Nothing like a zoo to make this family feel at home...
It was a beautiful warm sunny day and the main attraction for us was being outside!
Every combination of passengers and riders was attempted.
Oh, the sunny warm day in Denver with family was just what this doctor ordered!
Hey Karen, is this dress okay? I tried on a different one, but Sean said I looked like a "cake-topper".
In a totally sicko rendition of a nature show, Diego the wildlife explorer sets about to explore the wildlife. Suddenly, a dinosaur team appears. " Oh, I don't *think* so!", they exclaim. You're not going to be exploring THIS wildlife! The tragic story, again, ends in wild attack.
For this and all the other performances, we had to have a very fancy ticket. We were ushered by clowns to rows A and B (first and second basement steps), to sit in seats A1 and B1, and WITHOUT DELAY. It was, afterall, 7:27 am on a Sunday morning! Get up, already! Then, there was a puppet show! I missed the first part of this one, but it started with the loud and long dinging of a swiss cow bell. Then, the cow and dog argue about where the noise came from. Is the bell around the cow's neck.....or NOT? It ends, like all the performances, in some sort of attack. Poignant. No Hollywood endings here.
It was a balmy 42 F, so we got out on our bikes! We made a special field trip to Mama's office to fix her computer and decorate the office with large renditions of snow monsters and foreboding signs stating " DO NOT ENTER: MAUNA LOA". Then we stopped by the dinosaur museum on the way to eat lunch at the Turtle Rock Cafe. It was a great morning. 
Margaret had ALWAYS wanted a bathrobe and she had never had one, for her ENTIRE life. We NEVER gave her one. So, she earned one herself - by accumulating a whole week's worth of smiley faces for not whining. Good job, Margaret! The robe came in the mail today. We are pleased. We plan to sleep in it tonight.
Oh boy! All the men in the family got measured for their tuxedos today in preparation for Mike and Karen's wedding in May. They are going to look sharp, at least for a few minutes!
I decided to ignore the nosies. It was before 6am after all...so when I finally got up to find out why the refrigerator door kept opening and slamming itself shut, I discovered that Eric had prepared himself breakfast! A sandwich with mustard on top ( of the box), a plate of mustard, some mozzarella, a strawberry, some chocolate sauce, a yogurt drink that had been in the fridge, and one knife. He even put the mustard back! I was grumpy about getting up until I saw this and laughed out loud despite myself and the hour of day!
Tonight I made dinner for the family and then went to a Zumba class. When I got home, I attempted to communicate with my spouse. What I got was a brief summary of what dinner can be like after children. Lots of joy, but not the most relaxing or filling experience!
K: How was dinner?
S: Chaotic! You should see the videos I took.
K: No, I mean how did it *taste*?
S: Can't remember.
A heartfelt welcome to Oscar Gleeson Van Leeuwen, born February 18, 2011 ! The violet is your birth flower, a symbol of spring! You have only been here a few hours and you have already brought so much joy! Can' t wait to meet you. Now, let your parents get some rest!!!
We now have a digital piano! Everybody has been enjoying it. They even let me play sometimes!William is getting more and more confident about his reading! One of my favorite things is when he reads to his siblings.
Last week we were dressing like this for our commute to work. It hit a low of -39F! This is Sean, in case you can't tell!
So as soon as it warmed up a little bit we headed 1,000 feet down in elevation to Fort Collins where it is a lot warmer...and there's more to do! It was 55F which felt BALMY. We went to a farm so we could review our farm animals. This is a picture of Eric calling the pig a "MOO". Clearly, we have our work cut out for us today!
This is the gobble-gobble. Eric was scared of it so William protected him. Very funny, because William was scared of turkey too! It kept hissing at us. Never said "gobble gobble".
The kids were on bicycles but sometimes had to dismount to climb on one of the four gigantic frogs on the side of the lake. This picture goes out to our frog-loving friends in Bloomington and Lansdale!
Thanks for a nice day, family!
That's me in the corner... working on dinner. And this is what is going on in my kitchen! HELP!
It's a lot easier to practice skiing here. We have a ski slope in our back yard!
And she's off! A natural! She points the skis downhill and doesn't care about stopping!
But eventually she stops and Sean helps her up.
Glenn and Ineke were hearty souls. It was adventure time. They found their car in the snow bank.
They put on their new snow shoes.
They headed off into the woods at 8,000 feet.
They walked until they reached the top of the moon. Welcome to Wyoming.
Oma and Grandpa arrived yesterday with a minivan-load of presents, their dog, and what seemed like A WHOLE LOT OF CLOTHING AND SHOES. We are not sure how long they are staying, but it was noticed last night that they had nailed a lovely picture of themselves to the wall downstairs. HAHAHAHA!!! Teasing! We were all excited for their visit.
PRESENTS. These kids have been in heaven.
So many grandparents! So many friends! So many presents! A new thrill everyday! YAY!
And the Eric-chair, hand-crafted by Grandpa, has arrived! This chair is PERFECTION. Grandpa has made it clear that we should not have any more children because it takes so long to construct and finish one of these beauties, which he has made for each member of our family. Just as he completed Margaret's chair, we announced that we were going to have a third child - HAHA! Don't worry, readership, we are done creating children. We have reached our level of incompetence. But will Grandpa have to keep making little chairs? We are hoping this is in his future, just not for our immediate family! Welcome Oma, Grandpa, Holly, and the last Christmas of the season. We have been blessed with a fun and love-filled holiday which was worth the three day trip home that is slowly fading in our memories. HAHAHA! DrHausfrau has reached the Slap-Happy stage of Christmas blogging! HAHAHAA!
