Christmas in CO.

So for all you readers out there, I must warn you that this is a long post so if you don't have time to read right now, I'm warning you. So here it is. Our December and first part of Jan. Another note, this post is completely backwards. For all of you who know me will understand that the computer and me don't always see eye to eye so this report goes backwards in time. ok. This is me and my mom. Yes you all know how much I love my mom. She and my dad put us up in their new house that they moved into. We joked around that we each had our own wing. It was kind of nice though to have our own spot for three weeks. So thanks for letting us stay in the basement wing mom and dad.

This is almost the last night. Joe and Lara stopped by on their way home from St. Louis to say hello. It was nice to see them, I only wish we could have spent more time with them.

We were just visiting and shooting some pics. Here are my boys and my mom.

The boy cousins of the St. John fam and Joe and Lara's fam. Cute little people. Let's see if we can get some girls in these families.

My very nice dad took us up to Winter Park with some tickets he scored. My mom watched the kids and the snow was plentiful. We took some beauty shots to remember our home for when we returned to the land of Norfolk.

I thought these trees almost looked fake. It had snowed the night before and everything looked like a post card.

Michael and I at the top of Mary Jane. Zeke came with us and we got some pretty good shredding in.

This is a terrible story. One morning we woke up a 6:00 to find that our dear Adam had blown up in his face. This is the picture post ER when they decided we could finally go home.

Our sad little man. He had some sort of allergic reaction to something, which we are still unaware of and needed a shot of epinephrine.

He hated this pulse thing on his toe more than anything.

This is the pic just before we went into the ER. We currently have no insurance so we were trying to decide what to do. Michael had diagnosed him correctly and thought we should do everything they ended up doing in the ER but we didn't have an Epi pen. We looked at this sad face and of course decided that we must go. His poor face was blowing up like a balloon. This happened the last Sunday we were there. He was just fine by 3 or 4 that day, back to his normal self but this was definitely scary.

Christmas day at Buckwalter homebase. We had yummy food and we went to Castle Rock care centers and sang to the people there. It was fun.

Jenny and Emma

Mom and Dad

Here is Brian helping Liam and Sean build the Lego Buzz Lightyears they got for Christmas.

Liam just loves projects and he hardly needed help. He just followed his little book of instructions and built himself a lego Buzz Lightyear.

Michael and I had our basement wing and we put a little tree down there so we could have our own little family Christmas on Christmas morning. There is a fireplace down there so that made is easier for Santa Claus to come and fill the stockings. Christmas is sooo fun with little kids. They get so excited.

Here is Liam checking out his stocking stuff. Adam loved the goldfish andthe swedish fish.

The boys playing Connect Four. They are pretty cute.

Sean showing his Buzz Lightyear. This was the one big present. The rest came from the dollar store which is the new place I have discovered with my new financial situation. It has lots and lots of stuff and really, I must take advantage of my young children who really don't mind what they get.

Michael and Liam. Liam was able to use five dollars this year at the Santa store at his school and he bought everyone in our family a present. He got Michael and pen and a mirror for me. What a cute boy.

Christmas Eve at the St. John house. Dolores and Jim always put on quite the party. We had ribs for dinner with home made potato salad and corn casserole. It was all so so tasty.

Dolores even gets stockings for everyone. What a nice treat.

Dolores and the boys diving in to all the Christmas goodness. The boys were pretty lucky to get fun presents from Grandma and Grandpa St. John.

Even Adam got presents. I'm currently at the point where since Adam is only 1, I don't buy stuff for him. He's good with all the many other toys that are around. He was pretty excited to open the presents though.

Grandma got Liam and Sean the Fantastic Mr. Fox CD. It's fun to listen to in the car. The kids are loving listening to it here in VA. Thanks Grandma.

Sean got the pirate ship he really wanted. He was pretty excited.

The three boys on Christmas Eve.

They are my favorite little people.

This is Adam with a little baby. This is my first child who has really been into carrying around a baby. At home he carries a baby around everywhere. When we got to CO, he immediately found a baby and made it his own. He is such a sweet little guy.

This is a pic before we left for Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas Eve festivities. My dad was so nice to let us use his truck while we were in CO. Thanks again.

These are taken right outside of my parents new house. It is quite the dreamy winter wonderland. The first thing the kids did when we got to CO was sledding. There was a great kid hill right in front of the house that the kids went up and down.

More beautiful screensavers for VA, life with no snow.

When we first got to CO, the condo was available so Michael and I took all the kids up and had a party. We went to Breckenridge for yummy pizza.

We went to the hot tub and pool with all the kids. They had lots of fun playing with their cousins.

Here they are playing out in front of the condo. They were doing some serious sledding here also.

Cute little Sean with a huge snowball.

Adam feeling a little confused about the cold feeling that the snow is giving his fingers. He sure is cute.

Michael and I got to partake in Copper Ski Days with the Boy Scouts. This is one of the first seasons I'm not pregnant or nursing a new child. It was fantastic spending the day on the slopes with my Michael not worrying about the children. Dolores was so kind so watch the kids on this day. Thank you.

