Mattson Drive By

Gma and Papa stop through Colorado on their way to and from their Snowbird location each winter. We look forward to a day or two of their company.  An impending snowstorm (yes, we had a lot of them this year) made them hit the road after only 24 hours in Denver.  Was a quick, but fun visit.  Mom even got a night in Downtown Denver with me and some friends to enjoy Dirty Dancing at the Temple Buell!

On their way back, we got to enjoy them for a couple of days! We kept awfully busy by playing Minion Trouble and even watched as Pella replaced the majority of our windows on the back of the house!

We also got to watch the boys at their swimming lessons.  Before lessons, the boys were showing off their skills in the new play area.  Karsten got a little overzealous and ended up slipping and punching himself in the face (not kidding). I won't go into it too much, but just know that there was enough blood that it caught attention of three of the lifeguards on duty.  Karsten just loved all the attention - don't think he even cried.

Their last night in town meant a warm spring fire, complete with Smore's!  We really enjoyed catching up with them on their brief stop and look forward to our next trip to the MN lakes in June!

Gosh, if only these four kinda liked each other... even a little.  I just love how no matter the time span between visits; these kiddos jump at the chance to cuddle with their grandparents!

Our Easter was Egg-celent!

Remember those big snow storms we had recently? They were still playing havoc the weekend of Easter.  As a result, our kids got to do their neighborhood egg hunt on the tennis courts (where they had shoveled most the snow off).  The boys had a great time and due to the fact that it was so cold and snowy... not many neighbors showed up.  That meant the Cannode's Cleaned Up in the egg hunt this year!  No worries - no candy was thrown away.  Our co-workers love us this year with all the candy we have brought in!

I told you - these kids found way too much candy, but we couldn't just leave it on the courts.  We did our best trying to help collect it all.  And yes, these two have received training from Papa Bill on how to adequately take a picture; Bunny Ears Included!  "Hoppy" Easter to All!

 He Is Risen!  Sunday morning, we got our family up before the sun was ready to peak through to enjoy a brisk (ok, really cold) sunrise service followed by a pancake breakfast at our church.  It was definitely memorable; He Is Risen Indeed!

After waking up with the sun, we headed to Loveland for a fun brunch and egg hunt put on by the Prehms.  The kids really enjoyed the egg hunt.  Emily had a different color for each kid; which allowed them all to search at their own pace - great idea!  Note how weather changes in a day.  Saturday was way too much snow and winter coats and Sunday was cute outfits and sunshine!

And the bigger boys... what were they doing, you ask? enjoying brunch!  Even before the ham was cut off the bone.  So thankful you guys were there to make sure it wasn't to hot for the rest of us. We normally are blessed to have Kris' parents in town on Easter. We enjoy one of my favorite services all year, come home for an egg hunt and enjoy a wonderful ham meal.  As they were in Europe this year, we were thankful to get an invite up north.  It was a wonderful day to spend with friends.  Let us never forget the blessing bestowed upon us and the true reason for Easter.  Wishing our family and friends peace, love and happiness always!

Spring Storms are the Best

We had two late spring storms this year; both pretty fierce.  One was March 23rd (work from home day!) and the other landed on the weekend of April 16th/17th.  We first tried working from home... I would try to explain how that went, but a picture is worth 1,000 words.

After that fail, it was finding activities to keep them busy.  First was building Bunchems.  This actually ended up filling a good couple hours! #WorkingMomWin.  Karsten was super proud of his creation of Kevin, the mythical "Snipe" from the movie 'UP'.

That is all cleaned up - still cold out side - Now, what?  Who wants to make Grandma Mert's Banana Bread?  Yum!

Turned out perfect - Now What?  Puzzle time, anyone?  Thanks to having a brand new, fairly tough puzzle; this lasted almost 45 min.  PS: Day is only half over at this point - ha!

Storm #2 ~ what better time to watch the Star Wars Trilogy (er, Sixolgy?) than a big storm day?!!  I got to see Star Wars for the first time and must admit; I still have no idea of the overall plot.  We made it through Star Wars I through Star Wars IV.  I see two more movies in my near future!

After we shoveled off the driveway, it was time for some play in the snow. The sun was out and so were the fast pitch snowballs!

Oh Dear!  Um, after all that shoveling, all we wanted to do was hot tub those sore muscles.  That did not look plausible... until I had three very sweet helpers who assisted in a path over to our hot tub!

Best way to make it through a storm with your sanity is ... um ... I wouldn't know - I think mine left on several occasions during this year's spring storms! What I can tell you is that as cute as our little snowman (who Karsten called "Mr Business") was... I am looking forward to flowers in that pot shortly! Happy Spring, Everyone!

Sharks and Sea Turtles, Oh My

Our boys took a break from swimming to learn some hockey skills, but now that summer is near (I hope), it was time to refresh those skills.  We put both kiddos in Sea Turtle and quickly found out Kasey was moved up to Shark!  This kid has learned a lot in the past year!  Actually, they both have!  We also had another fun surprise.  They opened up a free swim play area for the kids to entertain themselves before class got started.  They Love this area! In fact, this was where we had Kasey's 6th birthday party back in December.

What better way to celebrate their first day back at swimming that some DQ ice cream cones! Especially since it was on 'free cone day'!

These next three pics are from the last day of class.  We have been staring at this daring slide for months.  It twists and turns outside the building before coming back inside and looks rather daunting when you are six.  Could Not get my boys to attempt it.  A couple times, they would walk up the stairs; only to walk straight back down.  Not today, they celebrated graduating their swim classes (Karsten will move up to Shark and Kasey will not be an Orca) by conquering the big yellow slide!  ps: I think we stayed an extra 45 minutes just going down this thing... I thought we would never get to go home for dinner!

St Patties Day Celebration

 

St Patricks Day is always a big celebration in our group.  This year was no different.  Kris picked me up from the airport Saturday morning and our family raced over to the Paliga's as we were already late to the party (and it was only 9am!).  We had a great crew to celebrate our shenanigans with and awesome themed food by Ms Sarah.  She even created a craft activity for all the kiddos!  It was a huge hit!  Oh yeah, and Amy found out she LOVES Car Bombs!  * This is trouble! *

Time to take these Leprechauns over to celebrate the day with Grandma and Grandpa.  This was their last weekend in Colorado prior to heading out on a quick (four month!) trip to Europe.  These carefree kids were looking forward to visiting Great Britain, Ireland, you name it!  Let me be clear... the "kids" I refer to are the retired ones.  What a blessing to be able to take such a wonderful trip! We can't wait to follow their adventures on FB and catch up with them when the return!

Once our little leprechauns were taken care of, we skirted on over to celebrate St Pats downtown.  It has been before kids since we were downtown for the occasion.  It was just as we remembered it; chaotic... with a few other surprises - so Loud and Crowded! ... am I old? ha

I think we did our heritage proud!  Happy St Pats!  and until next year... keep looking for that pot of gold under each rainbow... I know our kids are!  Sláinte!