Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

While people on the East Coast are trying to get away from the snow, we recently drove TO the snow for some fun snow sledding in Flagstaff, AZ.  Here are some pictures of us and our friends, the Augers, playing in the snow...

Here's a video of Greg and Nathan sledding down one of the baby hills for Nathan's first few times:

The Best Baptism Evah!

 We went to one of the most special baptisms I've ever been to this weekend.

First, a good friend of ours, Brian from Boston, got baptized.  Second, our church does not have a building, so baptisms are held at a member's house in the backyard and the benefit to that is that we are able to stand near our friend during his baptism, which makes it very intimate and personal.

Brian's family stood in the water with him while our pastor, Bill and Brian's wife, Randi helped Brian back into the water.

The final factor that made this baptism day more special than others was that just minutes before the baptism, the homeowners COW delivered a baby calf!  Literally minutes before the baptism.  Amazing.  New life.  The calf and Brian.  So touching.

Here is the calf suckling  - on the finger of the man who helped deliver her.

The calf was probably an hour old by the time I took these pictures and had not walked yet.  They were rubbing her down and massaging her legs, trying to get her to stand up but she just wasn't ready yet.

The kids got a big kick out of watching the cows.

Later Nathan observed the bull eating, peeing and pooping, which he was apt at yelling and pointing out to make sure we all didn't miss it.  In this picture, he's eating a cookie, which the bull seems interested in taking a bite.

 

Just another very cool and neat day in Arizona!

London's Run

I have healthy friends who run in marathons.  I should be like them.  Well, enough thinking about that. :o)  Here are some pictures from London's Run!

The Runners...

The bystanding spectators!

Taking off from the Starting Line...

And while they ran, we hung out, talked, and took pictures.  Speaking of taking pictures....

I gotta shout out to my friend Lynn.  I love that she's not afraid to pick up my camera and start shooting pictures.  However, she underestimates her abilities immensely!  Case in point, she took this candid shot of me and Nathan. Love it!

And this one...LOVE.

After a while, the runners began to return and we stood nearby cheering them on. Here's Josh sprinting towards the finish line.

And Amber and Randi...

And I close with this last picture that reflects the emotion I was feeling at the time as I watched a young boy of about 8 limp across the finish line, cane in hand with a proud grin stretched across his young face.

Actually we were all crying as we watched this boy but this picture just happened to catch Kim laughing, at me -crying!

ALL Aboard!

After numerous tries, I finally captured something on video that I've been wanting.  You'll hear Nathan yelling "All Aboard!" 3 different times in this video.  I think he's imitating how Tom Hanks would yell "All Aboard!" from Polar Express, it totally cracks me up!  Here it is:

The End of an Era...

To some, this is trivial.  

To me, it's a big deal. 

I've been using Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara for about 20 years. 

~ TWENTY! ~

 That's a long time relationship with a brand product.

After looking for months, the mystery has been solved about why I was having such a hard time finding my brand of mascara.  Stores have been phasing out the entire Max Factor cosmetics line.  Whaaaaat?????

This is what the Ulta Store Manager told me.

I'm inclined to disbelieve her. 

I'm inclined to be in denial.

I'm inclined to search all over the internet and

find every last tube of this mascara and buy them all!

That's it.

That's all I have to say.

Birthday Bash

Nathan's birthday party was on Saturday and I have to confess that I became 'That Mom' this year.  I'll elaborate. We had a train themed party because Nathan loves trains.  What qualified me as becoming 'That Mom' was everything I prepared and planned in order for the kids to have fun.  

I designed a 'Boarding Pass' with train themed 'Stations' listed for each child to visit.  After they visited each station, they collected a sticker on their boarding pass.  Once they collected all the stations stickers, their prize was getting their 'Conductor Hat'.

  

 

I started the party by explaining the boarding pass to them and writing their name inside each one. Then they ran off to collect their stickers.

  

Here are kids at Station 10 - Stamp a Train. Each kid got to use train stamps and colorful ink pads to make their own train picture. 

At Station 20 the kids were able to decorate their own train shaped cookie with frosting, sprinkles and colored sugar.

At Station 30, we had trained themed books like Choo Choo Clickety Clack and Chugga Chugga Choo Choo for story time.

Station 40 was your typical pin the tail game, except in this case it was Number the Train.  I instructed the kids to keep their eyes closed because I was afraid if I blindfolded them, they would get scared.

 

 

And the last station was the big finale.  A ride on train with it's own little track.  I found this on Craigs List a few weeks earlier and had it in the house right under Nathan's nose but he never knew it and saw it for the first time in these pictures.  Once he saw it, he knew exactly what it was for, to ride!

Other children were waiting their turn, so they could collect their sticker and Nathan was such a good sport letting others ride the train.  He happily shared, never fussing once but he did stay close by just to observe! 

All the kids filled their boarding passes and collected their Conductor Hats.

Then it was cake time.  I made the cake again this year.  It took about 3 hours to make and again, I have new found respect for the creative hand cake decorating requires - it's not easy!

Once Nathan blew out the candles, I wanted to get a group picture of all the kids and this is the point where I think I went to far as 'That Mom.'  I gave all the kids silly nose glasses - to much? 

When it was time to open presents, I asked each person to personally give their gift to Nathan so he could tell them Thank You and give them a hug at that moment before he opened the present.  I was complimented by another mom for handling it this way, which made me feel good. :o)

That was Nathan's big birthday bash. As the kids were leaving, I asked if they had a good time and each one said yes, so I think it was a success!