Marching into March...

With grocery store trips...

Mud pies...

Pancakes for supper...must be Lent, or Dad's not home!

A little K-State March Madness!

She picked her own hairstyle.

Jed smashed his finger and "needed" to drill into it to relieve pressure.  Jace and I hid on the other side of the room, while Connor wanted to know exactly what was going on....

I got to go on a field trip with Jace!  We saw a Junie B. Jones play at Union station, lunch at Fritz's, and then a trip to Kaleidoscope!

Got warm enough to go for a walk!  And determined Connor has gotten too big for the stroller...

What a free spirit...

Helping me whip up some crushed oreos for Jace's birthday treats!

New favorite book...Tickle Monster!

Helping make Monkey Bread for Jace's birthday!

And after all that...we sleep!

Ski Trip 2018

This year we went to Breckenridge for our ski trip.

We actually went to Hays on Friday night, pulling in around midnight, and sharing a hotel room with the Luedke's because it was state wrestling and that was the only room left...but the weather was supposed to get bad Saturday morning so we decided to get a headstart.

There were a LOT of differences about this year.  We rented a home through an AirBnB type site.  It was awesome...SO ROOMY for all of us.  BUT...it was at an elevation of 10500 ft, which is about 1000 feet above the town of Breckenridge, and we usually go to Winter Park which is at about 8000 ft.  Needless to say....the altitude KICKED our butts!  Every night someone was exhausted...and just going up and down the stairs in the house made us get out of breath!

The other big difference was we weren't in a ski in/ski out, so we drove to the gondola in town, paid to park (unless you had 4 in your car, so we had to borrow Gracie a couple times to put 4 in our car!) and then we had to get on an enclosed-moving-gondola to get up to the ski mountain!  By the third day we were PROS!

This is our happy place.  :)

Jace, Ella, and Gracie at the TOP of Peak 6...

COLD days...

We TRIED to get a group photo...nearly impossible...

Ryan took one, and then tried to take one with himself in it..

The guys!

Jed and I at the top!

Jace and Kyler at the end of the last day!

All the kids...Colton, Austin, Gracie, Kyler, Jace and Ella.

Patience of his father...as soon as he got to the bottom of the run he was ready to go again!  No time to wait on anyone!

"Bored" kids got taught how to play SPOONS.  Might be their new favorite game...

Jace chose this run...he "wanted" to try some moguls...so he lead and I followed.  Moguls are easy when you are 4 feet tall...you just bounce in and out of them easy-peasy!

The pictures do not do this justice....it's steep.  There are rocks sticking out, it's slippery...that little dot is Jed coming down the mountain...Jed, Megan and I literally skied/walked over rocks to get to the ledge to come down this side of the mountain....

Jace was determined to conquer a run that we had done once and didn't do so well on, so Jed and I took him back on it the last day.  It was a small path through the trees, and he got going fast and wiped out, and his legs got twisted underneath him.  So much that I was sure he broke his ankle.  He didn't, thankfully, but he was sore for a couple days.  But, like always, he got back up and it was slow at first but it was back to skiing!  Always amazes me how tough he is, and how willing he is to try anything!

So, we liked Breck.  But not sure it is for us. Seems to be more of a tourist type town, where you ski at day and stroll the town at night.  And the altitude killed us.  So much that on the last day it finally hit Jed, and he toughed it out all day but finally sat out the last run and Jace and I went up one more time, without him.  Next year Jace wants to try snowboarding....so that might be interesting!!!

Grandpa George

I found these pictures for Grandpa's funeral so wanted to keep them all in once place!

This picture was just a couple days after Jace was born!

Jed found this oldie, we think it is George and Jerry.

Our first Harvest picture! Jace was about 6 months old.

This was when Jace was born--I remember Grandpa saying he had gone to John Deere that morning when he found out to get him his first tractor.

Fast forward a couple years...I think this was 2013.  Pretty sure I left Connor sleeping in the truck while we took this picture.

I'm guessing this is 2014...and the snow started flying as we were getting this photo in!

And then Brook was born!  So this was 2015.  Gang's all here!  One of my favorite pictures.

Feb-brr-ary

February flew by.  It always does because we have our ski trip at the end of the month, but this February was even faster than usual...

The kids had fun making these pictures for a Valentine's card!

Connor got to make a box for her Valentine's at school!  Pink paper, horse stickers and VOILA!

Her enthusiasm dwindled a little when she had to write her name on 15 Valentine's...

This year they did a photo booth at the Valentine's parties!

Dabbing Valentine's shirts?  Thanks, Aunt Jennifer!

Every day in February up until Valentine's day, I put a heart on their door before they woke up in the mornings.

Connor's were:

I love when you and Jace are nice to each other

I love your smooches

I love hearing you sing

I love your hairbows

I love how you write your name

I love it when you dress yourself

I love your squeezes

I love hearing you cheer for Jace

I love it when you don't whine!

I love it when you DAB!

I love hearing you snore

I love it when you ask me to play with You!

I love it when you sneak up on me with nerf guns

You are my Favorite Girl!

Roses are red, Violets are blue, your feet really stink, but WE LOVE YOU!

Jace's were:

I love when you share blue blankie with me

I love hearing you sing

I love your red hair

I love listening to you read

I love that you feed the dogs every day without complaining!

I love it when you kiss me goodnight

I love when you are Connor are nice to each other

I love watching you play sports

I love when you make orange julius

I love it when you help dad with cows!

I love watching you dab!

I love it when you sneak up on me with Nerf Guns!

I love it when you ask me to play with you!

You are my favorite Boy!

Roses are red, Violets are blue, your feet really stink, but We Love You!

I wasn't happy about it, but we spent one Sunday afternoon hauling cows...at least the kids got a good nap out of the job...

We spent some time at the Grables' house...

Connor took a nap in my bed...I will never get over how hot blooded she is, because it is SO unlike me...rosy cheeks and sleeping without clothes on most of the time, but that makes her happy!

The second half of February was an even different whirlwind.  On Valentine's day, Grandpa George started going downhill.  Jed and I spent time up there on Friday night, the 16th, and that day several at Two Timbers, including Erma had just tested positive for Influenza.  Saturday, Connor started running a low fever.  Sunday, Connor and I both didn't feel good and I even called in sick to school.

This was us Monday morning at the doctor's office.  And yep, you guessed it, we were positive for influenza.  Tamiflu for everyone!  Connor wasn't slowed down much, but it absolutely wiped me out.  LUCKY for me, I only had to take one sick day.  We got some rain/ice, and the rest of the week of school was canceled due to that.

The medicine was a story in itself.  The doctor advised us to get the pills for the kids and put the powder in chocolate milk.  We did that...but Connor eventually started tasting it.  However, we found out that raspberry tea works better than milk!  BUT...the whole family was on tamiflu, and Jace was able to swallow his pills...woooohooo!

Meanwhile, I was living on the couch, Jace and Connor were taking care of themselves, and Jed was going back and forth between home and Two Timbers.  Grandpa George passed on Tuesday, February 20th.  His funeral was set for Friday, February 23.

This picture is from Thursday night, when the kids and I went with Jed to check cows at Blanton's around 10 p.m.  They weren't going to school the next day, so why not?  Connor never asks to go with Jed, and she wanted to go, AND traipsed all over the pasture with him looking at cows.

This picture was the afternoon after the funeral.  This whole time frame flew by but everyone was exhausted.  We came home and everyone took a nice, long, nap.