) Canyon has been one of the best things in my life for what feels like forever. It has been such a blessing to be able to watch him grow and change into his wonderful 8 year old self. We love you Canyon!! (and your very cute 8 year old smile)

Thanks to Allison for taking such amazing pictures of Canyon
on his baptism day... love them. She is such a talented photographer.
Seriously check out her... work. We are pretty lucky to have her in the family. :)

a little practicality

Here is my sweet Ellie Belle in her favorite hiking dress. I say "hike" and before I know it she comes spinning out of her room in the famous green dress along with a pink bag for collecting pretty things along the way. This time she opted for boots in case there was some snow. If it was up to her she would have brought 3 pair of extra shoes so she could change depending on trail and weather conditions. Ohhhhh the time I spend talking her out of things. Trying to reason... trying to teach some practicality. I feel it is my duty as a parent to teach at least a fraction of sensibility but I always wonder if it is worth it. It never quite seems to sink into her fancy thinking patterns. Truthfully in the end I would be sad if my little miss girly, big ideas, everything needs to beautiful all the time, why can't I bring 20 things and outfits everywhere I go girl became little miss practical. Although on occasion would be nice for the sake of time, convenience, and sanity.  

hike @ sundance

I feel pretty lucky that we have been able to do something outside considering this cold spell (ugh!). We took advantage of our summer passes at Sundance and went hiking. I can't wait for it to warm up so summer feels like it has finally begun. Come on Fireworks, BBQ's, camping and sunscreen I am READY for you!

Our family line up

The jump the landing

The race... the loser ...so sad :(

The boy I love!

jazz hands

 What can I say this cute girl knows how to entertain. 

It looks like she could be in some big glitzy show with those little jazz hands. :)

And what about those new teeth...pretty fancy.
I love them... they seem to suit her and her sweet smile perfectly.

Officially Summer

Summer is officially here for us. Don't let the jackets and Winter hats fool you. Canyon and Ellie got out of school so we celebrated with our first summer trip. The weather was a messy rain/snow/mud mix for the most part. But when the sunshine came to visit here and there we went out to welcome it.

Lucy loved going on rides on the 4-wheeler and chasing after Tex the dog.She has a fascination with dogs. I would like to say her first word was Ma Ma but it was "doggie" now she has ditched saying doggie and says "woof woof" funny girl. Good thing Tex is the most laid back dog in the world. He let her climb,inspect, poke and prod. She loved crawling and following him around all day.

Ellie spent her time someplace else. That someplace involved magic crowns, snow people and a beautiful kingdom filled with birds, enchanted forests, and a servant. That Servant was Shane which made the magic crowns, and snow people for her world. (what a nice dad!)

All Canyon needs is a rope swing and a couple grasshoppers for hours of entertainment. He thought it was funny to make them kiss.. and well it really was... so we took a picture. He also got to chop firewood with an ax + shoot his BB gun for hours on end all of this = one happy boy for the weekend.

I got to go on a bike ride through beautiful Aspen fields with my favorite person. I went on the rope swing to...but we won't show pictures of that. :)

I also spent what seemed like forever trying to get a good picture of one of hummingbirds flying around. I guess I enjoyed the challenge of it. Those hummers are SO fast and tricky.. and finally I won. (if you can win a bird)

Vroom Vroom Vroom

I had never been to a car race (unless a demolition derby counts) until now. Our friends invited us to the Larry H. Miller race track for good ol' car racin. It was fun. I love going someplace new and soaking up new surroundings and culture. Car racing has it's very own special culture full of all sorts of pits. Pit crews, pit girls and I am sure some sweaty man racing pits. (gross but true it was hot!) Overall the cars were fast and furious, the people watching was excellent, and everyone had a great time. Thanks Janelle and Brandon for the day out.

I took the snap shot of the kids. Ellie, Jada, Mia, Canyon.
Then relied on Shane for some real pictures which are posted below.

lucy bird

Me and Lucy had a day out. It was raining all day so everything was so vibrant, green and beautiful. I love this baby girl. I can't believe in a couple of weeks she will be blowing out the candle on her first birthday cake.

(thanks auntie allison for the cute headband)

slide

Lucy is a little slide lover. One might think a big slide for such a little lady would be frightening. But as you can see she was all smiles from top to bottom. She would get to the bottom and tumble and toss giggling and giggling. She is funny about thrills. On the swing the higher the better. And being tossed in the air...also the same. Maybe she is naturally a little thrill seeker..or maybe she is just used to all the daily thrills of life with two older siblings. That big slide probably isn't half as scary as being carried around, danced with, and dragged on a blanket by a five year old sister with a blemished record when it comes to safety. :) (how do the younger ones survive?)

birthday celebrations

This year for part of the birthday celebrations we did birthday parties for Canyon and Ellie. Shane did the invitations and they turned out pretty great. I asked him if he could quickly throw something together.. this is what he came up with. (wish I could do that!)

Ellie's party was for princesses only...and all 10 princesses looked very lovely. Ellie loved every second of it. The games, the glitter, the cuppy cakes, the pretty decorations and last but not least the presents. The party was a lot of fun but the princesses were not very refined and were faster, smarter and more energetic than planned. Good thing Ali (thanks Ali) was there to help me out. Otherwise I might have been forced to give them all sleeping potion.

Canyon's party took a little less planning and decorating but involved some driving. I have never been in a car with five 8-year olds and it was quite the experience. I got my fair dose of how crazy and goofy and loud 8 year olds can be in a very confined area. I must admit that watching and listening to them was SO funny and very entertaining at times... but I don't think that out weighed how badly I wanted a Tylenol and ear plugs for the way home. It was all worth it. Canyon had a great time.. running around the Kangaroo Zoo with all of his buddies. They played and jumped and ran like crazy. You think they would have been worn out for the ride home.. Guess again. :)

(2 parties in 3 days I think I have met my quota for a while..I know..I know.. I seem so old :( )

finally

Finally after the coldest Spring in the history of mankind these pretty things have come to say hello. I love the green that spring brings.

Canyon is 8

Happy Birthday Canyon

Canyon....this cute boy
has to be one of the sweetest boys in the world.
Is super funny. (wants his grand kids to call him grand canyon)
Loves the outdoors.
Loves being with his family.
He is the most easy going little guy.
The Best Best big brother..(scratches ellie's back at night so she can go to sleep)
Has the Biggest Heart.
Has the cutest smile (with his 3 missing teeth)

We love you Canyon!

happy 5 birthday ellie aspen

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLIE APSEN

Little Ellie Aspen is growing up on me. 5 years old and oh so big. She looked in the mirror this morning and told me she looked different. She also measured herself up to Canyon convinced that she had grown over night. She was pretty happy about it..and me a little sad.

Things to Love...
She gives the best hugs and kisses and tells you she loves you 100 times a day.
She is a excellent compliment giver.
She gets super excited about the little things in life... its so cute.
She is so funny and can be so silly. She makes me laugh every day!


She is a lover of everything beautiful, pink, sparkly, magical....just about anything remotely girly. She also loves being outside, skiing, hiking and camping what a nice balance. :)
She absolutely Loves Loves Loves clothes. She changes outfits a zillion times a day and is getting her very own sense of style :). This makes her an excellent shopping partner.
She is so much fun... I love her more and more everyday.

WE LOVE YOU BIRTHDAY GIRL !