Photo Shoot

I took the kids in to get pictures taken and here are some of the best shots that we got:

Thanks Elyse/Grandpa's B-day

We went over to Frank and Cathy's this weekend to celebrate Frank's birthday.  They were in Singapore for the last month.  We had missed seeing them and it was great to get together.  Elyse sent back a gift from her to Cate and Ashton.  She sent a necklace and clip on earrings for Cate and a dinosaur set for Ashton.  They both loved the gift and it was very thoughtful of Elyse.  

Cate wearing her jewelry and playing dinosaurs with Aunt Pat

Cate played dress up and modeled the outfit for everyone.

Ashton loved the dinosaurs!

Ashton loves to dress up when Cate does and here is what he picked out.  I love that he decided to vacuum too.

Cate and Ashton helped me make Frank a Snickerdoodle Pie for his birthday.  We had a great time celebrating with everyone.

February update

I haven't posted any pictures recently, so here are some pictures of what we have been up to:

Cate had "crazy hair day" at dance class a couple weeks ago.  This is how we decided to do her hair.

Just a cute picture of Ashton eating his breakfast

The kids painting paper bags for an art project

Cate snuggling on the couch with Sadie

Ashton, Cate, and Sadie checking out what is going on outside

Across the gully in our back yard, a new house is being built.  Ashton loves to go outside to see the trucks and to watch the construction.

My parent's came down for the weekend because my sister was in town.  They stayed with us.  My Mom bought the kids some new clothes and they decided to do a fashion show.  

Ashton's new swimsuit

Posing in their new outfits

What a beautiful girl!!!

Here is a series of pictures showing how the fashion show went:

Having fun posing in the new clothes

Being silly

Ashton decided to tackle Cate

Ashton running away from the scene of the crime

Aunt Stephie stayed with us too and the kids loved getting to spend some time with her.  It was great to get to spend some quality time with my sister.  I don't get to see her enough.

Happy Valentine's Day

Cate has been so excited to celebrate Valentine's Day.  We have had a great day.  This morning the kids opened the presents that Eric and I gave them.  Then Cate had a Valentine's Party at school.  

Cate got a princess purse and some candy

Ashton loved that he was invited to the Valentine's party.  The kids got to decorate their own cookies and cupcakes.

Here is a picture of Cate's classroom and all the kids decorating their treats.

Cate's cupcake

Ashton's reaction to realizing that his food was all gone

Cate handing out all of her valentine's with her teacher Miss Kristin

The kids sang songs for the parents.  ( I love how Ashton decided that he wanted to participate)

The kids back at home posing in their adorable Valentine's outfits that Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt gave them.

Snow and Paint

Cate is SO excited for Valentine's Day.  We picked out Tinker Bell valentines for her to take to school.  She wrote her name on all of the Valentine's, put them all in the envelopes, put candy in them, and put stickers on the envelope to seal them.  She did this all by herself and she really enjoyed making them.  (This was a great snowy day activity)

Ashton and Eric went out in the snow.  It probably snowed about 18 inches here.   Yesterday we took the kids tubing in our neighborhood and they had a blast.  

A project that i have been wanting to do for a while is to paint Cate's room.  I had purchased the paint and supplies a few weeks ago but haven't been able to find the time to do it.  On Friday I got a burst of motivation and decided to get it done.  We moved Cate into Eric's office for a couple nights so that I could have time to do it.  It was A LOT of work but I think that it turned out great.  Here are a couple pictures of the finished project:

Our new dog Sadie

We recently adopted another dog from the Denver Dumb Friends League.  She is a one year old lab/pointer mix.  We decided to name her Sadie.  She is a really sweet dog.  The kids love her and I think Buddy enjoys having another dog around.  Here are some pictures of Sadie:

Here are a few pictures from last week of the kids playing together.  Their new thing is to go into Cate's room to play and they tell me that "grown ups" are not allowed.

Yesterday we did some art projects.  

This is Ashton telling me not to look at his picture yet

While Cate was putting her princess stickers on the paper she was pretending that the stickers could talk to each other.  Her imagination is growing so much and I love listening to her.

Ashton loves racing his car around the kitchen.  You have to watch your toes.