Gabriel

Ilon went to her first slumber party with friends from school. 4 1/2 years old? Isn't that too little?? I was sure, and maybe kind of hoping, that we'd get a call in the middle of the night that she just had to come home, she missed us too much. I'm pretty sure she forgot about us the instant she left and has been talking about the next one ever since. I think we're going to have to start hosting things if we want to keep our little social-ite at home!

She took a dive on the walk home from school today, knees, hands, head, in the middle of the road. She was trying to show me how fast she could skip (gallop) in her Mary Janes. A good band-aid can always brighten the day.

Cookies, coughs, and the potty

Gabe and Ilon have been sick the last few days so we've stuck close to the house. The UP -side is that Gabriel used the potty! I have avoided potty training like the plague with Gabes, but Aaron has faithfully tried every day. To celebrate we had "chwocwate chwip cookies". That makes up for all the diarrhea, late night coughing and generally cranky children.

Happy MLK day!

We celebrated the holiday by taking a little day trip to Crestone. We had a picnic lunch at the park with a lot of sun and a little snow. We hiked as far as a 2 and 4 yr old will take us and drove by the temples and shrines. It was fun to get out of town, and fun to all be together for the day!

I almost died in the making of this photo, I had to run the playground gauntlet to get to the bridge in time so I figured it was worth a post.

Our little ballerina

Ilon's learning to skate!

She's pretty excited, she's been playing "hockey" in the garage with a tennis racket and plastic lid for 2 years now. She's ready to take it to the ice!

Home for the Holidays!

We had our first family Christmas at home this year. It was fun to follow traditions we both had growing up and enjoyed the delight of our little kids when they woke up in the morning. I made a pretty terrible coffee cake, which everyone ate with a smile, we opened stockings and presents, lounged in pajamas and played outside. We love our little family!

Aaron and I were pretty excited about the Big Wheels until we found our kids little legs didn't reach the pedals... We'll be growing into those!

Amarillo

We went to Amarillo to meet family and friends for an extended Christmas! My aunt and uncle Don and Gay have a gorgeous lake house they shared with us. We had more great food, good company, games, fires, and the endless entertainment of "wild" deer and turkey. It went by way too fast, we miss you all!

Palo Duro Canyon is minutes away from Lake Tanglewood. It's an amazing canyon that drops down into the earth after miles and miles of flat land Amarillo. Ilon and Gabe were little climbers we could barely hold on to their shirttails.

Clint and Aaron went to the gun range. To shoot guns.

Ruby Tequila's for a birthday dinner

Happy Birthday Mom! We love you! Cheers to the biggest unfinishable swirl, thanks for the lean...

A Roepke Christmas

Merry Christmas! We had a great Christmas eve night with all of the Roepkes. Nam and Walt joined us from Denver and we enjoyed good food and company!

Pink sparkly shoes!

New sleeping bags and Lego headlamps, this crew is set for a summer of camping!

Nighties

Michelle and Trev

Aaron and the girls

Grandpa and Ilon (with a little Gabe and Andrew)

Aaron reading the story of Christ's birth with a very attentive audience, amidst the nose-picking and eating. That seems to be a theme around here...

Little Gabers chillin on the couch. He is quite the personality. The girls got matching butterfly dresses and shoes and Gabriel spent the evening stealing a pair of pink sparklies any time he could and asking "where my butterfy dwess?"

We took cookies made by the kiddos and hygiene bags to La puente, they came out with treats of their own and enjoyed helping people almost as much as opening presents themselves. We hope to make this a tradition!