A Photo Tour of our Spring

It's been a long time since the beginning of January - time to post some more photos!  But, before doing that, I want to point out the name change on this blog.  Anna has recently been telling us she is "Anna teeney bean"...I guess she's given herself her own nickname!

Sam decided to do Anna's hair this day by putting in ALL of her barrettes!  I remember I used to do the same thing to my mom, and she probably had about the same look on her face as Anna does here! :)

There is nothing more delightful in the Kaiser household than when we get new books!

"The Masked Retriever"

I kid you not, he put on this outfit and was on a mission to get people to return their overdue library books...

Painting has become a hot activity recently

The morning of Anna's 2nd Birthday (March 22)

Sam got a saucer chair for Christmas, and boy was Anna thrilled to finally get her own for her birthday!

Ladybug cake

Yummy birthday dinner - baked potato bar!

She got plenty of help opening her presents from her cousins and brother.

Hmmm, does this picture look familiar?  I told you that new books mean a good time for Kaiser kids! (This picture is absolutely not staged...Anna opened up some books and they both immediately grabbed one, sat, down, read, and ignored the rest of the pile of presents to still be opened!)

Trying out a new pillow.  Must be good if it fits three kids!

Jordan played Anna "Happy Birthday" on his cello!

Why are they all staring at me and singing?

I KNOW!  Because it's my birthday!!!

Boy, that cake was worth it...

Sam had zero interest in writing last summer, and didn't even know how to hold a pen.  Throughout this school year he has learned SO much.  Not only can he hold a pen, he can write all of his letters (upper and lower case) very legibly.  And, since this is my blog I get to brag...he recently started reading on his own!  Four years old!!!

Spending some time with Papa Tom...

I have a picture almost exactly like this of Sam - 2 years old, sitting on the bed, reading to Maggie!

Yes, our daugher is wearing a strainer on her head in the bath.  At least she'll be protected from the aliens...

Easter morning and finding some eggs! (Anna diligently opened each one to look for goodies!)

Counting the eggs

Thanks Grandma Pat for our great Easter clothes!  (And, by the way, this is what you get when you tell kids to "smile big"!)

Winter Fun

So, I've got to admit that winter isn't my favorite season.  (I used to ask my mom and dad when I was little if I could move my January birthday to July!)  But, looking at some of the pictures we've taken over the past few weeks, it does make me realize that there is some pretty good winter stuff!

Christmas kids - in ther new outfits from Grandma Pat!

And new jammies from Grandma Carol

(Anna wore both pairs because she couldn't decide which was her favorite!)

Christmas morning - pretending to be a bunny and dog...

...enjoying a new playhouse...

 ...just what I asked Santa for! And...

...trying out the dollar store inflatable chair from Sam!

 Relaxing after a great Christmas day

Maggie loves to lie on the floor in the kitchen because there is a heat vent right under the cupboard.

The kids decided they wanted to be cats too!

Apparently this is our New Year's tradition...popcorn, shakes, and a movie!

(refer to the picture from New Year's last year!)

And, finally, we got some neat snowman mugs from Santa...here we are enjoying our first cup of hot chocolate from them!

3 months in a few paragraphs...

I could give all sorts of great reasons why I haven't been posting here recently, but it really is just laziness.  I got a laptop for work this fall and hardly ever use our desktop computer anymore. But, all my photo software is on the desktop.  Thus, I rarely download pictures to the desktop, or use this computer to make blog postings.  Yes, I could easily move from one computer to the other, but I just don't!

But, with that disclaimer out of the way, here are some updates on what we've been doing over the past few months:

 Anna finally has hair long enough for a ponytail...but she rarely has the patience to let me put it in a ponytail!

We do some mean pumpkin carving at our house!

My pirates (I love these outfits, and I love Halloween!)

Enoying the snow (in a sun hat...)

Steve's favorite Christmas event - hanging the lights!  (I'll have to see if I can get a picture of them lit at night, it's pretty impressive.)

Sam decorating the house.

Our annual Breakfast with Santa during Christmas in Centennial.  Sam also got to drive in a fire truck to bring Santa to the event...if you are a 4 year old boy, this is a BIG deal!

And, telling Santa how much he wants Legos for Christmas.  Anna may not get any presents since she refused to sit on his lap. Oh, wait, on second thought she is just very good at recognizing "stranger danger"!

Marathon #2...and counting?

Yes, Steve ran his second marathon!  It was the Twin Cities Marathon on October 3, in Minneapolis/St. Paul.  His time was just slightly off his goal, but he still did amazing and we are incredibly proud of him!  Last year, after his first marathon, it took him a few weeks to decide that he'd like to run another marathon.  This year he decided within a couple of days that he'd like to try for a third!  I think its a great idea to fold these into family trips so am pushing for the next one in a place like San Diego, so we can all go along and have a vacation as well!

We did make a vacation of this year's marathon.  We first drove (yes, drove) with the kids up to Grand Forks.  We hadn't been back there for over 5 years, and it was so nice to see old friends and work colleagues as well as revist the town.  As we were driving across North Dakota we kept commenting how "at home" we felt in the state.  I don't think it is a place we would necessarily move back to, but the memories we have from our time there are just wonderful.  It truly was/is a great place.  I should note that this is not how we felt we when revisited Arizona earlier this summer!

After our GF visit, we drove onto Minneapolis and visited our friends from PT school, Chris and Emily, and their two kids, Brayden and Nora.  (Chris also ran the marathon). Sam and Brayden had a splendid time playing together - we are trying to convince all of them to come along with us on our next "marathon vacation"!

We haven't taken a long road trip with Sam since he was about 2, and Anna has never had one.  So, even though there were Goldfish and Froot Loops in most crevices of the car and we went through about a dozen pacifiers (they get thrown!) we actually had a pretty good trip.  Sam particularly loved staying in hotels, and he can tell you all the details about each one we visited!  The DVD player and iPod (Sam has his own) were also lifesavers.  Seriously, how did my parents drive us all around the country in the technological dark ages? :)

Sam and Brayden at an Apple Orchard

The Cow Train!

Pony rides also at the orchard

Relaxing after a tough day

In addition to the ND/MN trip, we've done several other smaller trips this fall. In fact, Sam told me the other day that we needed to "slow down" on the trips and stay home for awhile! (Not documented below, but we've also been to Colorado Springs to see Steve's brother's family and Casper for a family photo day!)

At the Botanical Gardens in Denver - Grandpa Wayne's birthday gift!

Another trip to Denver - this time to the Aquarium!

Anna was a big fan of the overhead fish!

Hard to see, but Sam is showing you a shark!

On that same Denver trip we also got to see Thomas the Tank Engine. We had taken Sam to see Thomas when he was 2, but he didn't remember it. He had a fantastic time this year (even though Mom left the tickets in Laramie and Grandpa met us in Cheyenne with them - THANK YOU!)

Sir Topham Hatt

Driving a train!

And, after being hauled around a dirty train yard, missing a nap, and needing a snack, this is what Anna thought of the Thomas trip!  (I'd like to note this is the only picture of me from the day!)

This one is hilarious - This is our "time out" corner, and Sam was there for some type of infraction.  Anna went over, sat down on the carpet, and kept him company for the rest of his time out!  As you can see, it doesn't seem to be too much of a punishment for him ;)  Also, this was the first time Anna smiled "on cue" for a camera - a huge development in our family photography!

Yep, that is as big of a pumpkin as you can grow in Laramie! But, thankfully, two grew and got orange (yes, only two) so each kid could have one for Halloween.