Pergola idea

We have been searching for pergola ideas for our patio and finally found one we really like! I love how the right side of this deck has a higher rail for privacy but the rest of the railing is normal size. We are most likely going to use red wood and use parafin to keep the natural red wood color. We loved having the white pergola but since we are using more earth tones when we paint the house we want to keep the natural earthy feel out on the patio as well. Wow - this is going to be one massive project!

Sunday in the park

I can't help it - I have that song "Saturday, in the park, I think it was the 4th of July" in my head all day today :) Cheesy, I know

We took a break from the construction zone and brought the girls to the park with mimi and papa today. We put them in the swings and took them on the slides - they were loving every minute of it! All smiles and laughing the whole time - so fun!

March Madness - Demolition!

Since much of our pergola was in tough shape - by tough shape I mean rotting wood that looks like it is about to collapse - we decided to tear down and rebuild this spring. James began taking the pergola apart by unscrewing and taking apart each individual board, then after a few minutes and a few boards were down, the REAL demolition began...
Once the chainsaw came out we had a few volunteers to come help us - thanks so much Papa and Bradley for helping James with demo!! It would have taken us way longer to do it alone, we are so appreciative of the helping hands!

It took most of the afternoon, but the pergola came down in one day. Mimi, Jolene and I stayed with the kids and had a good time catching up. Little Andrew was smiling already! Too bad I didn't have the camera out to catch the smiles - so adorable!

The back of our house looked like a barren wasteland - sawdust was EVERYWHERE and patio furniture all over our lawn - yikes! James handled the clean-up on Sunday and we are now ready to start getting ideas together for the new patio...

This picture isn't demo-related but it is such a great shot of Bradley and Joseph I just want to have it posted so I can look at it again :)

Easter Bonnets

We recieved Easter bonnets in the mail the other day from great-grammy in Butte MT. She knitted them just for the girls for Easter. They are so adorable I couldn't wait to put them on and take a picture - Thanks Great-Grammy!

And here is another random picture...the girls were being so cute that day :)

Happy Days

Meanwhile, back at the condo

We had the nanny for a few days, then we rotated through who stayed back in the condo with the kiddos... Skiing was a blast but having everyone together was great fun as well.

Here is Sophia doing her very best Elvis impersonation - her knee was twitching and everything!
This was too cute - James reading to Sophia

Isabella being a cutie pie

Silviya came over on Saturday while Greg and Eileen were skiing and helped us out so much! Mimi and I had our hands full with all 4 kids! Silviya read to Joseph while he was eating lunch.

Joseph loves Andrew so much - he was always wanting to show us his new baby brother!

Mimi gave Andrew his bottle, he was the best behaved out of all 4 kids, such a good boy
Here is proud daddy Bradley with Andrew

How adorable is this face!?

Joseph tried on some ski boots - He looks ready to ski to me!

Joseph was wispering to Sophia "I'm a big boy"

The cousins playing together

Daredevil James and Green Lightning strike again

James is getting so good it is really hard to believe he just started last year. Here is a picture from when they ventured over to the north peak and went on some scary steep blue runs over there - beautiful view! I got brave enough to ski 2 blue runs this weekend... Spring Dipper and the Bachelor. We had so much fun we are planning on going again this Sunday - woohoo!
Both Bradley and Papa said they had a hard time keeping up with Sir James as he raced down the North Peak runs...but Mimi said all three of them were acting like wild animals wooping and hollering and going over jumps! Sounds like they had a great time, but I am just happy to be doing a few of the easiest blue runs for now, don't think I'll be joining them over on that side of the mountain for awhile :)

Keystone here we come!

We had the time of our lives this weekend up at Keystone with Mimi, Papa, Bradley, Jolene, Joseph and Andrew and it looks like the good times are just beginning...Mimi and Papa decided to buy a beautiful 3 bedroom condo in keystone very near the moutain house base!!! It is in the Wild Irishman complex and has a swimming pool and a shuttle bus pick-up for the slopes just outside the front door! We are going to spend the summer helping them paint and remodel it, then we can let the good times roll - woohoo!!! We are so excited to spend the weekends skiing in the winter and riding bikes, swimming and enjoying the cool mountian air in the summer. The closing date is in early April so we hope to get up there and enjoy it at least once before ski season is over...we can post pictures then. The best part is that mimi and papa want us to join them up there as much as we can - it is going to be so much fun we cant wait!

Mama!!

Both girls have been saying dada for awhile now so as you can imagine I work with them quite often to get them saying mama... Finally yesterday Sophia said it!! And I have it on video tape :) I still haven't figured out how to post video but I wish I could - it was so cute! She has another tooth this week as well, for a grand total of 6 teeth.

We are super excited for our Stolz family ski vacation this weekend. We are leaving Thursday morning and can't wait to get up there on the slopes for FOUR days!! Woohoo!!! I have new ski boots as well, they feel so much better than the rentals I just can't wait to try them out! I'll post pictures when we get back, hopefully I will get braver and go on some blues this weekend :)