Bunnies for Elijah and Mercy

Last year, Elijah asked for a pet for his birthday, so we got him a fish. Sadly the fish died and Elijah said, "Mommy I want a pet I can hold." This created a bit of a dilema because we did not want another cat or dog and mom does not do inside rodents. We suggest a bunny that could be housed outdoors. Elijah loved the idea, but it would be a little while until there were any bunnies that we could get. Daddy surprised Elijah the last day of March with his very own bunny. Elijah and Daddy set out to build the bunny a cage the very same day. When they were done Daddy thought the cage could hold at least two bunnies. Mercy was happy to hear this because she too wanted a bunny. Mom wasn't really agreement with this but less than a week and a half later we had two bunnies. Elijah named his Pepper and Mercy named hers Princess, Rainbow, Brownie, it just depends what mood she is in!

Sara turns 2

The weather to start off Sara's birthday was a real April fools. By afternoon it looked completely different. Sara has really taken a liking to Dora and so we had a Dora themed party. Our family makes up a party of nine so we just celebrated as a family.

A great Winter!

We sure did enjoy our winter season. We got to enjoy a good snow several times this year which can be highly unusual in these parts. We also tried some new winter sports as a family. Noah tried snowboarding with his Dad and Elijah, Lydia, and Rochelle tried skiing. We really enjoyed it and hope to be able to do it again in the future. Lydia and Rochelle got to ride the Silverton train this winter and enjoyed some spectacular scenery including some mountain sheep.

Our trip back home

Our trip back home was of course bittersweet. It is always nice to get back to where you call home but always painful to leave behind those you love. Our trip back left us with a 6 hour layover in Chicago on New Years Day. A friendly police officer helped pass the time by chatting with the kids and entertaining them with some of his police gear. It was certainly one of the highlights of a long day.

Pictures with family

Our children are blessed to have 3 great grandparents still living. They were able to visit 2 of them during our time back east. Great grandma Kipe (Rochelle's Grandmas whom Sara is named after) and Great Grandmas Bertha (Brian's Grandma). The first pic is of Mercy, Sara, and their cousin Bella.

Time with family

It was a very special blessing to share the holidays with family. Sara learned to say Grandma and Pappy but we are sure she was a little confused as to what Grandmas meant since she has 4 Grandmas with 2 of them being Great-Grandmas. Lydia was also blessed to spend an afternoon with her favorite pen-pal and friend Elizabeth.

Traveling back east for Christmas!

We were extremely blessed this Christmas to have the pleasure of traveling back east for Christmas! It was our first time traveling by train and although sleeping was a bit of a challenge we did enjoy the train for the most part. It was a two day trip and we were glad to be reach family Christmas Day in time to share Christmas dinner.