Just Catching Up...

It has been so long since I have posted any pictures mostly because I have been completely lacking energy...more on that later. You will notice by the date on the top of the page that I started this post in February! So I am posting a ton from the last few months. Sorry, they are completely out of order, but what can I say? I was doing this with a two-year-old climbing on my lap wanting to look at all of the pictures! Enjoy! 

Mommy and Zach with Daddy after he ran the National Marathon 

Running across the finish line. 

Riding the metro with Papere on marathon day. 

Happy Easter! 

This was Zach's first Easter basket and he loved devouring the organic gummy bunnies that were hiding in the eggs. Not as good as jelly beans but he doesn't know that yet! 

Zach has sticker pox!

Dying Easter eggs!

He's ready to go! (I didn't want egg dye on his clothes.)

Daddy and Zach in Harper's Ferry. Such a cute little town!

Snack break with Grandma Lois in Harper's Ferry. 

Zach and Grandmom in front of O-MAMA's house (or the white house as others refer to it.)

Zach and Grandma Lois

Fence sitter

Cooking lunch for us at the Denver Children's Museum

Doing a little grocery shopping

Driving a firetruck!

Zach was a ring-bearer in Ali and Matt's wedding

Ali-mom's friend from college- such a beautiful bride

Daddy performed the ceremony- it was a family affair!

Driving his trucks down the wheel-chair ramp as he waited to walk down the aisle. 

18 inches of snow fell in Boulder the day we flew in for the wedding! Zach and Grandmom checking it out. 

Flying an airplane at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum

Personal dance party at the Air and Space museum

Zach and his good friend Eric

Enjoying an ice-cream cone at his friend Mackenzie's 2nd birthday

Party time

St. Patrick's Day beads

Lunch at a mexican restaurant at Rehobeth beach

Beautiful snowy beach!

First great snow storm of the year in Maryland was in March

Zach wanted to help clean up the living room...hmmm thanks for the help Zach. 

Zach enjoying the American History museum...or at least the construction going on outside. 

Zach and mommy riding the Metro. 

Valentine's cookies! 

Kisses from cousin Makenzie

What do you think?

O-MAMA

We have had a fun week although all three of us are fighting off being sick and at this point it seems like Zach and I are losing the fight. The nursery attendant at church today told me that Zach didn't want any goldfish! If you know him you know that means he is definitely sick. We all enjoyed watching Tuesday's events on TV all day. We were thinking of going down to the National Mall to experience it all since we are so close, but when nap time rolled around that day I was very thankful that we were home and not standing on The Mall among 1.something million people. Zach loved cheering for Obama on TV all day and everytime his face would show up Zach would yell, "OMAMA!" Experience it yourself by watching the video! 

Zach has a new best friend, Ba! Quite a creative name don't you think. BA BA is the sound he makes for dogs barking so now he calls his little blue dog "Ba." Ba comes everywhere with us and his nose is getting very dirty from all of the sloppy kissed he gets each day. Zach loves to make sure Ba is happy all day so we comfortably set him up in the crib under the blankets so he can nap while Zach plays with other toys. He also likes to set Ba up in his rocking chair with a book to make sure he doesn't get bored. The other night he sat Ba up so that he could watch the fire and then decided he would sit next to him to watch as well. So sweet! 

We have a fun new development these days and that is that Zach now recognizes letters on the signs as we are driving around town and calls them out with great excitement. I was driving around the parking lot of Fitness First the other day looking for a parking spot (because it is January remember...a few more weeks and parking shouldn't be a problem again) and Zach starting yelling "F" "I" "T"! I couldn't believe it! I was one proud Mama! I mean it is one thing when I am chasing him around the house with magnetic letters, but to recognize them on his own completely out of context! Wow! Now its what we do everyday! We drive down the street yelling letters and trying to be the first one to spot the digger or the trash truck! I will tell you one thing, I am blessed to be that little boy's mommy!

And the letter of the week is...

*Note* Before watching, be sure to pause the blog music at the bottom of the page so you can hear Zach's sweet little voice. 

Zach has been getting really into learning his letters. There are quite a few that he knows now and it is really exciting to watch him learn new things. Enjoy the little video where he is performing some of his skills. I could only get him to talk about two letters before he wanted to hold the camera himself though. We have had a great week and he is recovering nicely from his surgery. We went in for a check up this week and the Dr. said everything was healing perfectly. So glad that one is behind us! I have started classes again so Andy and Zach are getting their boy time which they both loved. It was so nice to see how happy they both were after getting time together on Wednesday afternoon! One cute story to leave you with. The background on this one is that he has a CD of the music from Vacation Bible School last summer that he loves and listens to while dancing in his room everyday. He calls the CD "Power" as that is one of the main words in the first song.   So at his gym class they turn on the bubble machine at the end of class, put on some music and have a dance party. All of the kids were dancing and Zach came running over to me yelling POWER...apparently he didn't like the song they had chosen and wanted to dance to VBS music instead! 

We Were So Brave

Well, I should admit that Zach was braver than Andy and I were. He had surgery this week to repair an inguinal hernia. The Drs. said it was a very simple surgery, but since he had to go under general anethesia we were pretty anxious. He did so well and it was so obvious by how smoothly everything went that there were so many people praying for him. So if you were one of them...thank you! 

Here he is before he went in. We had to wear the garb too as we were able to go back with him into the OR until he fell asleep. He laid in my lap while I rocked him and we sang the ABC's (his favorite song at the moment). The worst part was when he was asleep we laid him on the table and walked out of the room. 

I guess Andy was too cool for the OR hat. Zach's least favorite part of the day was the hospital bracelet they made him wear. He hated that thing! He wanted it off and was willing to do almost anything to make that happen. He was not impressed by the fact that I was wearing one to match!