I can't wait to teach Liam, Sean and Adam to board/ski. They will love it. It will be so fun to be able to board with my own kids. I'm thinking I will get Liam started next year.

The man who helps make it possible for tons of kids to get the opportunity to ski for a reasonable amount of money. My dad brings up all the food and feeds thousands of people chili in the middle of their ski day. He is an awesome dude. Thanks for teaching me to ski/board many years ago. It is one of my favorite activities in the world.

Michael even found some time to keep up on his studies. He took this pic for his instructor to show what a good student he is. Good job Michael, the man who got straight A's is first semester of Anesthesia school.

We started out the vacation with a birthday celebration for Sean who turned 4 on Dec. 21st. Liam joined in on the party since his bday was in Nov. They invited all their cousins and friends and had a great time.

Their one wish was to have a pinata. We found this parrot one thanks to Aunt Lizzie. Thanks Liz for the cool parrot.

Liam Sean

Adam

My boys. It was nice to get a Colorado recharge. We needed it. Here we are again in lovely Norfolk VA. I'm telling you, it's way colder here than it ever is in CO. The humidity makes it so very cold. We can't really go outside but the sun has finally come out. It was hiding for the months of OCT, NOV, and DEC. That was a bit depressing. Michael has started school again. I think we'll do better this semester bc we know what to expect. We will miss Michael while he is learning but this will all be worth it in the end.

We had a lot of fun in CO. We were able to see lots of friends and family. Thanks to everyone for helping us have a wonderful time. We'll keep you posted on our life in VA. ok, goodbye.

Sorry about the very long post.

What we've been up to

I posted this picture first so that whenever I check my blog I will see my husband. This is only bc I really never see him anymore for he is a slave to his studies. I am happy to say he is doing well in school and that this will come to an end one day.

Here we are setting up the Christmas tree. This is the first year we went with a fake tree. We will be departing Norfolk on the 16th so we figured we didn't want to come home in Jan to a pile of needles. It is a cute little tree and the kids and I had fun putting it up. We turned on some Christmas music and had a festive day of Christmas joy.

My cute little Adam who is loving the tree and also loving to take everything off. We love our little people in our life. He sure is cute though. This kid is STILL nursing. It is time to be done but it's just not happening. Oh well. Keep on nursing Adam.

Here I am setting up the tree. It is fun to have Liam in my life bc the boy is now 6 years old and as smart as they come. He reminds me of his father bc he can figure anything out. We have a Wii and if I don't know how to work something, he is right there figuring it all out. He took out the tree and got it all organized and he does projects all day around the house. He's loving to spell and write lately and he's just a fun guy to be around. I love that kid.

Here he is making sure everything is just right on the tree. He and Sean were playing pirates previous to this activity. He is very good at helping Sean and teaching him new things. He is a good big brother. Sean and Adam have enjoyed having him around Thanksgiving break while school has been out.

THANKSGIVING. Here it is. I decided to cook all the items that I love whether the people around here would enjoy it or not. Michael had to study all morning but around 2pm he came down and the five of us ate honeybaked ham, mashed potates, stuffing, jello salad, rolls, deviled eggs, veggies and dip and pecan pie.

Oh yes and the boys really wanted little sausage smokies. We also had a special drink. Mostly the boys, who arrived in their underwear, didn't enjoy the Thanksgiving tastes, but oh well. It came, we ate, it is gone and now I'm eating all the leftovers. Yum yum. I obviously missed my Colorado people but what are you going to do when you live on the other side of the country.

Liam turned 6 on Nov 22. He is huge. We had carrot cake cupcakes, his favorite. We got a few presents from the dollar store which he enjoyed. It was a good bday.

Lizzy was here to help watch the boys while I took a quick trip to CO. She had a bday while she was here so we celebrated. The boys had fun with Lizzy and they can't wait for her to come back.

Here I am in colorful CO with my people. This was fun. Thank you to all ya'll for the fun weekend. Delicious.

My Erin, My Teri, and me. Happiness.

My Jenny. I was lucky to sleep at her coolio apt. in Denver one night. She has it going on there, that is for sure. Her and Emma are living in a lovely spot there and are doing quite well. How exciting for them and oh how I miss them.

My cute little Sean and Adam. They play together very well. Third children are so lucky with all the entertainment they receive from their siblings. Adam is a lovely child with a great personality. Sean, well he is a little flirt with cute little lips.

Oh yes, then there was Halloween. We have Woody, the old fall back tiger costume, and Buzz Lightyear of Star Comand. Adam was loving the suckers.

Cute little ADAM.

They were quite the pair. These two really watch out for each other. We went to the library for some Halloween activities, then we went trick or treating in our neighborhood, then we went to trunk or treat, then we went to one of Michael's fellow students house for a Halloween party. It was fun.

I love this picture. Liam had just gotten his new cowboy boots and a belt. He had his gun and a hat and he thought he was the man. I really do hang out with boys 24/7. I'm sometimes wondering if there is a little girl out there somewhere that might come and join this group of boys. I'd love to have at least one girl around here. We shall see. Only time will tell. For now it is me and the four boys in my life, actually only three bc Michael is missing in action. I'm a lucky girl to be surrounded by such cute boys.