Winter's Here

We spent Monday evening in Cherry Creek North admiring the newly unveiled, high-ranking Christmas window displays, and then drinking hot chocolate. It was one of those magical nights where the lights are brighter, the air is crisper, and cheeks are rosier than usual. Such a spur-of-the-moment outing that will hopefully be a yearly tradition.

On Wednesday, Mark and I had the day off from work and for the sake of getting some good "couple" time in, we took the kids to daycare and headed to Lincoln Falls for some ice climbing. The weather was perfect, the ice was in, and the kids were taken care of. We got three good routes in. Tromping around in the snow and ice really made me realize that the winter spirit is here, even if not the official winter season.

I'm getting excited about digging out the Christmas decorations and transforming the house for Carter and all of our visiters that will be coming in to celebrate. I say, bring on the blizzards, bring on the snow. My arsenal of hot chocolate and comfort foods is ready and waiting.

Giving Thanks

This thanksgiving we decided to stay home and enjoy being together with just our family. Upon Mark's suggestion, we made all the traditional thanksgiving dishes, knowing that we would be the only ones who would have to suffer if we messed anything up. The dinner actually turned out delicious. We rated it an 8 compared to other grandmas' 10 dinners. Not bad.

Mark took charge of doing the turkey. We used the oven bag but Joy of Cooking's recommendation to "roll" the bird every half hour.
We gave thanks for our wonderful day together. Carter's still getting the idea of the whole holiday. I just love this picture from this afternoon.

Cutie Cameron and other miscellaneous photos

I've had some requests for some more Cameron pictures. It's funny because I actually take more pictures of him, but I seem to post more of Carter. So, below are some miscellaneous pictures of the boys, with plenty of Cameron. There's even a rare family photo of us. We're in Idaho Springs in the hot springs pool. Enjoy!

Carter's Birthday

Carter's birthday party on Saturday was a great success. He had lots of fun and loved the attention. Here is a story of his birthday in pictures.

Carter excitedly waited all morning for his friends to come over.

He waited patiently to eat his cake and looked longingly at it many times during the day.

It was a lion cake to go along with the jungle theme. What it lacked in appearance it made up for in home-made deliciousness.

Carter and his friends had fun decorating their favor bags with jungle stamps.

Meanwhile, the babies socialized with each other.
Carter opened lots of presents. He loved the dragon castle with its trap door, treasure, and boulder.

Cameron pretended to be Medusa with some of Carter's snakes.

And the helicopter was great. He loved all the noises it made.

Finally, it was cake time. Carter's eyes lit up when we all started singing. He still likes to sing Happy Birthday to himself a few times a day.


Carter and Mark enjoyed sharing a piece of cake.

It was a great party. Happy third birthday, Carter.

Cause for Celebration

If I titled every week of my life, this week’s title would be celebration. Each event is so so notable and remarkable for me that I wanted to include them in separate posts. So keep scrolling. Keep reading. Keep celebrating.

Climbing

To start the week out, Sunday Mark and I got our first, bona fide, official, complete with hourly rate, babysitter. Not to go to a wedding or attend a funeral or see a movie or do anything that was obligatory or scheduled. We went climbing. This is the activity that first brought Mark and me together, and how we fell in love. There is something metaphorical about climbing and building a relationship—the trust that the climber and belayer have to have, their reliance on each other, their physical connection by way of the rope, the natural inclination to shout words of encouragement. Climbing always brings us back to the roots of our relationship where we are our truest, most playful selves. We return to our life of house and marriage and children renewed and reconnected to each other. It’s that shot of energy to our relationship that helps to sustain us through trying times. Did I mention it was a record-breaking, gorgeous, sunny day with cloudless skies? Just icing on the cake.

Change we can believe in

Tuesday night Mark and I sat glued to the TV, celebrating every state the turned blue, cheering as if we were watching our favorite team score points leading to winning the superbowl. We brushed off the red states and tried not to let them get us down. We were fighting for a winning team. Or at least we hoped so. Then, in silence, on the screen came what looked like a billboard with the words, “Obama, 44th President Elect, 2008.” We looked at each other with wide eyes. Was this a commercial? Wishful thinking? Another political advertisement? No. It was that moment. That moment in history that I will always remember. Right up there with them memory of the Berlin Wall coming down. The announcer came on and let the country and the world know that the race had been called. Barack Obama would be the next president of the United States. When Mark and I finally found words, we reflected on what an amazing time in history our children would be growing up in. Carter would see a black man as president and think nothing of it. I rejoiced that my boys would grow up in a country where someone who was something other than old and white and a war hero could be president. My heart filled with hope and pride.

A Visitor

Tuesday night, really Wednesday at 1am, one of my best friends in the world came to visit. Noelani, a close friend from college had some time off, so she and her boyfriend flew out to see Colorado. She’s one of those rare friends with whom you feel you can do anything or nothing, but you know it will be fun. We can stay up late giggling about nothing over a bowl of pudding. I can tell her anything without fear of being judged or criticized or dismissed. Thought of these next four days, with nothing specific planned, still make me giddy with excitement. It almost feels like getting to hang out with Santa Claus for a few days. It’s that good.

Happy Birthday, Carter

Today is Carter’s third birthday. He has been talking about it for months, and it’s finally here. (Although he still said this morning, “My birthday’s coming!”, not quite understanding that it’s actually today.) This is a big one. It’s the first birthday he’s actually been anticipating and will be celebrating. The past two have really been more about us and our celebration of his life, but this year he gets to take part. He gets to begin to understand that we are celebrating his life and our love for him. Last night felt like Christmas Eve for me, secretly wrapping presents and eagerly anticipating the morning.

This morning I had put some presents of the table, and when Carter saw them, he said with amazement, “Presents?”, as if he wasn’t quite sure if they were for him or whether he could touch them. By 6:30am, he had unwrapped two books, a shape shorter, three race cars, and a race track. Not bad considering the sun hadn’t even come up yet.

As a child, you don’t recognize that celebrating your birthday is as exciting for the parents as it is for you. Now as a mother I realize that this special day is also about celebrating the beginning of our family. The day I became a mother and Mark and I became parents. It’s as much a “mother’s day” as it is Carter’s birthday. I catch myself smiling today for no reason other than the joy of this special day. Happy Birthday, Carter.