The surgery only lasted about a 1/2 an hour. Felt more like 1/2 a week! They brought us in while he was still asleep and as soon as he woke up I was able to pick him up and cuddle with him in the rocking chair. The nurses gave him some apple juice which he loved (not something he gets very often) and a cute stuffed duck. He was much more excited about the apple juice. 

He has been doing great and is healing quickly. The only problem is that he is not supposed to play too rough or do anything where he may hurt himself. Not so easy! It is everything I can do to keep him from swinging from the chandeliers. Thanks again for all of your prayers, and encouraging notes and messages. We felt so loved! 

Am I really about to do this?

Yes I am! I realize we have all moved on from Christmas by this point but I just had to get these Christmas pictures up here. We had a wonderful Christmas morning at our house. We even let Andy out of the house for a run while Zach and I took a walk around the lake. We went up Aunt Ginny and Uncle Blackie's house in Hagerstown for the evening and had a delicious and festive dinner with lots of family. We are so thankful to be living in Maryland so that we can celebrate Christmas with lots of extended family even though we aren't in Colorado with everyone else. 

We did get to go to CO the next day for a week and had a wonderful trip! Enjoy the pictures. 

Zach's stocking. You may notice that one of the angels on the mantle is missing a head. After doing three Christmas Eve services on his own this year (good job Andy!) he came home and beheaded an angel while filling Zach's stocking! 

That sneaky Santa came all the way into the kitchen and left magnetic letters on the fridge. "Cool!" says Zach. 

Goldfish in the stocking??? Santa must really love Zach!

Even Maggie thinks that some of Zach's Christmas toys are kind of cool!

A new dust pan and broom for my neat and tidy little guy who loves to clean!

The ABC's are a favorite in our house these days.

Reading the new digger book in the new green chair-Thanks Grandma! 

This chair really came in handy during surgery recovery time. 

A new digger from Jackson!

Hurry daddy Hurry! I can't wait to get my hands on that motorcycle!

Steven: Zach tormented this poor little guy, chasing him all over the house. Its fun to have a dog just his size!

Thanks for the fire truck uncle Berkeley, or as Zach calls it, the "wadder" 

Silent Night

It's Christmas Eve and Zach is sound asleep in his Christmas jammies, resting up for an exciting morning of celebrating the birth of our Savior and playing with some fun new toys that Santa should be dropping off at any moment. Andy is at church doing the last two Christmas Eve services of the night, so I thought I would take the quite moment to catch up on the blog, which I have gotten so behind on! I am even being provided with live music as I write since the church across the street is letting out and everyone is gathering outside with candles and singing Christmas carols. I feel blessed! Speaking of feeling blessed, I just want to say on this Christmas Eve that I am so thankful that God sent His son to earth as a precious baby. We are blessed that Jesus came to this earth to share His life with us. I am so thankful that we have a time each year when we can celebrate His birth and remember all that it really means for us. 

I haven't posted any of our fun moments this Christmas season, mostly because we have been so busy! I probably don't need to mention that life in the church gets much crazier around Christmas time. One of the things we did this season which Zach absolutely loved was to do the drive through Seneca Park to see the Winter Lights display. He loved all of the lights that were shaped like some of his favorite animals. His absolutely favorite part however was when we came upon the barn where Santa's reindeer live. Barns a favorite thing of Zach's right now and a barn made of lights....well you can imagine how great that would be. Andy and I enjoyed it too as we got to have a wonderful conversation that lasted longer than fifteen seconds! Zach has started taking a gym class this month which was a Christmas gift from Grandmom and Granddad. He loves it! He is especially good at the balance beam and dunking balls into the basketball hoop. The greatest part is that since we are signed up for the class we can go to the gym for free open play anytime we want! This is going to be a life saver for us as it is way to cold to hit the playground these days! We are taking a trip back to Colorado next week which we are all so excited about and I promise all three of you that read this blog that I will post pictures of Christmas as soon as we get back. Until then enjoy a few fun ones 

Sugarloaf Mtn. Vineyard. We went to this great vineyard that is right by our house to buy a gift one afternoon and decided to stay for a glass of wine! Zach is enjoying his favorite snack too, cheese puffs from Trader Joes. 

Papere (my dad) sent Zach this incredible digger for Christmas. It arrived this morning and we let him open it early. Diggers are Zach's absolute favorite right now. He can spot them a mile away and excitedly screams "di di"  in the car whenever he sees one!

Even the picture on the box was exciting. 

Oh the anticipation can be so painful!

Zach's first haircut! 

I have attempted to cut his hair many times but he refuses to let me anywhere near him with scissors (probably a good choice on his part). So we took him to the lady that cuts Andy's hair and he had a great time! He looks so precious with his new cut and it makes him look so much older!

Zach helping me to make gingerbread men for my MOPS groups. Actually they were called Chai Spice Girls and were delicious! Let me know if you want the recipe for next year. Zach loves baking these days and often pulls up a chair to help me in the kitchen. He especially loves when I use the Kitchen Aid Mixer! "Wow," he says!

Zach taking a self-portrait when mommy and daddy weren't looking.

I am so blessed to have these two wonderful boys in my life. They are so much fun and keeping me laughing all the time. They also have two of the sweetest and kindest hearts you will ever find!

Instructing daddy on where the tree should go. He loved have a tree in the house. He will definitely be sad to see the "tee" go!

Taking a break from Christma shopping to play at Tysons Corner

Stretching his legs with daddy. Daddy is training for another Marathon!

We went to the beach for Thanksgiving and had so much fun spending time with our wonderful family! Here he is coloring with his cousin Jackson. He thinks Jackson walks on water!

A walk on the boardwalk- Thanksgiving day