Happy 2014

This post has been sitting in my draft box for the last week.  I had such ambition and high hopes of keeping things up to date with the new year. Then along came Thursday after New Years and we were slammed with a nasty flu.  I swear, I haven't been this sick since before I had the kids.  I got it first and Cash got it a few days later.  Clara seems to have picked up a milder version of it as of yesterday.  We have been homebound for 4 days and I am going crazy!  Although, I must admit, I'm still not feeling much up to doing anything outside the house.  Whatever this crud is, it's a real ass-kicker.  Cash and I have both had temps of 101 at sometime or another.  I had horrible chills/bodyaches (thankfully Cash never complained of either one of those symptoms...so I am glad he didn't get that portion of it!)  and this nagging, hacking cough that he and I have.  BJ has so far **KNOCK ON WOOD** hasn't come down with it.  We are hoping at least one person can be spared ;)


Onto what this original post is for...twenty-fourteen! We were invited to our neighbors house to have snacks and drinks on New Years Eve.  They have two kids that are our kiddos ages and they all get along really well!  It's nice to have a family close by with kids the same age!  We lasted until 9 when Clara was over it, and we walked back home.  I didn't last til midnight (big shock!) I think the only time since kids that I did make it to 12 was when I happened to be up nursing one of the babies!  Maybe some year I will be able to stay up again! 

On New Years Day we decided to take a Jeep drive up to Hyalite.  We hiked a little ways up Grotto Falls until the kids got tired.  It was a beautiful day!  Angus tagged along and was able to be off  his leash for a bit and he was fully enjoying himself! 

On our way out, we stopped and helped FOUR stuck vehicles out of the snow!  I told BJ that we surely were starting 2014 off with some good Karma! 

Goodbye 2013

It seems the older we get, the quicker time goes by. So cliché...I know!  Actually, all of my life I have hated my birthday.  December 29th is smack in between Christmas and New Years and often my birthday parties were sparse.  My birthday pictures are a sprinkling of friends with mass cousins all around.  I complained often...probably too often that I hated my birthday.  That a summertime birthday would be so nice.  My Mom's answer would always be the same "sometimes you just can't plan those things."  I never got the full impact of that very statement until I became pregnant with Cash, headed to my first appointment and was given the due date of December 8th.  Point taken, Mom, point taken ;) 

It was just this year that I think I had the realization that having a end of December birthday is actually kind of cool.  I mean, you get all the end of years festivities, a birthday and then BAM, it's a new year and I get to start all over with another year of knowledge and learning under my belt.  I think that 33 is going to be a good year!  It's taken the last few months to realize some things.  A few nips and tucks if you will, to see the big picture.  To enjoy things a little more than I was. 

A re-cap and some highlights of our 2013....

{1} We were able to move back to Bozeman!!

{2} Cash started 3 day a week preschool and LOVES it!

{3} BJ's company is in the process of being bought out by NorthWestern Energy.

{4} We went on our first family vacation to Oklahoma for Bobby & Amy's wedding.

{5} Our family is officially complete with Angus!

{6} Clara is talking A LOT...like may eventually give Cash a run for his money...HELP!

{7} Cash played his first season of T-Ball

{8} I took lots and lots of pictures of all these events...when we are old and grey we will love them!

Looking forward to what new adventures and happenings await our family this year.  Dynamics will change as people grow.  Cash will start Kindergarten this year and Clara will learn to grow without her brother by her side.  Cash will grow by leaps and bounds I just know it.  BJ and I will have our 7th Anniversary this year and it will also mark 10 years of being together!  Things always seem to change and evolve and I am ready for what is coming in 2014.

xo
Betsy

The rest of December

 

 

I got really behind on posting pics this month.  Hopefully, once again, I can be better at keeping up the blog now that the holidays have died down!!

 

 

I got a new camera lens (!!!!!!!!) from BJ and the kids as my Christmas/Birthday gift!  I had been wanting it for a really long time and was totally surprised by it on Christmas Eve!  It takes AWESOME pics and my goal for the year is to start only shooting on manual...it's hard with moving objects like the kids, but it makes the pictures turn out so much better!

 

On to the pics! 

 

My first few outdoor pics with the lens...See how nice?!

 

 

  Angus hates the rain...but LOVES the snow!  Good thing he's a MT dog now!

Cross-Country skiing in the backyard...

Nana's birthday party!! Ice cream cake at Aunt An's house in jammies!

 

 

Christmas Program at school.  Cash was a singing fool!!  It was adorable!  He was front and center of the half circle they formed.  He had been singing his Christmas songs all the time leading up to it, and he knew every word to every song.  I love watching him!!

 

 

 

We brought home the tree, and put the tree skirt under it...within minutes, Angus thought we had set it up for him apparently!!

 

Caught getting along!  Watching Christmas movies in our room snuggled up with Clara's blanket.

 

{christmas day}

With the excitement of Santa coming and Johnny (our elf on the shelf) reporting daily naughty and nice behavior, Christmas has been much anticipated around here!  This was "the year" for me.  Having both kids truly get it all.  They hold the magic in them and it just boils out all the time!  The magic that leaves once the believing in Santa stops as a kid, was back in full force this year!!  Makes my heart happy to see them so happy and excited.

We met up with Santa at the mall a few weeks ago.  Cash was fine, Clara cried.  Cash asked for a few dinosaurs and Clara asked for pink and purple candy.  Easy enough!  I found pink and purple candy canes at CVS last weekend and BJ had the great idea of giving Cash back his dinos that he had gotten "thrown out" for hitting us over the last few months.  Plus we had already planned to get them both new bikes. 

The pure excitement was captured on Christmas morning!  Despite going to bed late on Christmas Eve, Cash was up at 4:45.  I made him lay with me until 5 when we woke up BJ and Clara.  Our Christmas was over by 6am!  By 7am, BJ and I had devoured an entire pot of coffee!  It was exhausting however, I remember doing the exact same thing as a kid!! 


                                                              Magic Captured:

 

 

We stayed home and played with all our new things until NAPTIME....we needed it!  Then we headed out to Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Bill's for prime rib.  They had a cute little kiddie table set up for Cash and Clara that included tiny champagne glasses.  They loved pouring glasses of water and drinking out of them!  We had a nice time out there catching up with everyone while the kids played with Legos and the Doctor set that we brought out for them.  It was a super fun Christmas this year!  Currently, our tree has been taken down and all the decorations are boxed up and ready to head back to storage! 

                                         ....and a self-timer family pic!

 

Christmas with the Copes

BJ's parents went to Oklahoma this year to celebrate Christmas with Bobby and Amy, so we had our Christmas with them a few weeks before.  The kids were thrilled to get presents a tad early!  Cash got a new Leap Pad that has been a huge hit!  He even saved his chore money for 3 weeks to buy himself a new game.  Clara has been enjoying her new girlie playhut she got too!