Weird

That's shaving cream. And a plastic pot. And a bizarre grin...

Birthday Wishes

Ace helped blow out 42 (symbolic) candles on Daddy's birthday cake, as Mommy planned a wonderful celebration for the other guy in her life. All wishes, of course, will certainly come true. (Particularly if they involve heavy machinery.)

Note: Daddy had to don a Pats jersey to counter all the Broncos fever that has been going around.

Broncos Fever

United in Orange -- Ready to Ride. Denver is bursting with Broncos fever.

Making Tracks

We took an afternoon stroll - or, in Ace's case, a scoot - as a family (Daddy took the day off) and enjoyed leaving our mark in the places where last night's snow hadn't yet melted.

Cold in Colorado

On a very cold day, Chase enjoyed some frozen yogurt. Mostly, he enjoyed the mini M&Ms and Oreo cookie crumbs on top of the yogurt.

Fly Away

We've had a few failed kite-flying attempts recently, but today's afternoon breezes seemed to provide the perfect conditions. They did - at least temporarily. A few minutes after this shot, a strong gust ripped the kite from Ace's hands. Daddy took off in hot pursuit, but the spool rattled over the houses you see in the distance, across a major avenue, and ended up tangled in a tree about 30 feet off the ground.

The kite then continued to fly beautifully, high above a nearby apartment complex! Two hours later we could still see the kite from our porch - two blocks away and a few hundred feet in the air - darting and dipping in the sunset.

Party Time!

Although Ace's actual birthday may have been 10 days ago, that didn't dampen his enthusiasm for the amazing celebration Mommy planned at Great Play today. This crew partied like only 4-year-olds can, and it was clear who was the center of attention!

4 on 4

Our favorite little patient passes his hearing test with flying colors. Although he's all smiles in this picture, a few moments after he was given 4 shots, wearing his 4 train t-shirt, on his 4 year old appointment.

Pool Party

Chase enjoys some water fun at the Rec Center pool this afternoon.

Dinner and Drumming

Ace and Mommy joined Daddy for SOAR's Multicultural Pot Luck Dinner tonight. In addition to home cooked dishes, we also enjoyed this performance by SOAR's student drum group, Night Oblivion.

Might as Well JUMP

We hear you're having quite a snowstorm on the East coast. With temps in the 60s here in Colorado, we enjoyed an evening bike ride to the sand park and jumped for joy.

Bowled Over

With Daddy home for MLK Day, the family decided to try a new adventure on this three-day weekend: bowling! With a little help from this dragon, Ace rolled a solid game and discovered a fun family activity we shall certainly do again.

String Cheese Incident

Who needs the dang Super Bowl, we've got grilled cheese!

Sleeping Beauty

Although we had quite a full day, we somehow managed to get all the way through it without taking a picture. Thus, another post-bedtime snap.

He's a Card

The birthday bash continued as Ace played with the fun card sent by Nanna and Papa. The party continued when we ventured to the book store to spend the gift card sent by GPAs Fred and Laurent. Thank you all!

Polar express

As a four-year-old, Ace is ready to take on responsibility for his oral hygiene.

Go Pearly Whites. 

Ace turned 4 today, and Mommy had candle-adorned pancakes ready the moment he came downstairs.

Congrats, Critter, on a fine year, and may your next trip around the sun be filled with even more joy and adventure!

Location:Birthday Breakfast

Mr. Handsome

Ace sings the words (and does a little bath time boogie) to his newest original song: Mr. Handsome. It's autobiographical.

Blanket Fort

Ace and Mommy constructed a blanket fort from which to watch a few cartoons this morning.

King of the Mountain

Our fearless adventurer summits a great peak at the "Peter Pan Park," where the family enjoyed a chilly outing this morning.

Child Labor (even on a Saturday)

Ace accompanied Daddy to The Bookies to assist in picking up an order of books for a 2nd grade research unit.

Score!

L'il T. Tommy Terrific gets warmed up for tomorrow's Patriots' playoff game by signaling a touchdown - something he hopes will happen early and often for his team!

Kickin' It

Chase and Mommy kick around ice and snow at the purple mountains park this afternoon.

Christmas Reflections

Chase inspects his reflection in a bauble still hanging on from the holiday season at Starbucks today.

Punchy

Today at school, Chase got a goody bag for a classmates birthday with a punchy balloon in it. Fun was had by all.

Rokenbok, Part 2

Our little engineer got to play with yet another building in his Rokenbok collection. This contraption picks up and sorts balls. Another hit.

What Happened?

Dear Loyal Reader,

You may have been wondering what happened to our daily post yesterday. Well, after a bedtime which was summed up in the image above, Mommy and Daddy realized we didn't have a picture for the day. Usually, we would sneak into the Critter's room and snap a shot. But after the evening's command performance we decided we would skip the night.

Please forgive us, or rather, Chase.

Joanna and Reed

Rokenbok!

The Little Engineer took a trip to 7th heaven today as Mommy revealed (a portion of) the set of Rokenbok construction toys she had squirreled away for a snowy day. He quickly mastered the intricacies of the remote control vehicles and kept the work site buzzing all day.

I Must Destroy You

While we've had this marble challenge toy for years (for the record, Daddy has tried persistently and never completed it), The Little Engineer essentially discovered it today and decided he should be able to solve it. His determination was impressive, demonstrating that attention-span should not be an issue - at least when he's aggravated. While he didn't get much further than Daddy, it wasn't for a lack of focus or effort.

Blown Away

We took another trip to the Denver Children's Museum today, braving some serious crowds in the process. Nonetheless, Ace had a blast at this exhibit, in which kids put scarves into a wind tunnel and they shoot back down onto the children.

He did this -- I am not exaggerating this -- for over 45 minutes. He's clearly developing his play stamina in 2014.

Lighting Up the New Year

We had one more holiday light show to catch this season and it was spectacular. We drove down to the Chatfield branch of the Denver Botanic Gardens to see the final night of their "Trail of Lights" display. A light snow was falling as we walked through the beautifully lit forest paths and around the working farm. It was the perfect end to the holiday week.

Drumroll, Please!

Chase rings in the new year at the Denver Children's Museum's Noon Year's Eve event.