Winter in Alamosa

We finally have snow! It is beautiful, frosting every tree and cold, cold, cold! I have run into a little herd of deer every time I walk home from work in the wee hours of the morning when no one else is around, it is pretty amazing!

Happy 2nd Birthday Gabriel!

Gabriel turned 2 on December 18th. Aaron treated the kids to sledding and hot chocolate on Saturday and we had a train birthday party on Sunday. Gabe loves the choo-choo! The kids painted trains, ate soup (Gabe's new favorite food), and had a special train cake made by Aaron. They had a great time!

Ilon's Preschool Christmas Program

Ilon had her first Christmas program at school. She looked forward to it for weeks, practiced her songs, picked out her dress, and then picked her nose, twirled her hair and played with her dress the entire time. She was adorable, not far off from the Dawson girls when they were little. What goes around... We had a great time watching her and seeing all the darling little kids singing!

Father Daughter dance

Aaron took Ilon to a Father Daughter dance Saturday night. She was thrilled, she told me exactly how she wanted her hair and dress and tights and chap stick. She loves dressing up. They had a great time! Aaron said she threw some interesting elbow moves into her usual circle dance. I love my little girl! I love that I have a husband who will dance with her and treat her like a little princess!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Our tree is up. Ilon immediately dressed up and wrapped gifts in towels and hair ties and Gabriel went after every breakable ornament. I got the kids a tree for their room without noticing it was silver. Of course they loved it. I finally finished our Advent Calendar, just a couple days late! We are excited for the season and hopefully some snow in Alamosa!

On another note, Gabe is about to turn 2. I cannot believe it, he has turned into such a little personality. He is sweet and loud and still sits and reads books on your lap for as long as you'll let him. He loves cars and blocks but will play dress up in a heart beat with Ilon, his favorite is the ladybug skirt. We adore him and hope he stays just like this for awhile.

Get-Away

We went on our now annual Thanksgiving cabin weekend in South Fork. We learned a lesson from last year and got a bigger cabin this time. It was rustic and cozy and cold! We didn't go outside without a couple of layers on each time. We had a salmon Thanksgiving dinner, with tofu ribs for me, built a fire and enjoyed relaxing. Saturday we spent sledding on a 50% snow 50% grass hill and had a marvelous time. Ilon went down by herself this year, head first, and was very proud of herself! We took a sled ride through the lights and nativity scenes drank hot chocolate made cookies and did crafts. We had a wonderful snowy morning which we watched on our balcony and Ilon and I explored the river looking for the white weasel. It was wonderful except for the last night which Aaron and Ilon spent projectile vomiting. We made a quick get away the next morning so they could recover. All in all it was a good time. We look forward to next year!

A Roepke Thanksgiving

We had an early Roepke Thanksgiving full of homemade tortillas, beans, menudo, soup, and cherry crunch. The kids always have fun, Gabe loves the baby and Ilon and Addie dressed up in Deda's shirts and danced the night away. Aaron and the kids went to La Puente for the lunch while I slept the day away. Happy Thanksgiving!! We are off to a weekend in the mountains.