Bye bye January

Boy oh boy I am glad January is in the rear-view mirror.  It was quite the month bringing lots of change for our family and not much of it was good.  It will end up being good.  I am sure of this, but sometimes that's hard to remember, believe, or even see when you are living it. 

January 1st....our annual first family photo of the year!

So while I was beyond happy to flip my calendar to February we did have some really great moments in January.  And that's the thing....even when life sucker punches you there is still good.  It's impossible for good not to exist in something every day.  I truly believe that.  Sometimes I have to search really hard for the good, but it's always there and thank goodness for that!

Jonah had his first gymnastic meet of his level 6 season in Galveston.  Unfortunately the morning of the meet Jonah woke up with a fever and sore throat.  He still competed and did well considering how he felt.  He managed to finish 1st on parallel bars and 9th AA.  Then diagnosed with strep throat!

Jonah and his gymnastic friends!

The boys and Drew took a ski trip to Colorado mid January. They skied for three days at Copper Mountain and then spent two days in Colorado Springs.  Jonah had a meet at the Air Force Academy.  While the girls were very, very sad to miss playing in the snow and skiing, it was a great experience for just the guys.  The girls and I will have our turn sometime this year!

The boys played in snow and it was 80 at home.

Samuel and Jonah skipped ski school and skied with Drew.  Drew was super proud of them and everything they remembered from last January. They skied some really challenging runs and were fearless!  It snowed tons so they really loved all the fresh snow and beautiful scenery. 

In Colorado Springs, Jonah explored Garden of the Gods with his teammates while Drew and Samuel explored the Air Force Academy.  Both boys were in their element...Jonah outside and Samuel soaking up anything about the military!  Samuel and Drew went to an Air Force ice hockey game Saturday night and Jonah went to a collegiate gymnastics meet.  Again, both boys getting to enjoy what they love! 

Jonah had an amazing second meet of the season.  He finished 2nd AA and had several individual places as well.  It was his first solid meet in a long while and he was super excited! 

Excuse the poor picture quality, but there is Jonah in 2nd place AA!

While the boys were away Elena had one of her best friends sleepover.  She had been asking and asking for Tripp to sleepover.  Waiting for her sleepover to begin seemed like the longest day of her life!  Tripp, his brother Tucker, and Elena had fun just playing. It was her perfect evening!

Emma's level 6 season began as well.  It was a full month of traveling to meets.  Her first meet was in Fort Worth so we had a quick girl's getaway.  Emma had not competed since November 2015 so she was super excited to compete and I was happy to watch her again.  It was a great meet to watch.  Emma had a beautiful floor routine earning a 9.6 which is one of her highest scores ever!  I honestly keep watching the video because it is just such a pretty routine.  She also had a great vault.  With a decent beam and bar routine she finished in 3rd AA, 2nd place floor, and 4th on vault in her age group.  It was a solid beginning to her season!

Emma and the Rio Olympics torch signed by Simone Biles

Jonah "graduated" from cub scouts.  He has decided not to continue with boy scouts which honestly makes me very happy.  He loves it, learned so much, and had so much fun.  However, with gymnastics and all our other commitments, it's just so hard to find the time for scouts.  Jonah made great friends through scouting and I do hope they stay friends!

Elena and Samuel didn't have any exciting moments like Emma and Jonah in January.  But, of course, I still took pictures of their adorable faces!

February is my favorite month of the year!  It's my birthday month and I do love my birthday.  This year Drew and I have big plans for the big 42 and I cannot wait!  Samuel has his birthday too!  Our pretend winter will soon be over and spring will arrive.  Baseball begins and it's almost rodeo time. There is so much to look forward to and I just know this month will be kinder to our family!

Our Colorado Vacation: The skiing and sledding edition

Drew and I decided a few months ago that we were going to take the kids skiing this year when we saw that Jonah had a meet in January in Colorado Springs.  The timing was perfect Emma's competition schedule and Samuel's baseball.  So, the point of this trip was to ski.  Drew grew up skiing all the time and misses it a lot each winter.  We have not been skiing in almost four years so it was definitely time.

The ski gear collection area

This was the first time Elena skied.  Samuel, Emma, and Jonah have each skied between 2-5 times each.  For that reason and Drew wanting some adult skiing time, we enrolled the kids in ski school.  They went for 2.5 days.  The last half day they skied with their instructor as well as Drew and Meemaw.  From Monday to Thursday they went from relearning skills or in Elena's case learning skills to skiing down blue slopes.  And if you ask Elena, Jim, their instructor, made them ski a black diamond.  That is true, but they only skied the bottom little bit of the slope.  In her mind that still counts!  Of course they fell and not all was great, but they did really well!  It helps to be young and have no fear!  I was so proud as was Drew and his mom.

This was taken day one as they headed off to ski school.  It was about 0 degrees and they were so excited.  Ski school was at Beaver Creek which was about a 15 minute drive from the house.  They also skied at Arrowhead on Thursday.  They did not get to ski at Vail, but I know that is on their list for next time!

Bottom of Beaver Creek

Vail

Arrowhead

Vail in a snowstorm

Vail....somewhere high up

Vail....and again high up

Meemaw

Jonah resting

They skied each day from 9-3:30 or so with about an hour for lunch.  Every day after returning to the house the boys went sledding.  The girls did some days.  On Friday we sledded in the morning and the kids showed me their ski skills on a slope near the house.

The house was ski in/out so on Friday we went to the ski slope next to the house, but a little higher up the mountain.  I wanted to see the kids ski and they, for the most part, wanted me to see them ski.   There is a little downhill and turn on this slope, but each kiddo looked like it was no big deal.  Crazy!

And of course we took some fun pictures of the kids goofing off in the snow.  The boys made a fort in and around some snow covered trees.  They were very serious about fortifying the area from sneak attacks....boys!  Snow angels were a big deal to Elena.  Just being in all the snow was a big deal!

Up to my knees!

The fort

We had so much fun playing in the snow!  Every day it was fun and no one ever got bored or too hot or too cold.  It was just fun.  There is just something about being in the snow that makes everyone happy!  I think snow is magical!!!!!