Day to Day

We had a rare day of spring weather in the middle of winter so we took Ward on his first real bike ride since he has gotten very good at riding the balance bike all around the house all winter. He was so happy to be riding with the big boys. 

He worked so hard trying to keep up with Van and didn't want to stop. He was in heaven.

Ward loves to be my helper in the kitchen. His favorite thing is to help me make muffins. We do lots of cooking while Van is in preschool. He cracks all my eggs for me, he is very good at it!

These boys love to play legos. Ward loves to just put the little lego men on different vehicles and his little fingers are learning quickly how to put things together. Van likes to modify all his vehicles with gadgets for batman to use.

Ward loves firefighters right now. This is his "firefighter pole" in the basement, he pretends to slide down it but of course has to have his firefighter had to do so.

We have had lots of snow this winter which they boys have loved.

Their favorite wintertime activity: drinking hot chocolate after playing in the snow!

Snowshoe Ski Resort

Jared had a medical conference a few hours away at a ski resort so we tagged along to make it into a little family vacation. However, it happened to be during a deep freeze and the wind chill was so miserable that Ward just cried every time we went outside. So we don't have any pictures outside, but Jared was able to get some snowboarding in and Van and Jared braved the cold to go tubing. We spent most of our time at this great circus tent full of kid fun they had there. Van loved this trampoline bungee and did it over and over and over. They also loved riding up and down in the elevator at the resort and playing in the hot tub. It was a fun time even with the freezing cold.

DECEMBER

Van's 4th Birthday!

 Ward enjoying his "non-birthday" present on Van's birthday

Birthday party with church buddies at the Children's museum

Don't they both look so excited?

Breakfast with Santa event

Van likes to wear a tie to church now to look like Daddy

We had a party at our house on Christmas day. It was just Van and the girls. They all love him.

Christmas morning. Van was at the perfect age to love everything about Christmas this year. 

Ward was happy just to sit in his new rocking chair and didn't care about much else

The first snow!

Van and I made this snowman ourselves. We were proud!

New Year's Even party with just Van and I. Jared was working and Ward was sick and in bed. We had a great time!

We have a family of 5 deer that live on our hill and go through our backyard everyday. The boys love to watch them.

Halloween and More Fall Fun

Our firefighter and Woody from Toy Story. Our good camera is broken so we didn't get great pictures.

Enjoying the fall leaves

Turkey Kids Biathalon: our friends put together this really fun race for kids in the ward. They made turkey shirts, got racing numbers on their backs and had to run and bike. It was so fun, Van loved every minute of it.  This is the starting line-up for the run.

Coming to the finish line

Getting ready for the bike race with his age group--even Ward got to ride

The awards ceremony

They both had fun. We hope it becomes a yearly tradition!

FALL FUN

Van loves to do "Kung Fu". He is intensely focused on doing his signature kung fu moves.

We've been trying to do lots of hiking this fall. This was a hike to a little river where we spent lots of time doing what boys love to do best and throwing all kinds of things in the water

Fall festivals and parties

Hay ride with friends

More hay rides

Having fun at the pumpkin patch

notice how Ward's hair always sticks straight up no matter what we do

Ward is obsessed with lawnmowers and has to be out pushing his toy mower whenever his dad is mowing the lawn

Hiking with Grammy and Pa (our camera just broke and I think that is why this picture is fuzzy)