Ski Weekend

I was able to get Auntie Geri's camera chip a few months back and decided it's probably a good idea to get these pictures posted from our ski weekend in March!

We had such a fun weekend with Geri and Stacie! Hope we get a repeat this year :)
Little cute patoots at the top of Keystone!
The 3 amigos Papa, James and Stacie were all in it to win it, skiing like crazy!

All the ladies so excited to Ski the Beav!

Geri and Stacie at the top of the Super-G run

Of course Geri had their hair in rollers when she babysat!

We managed to hit Keystone twice, Breckenridge and Vail... what a weekend!

I'm going to back-date this post to March since that's when our trip was :) Nevermind that it's September now!

Play Play Play

Yes, they are girlie girls and playing dress up is their hands down favorite thing to do! They will dress up in anything, their clothes, our clothes, blankets, Sophie came out the other day wearing a pair of James shorts like a dress with one leg on and the other leg hanging off the side :) Here are some of our favorite outfits.... Bella striking a pose!

Little ballerinas! They already love to dance and when we were watching the ice-skating during the olympics they both started spinning in circles :)

They just learned to hold hands so now they love to hold hands and giggle everywhere they go, they crack up the whole time :) So funny to watch with the giggling and the clacking of their high heel shoes!

Time for an outfit change

Bella

Sophie

Bella putting together her animal puzzle, she sings "e-i-e-i-o" every time she puts a piece in place

Sophie taking a break to sit in her dump truck

They finally learned that reading is fun! For a really long time it was almost impossible to read them a book because they wouldn't sit still and whoever wasn't interested would keep trying to grab the book - but now they love to sit and be read to or just look at the pictures and talk to themselves!

Their favorite book by FAR is "If you give a pig a party" they want to read it all day! The first time I read it to them I laughed at a couple of the pictures so now they turn to those pages and fake laugh :)

Picking out a book to read. They are very good at taking all of the books out all the time and we are working with them to learn to put them back!

Sophie looking at herself in the mirror

Bella giving her dolly a ride in the stroller

Our living room on a typical day - trashed beyond recognition!

Valentines Day

Valentines day was lots of fun this year with our little sweethearts! Dada gave them both a little box of chocolates and a card, then we all went to their first Monster Jam! We were lucky enough to sit in a suite which made their first time at the Pepsi Center so easy :) They were able to walk around and play with Papa, Uncle Bradley, their cousin Joseph and friends Adam and Mike and of course eat popcorn! At first they were scared of the big monster trucks but after awhile they were having a blast. They saw Monster Mutt, a truck that looks like a dog with big ears and a tail and even a tongue that sticks out, Bella was cracking up and clapping along when he came out to that song "Who let the dogs out?!" After Monster Jam we went home and made and decorated sugar cookies..








They learned the word "cookie" that day and now they say it constantly - cookie cookie cookie - very cute! They also learned about chocolate but they say "caca" instead :)

First Dance Class

The girls just finished their first dance class last week at the Garrison Street Sports Center. The class was called Movin with Music for Tots and was one night a week for 1/2 hour for 8 weeks. At first they wouldn't even let us set them down on the floor they were so scared! But after 2 classes they got down and started to run and play with the other little ones. They learned songs like Wheels on the bus, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes and the Hokey Pokey and got to shake pom poms to "shake their sillies out" and did lots of tumbling, balance beams and running in circles :) We enjoyed the class so much we signed them up to do it again after a month off...

Here is Isabella getting ready for the last class
Sophie doing the balance beam all by herself!

Bella doing the balance beam all by herself, the teacher said she is the youngest one she's ever seen to pick it up as quick as she did, maybe she will be a gymnast someday!

Our little hanging monkeys!

Their favorite part of class is the obstacle course

Sophie having fun running around on the gym mats

At the end of class they all sit on the edge and get their hands stamped and a sticker!

Fun in Keystone

Ski season is officially underway here in Colorado and we are enjoying every minute we can on the slopes! James has progressed to doing black diamonds and moguls and I am comfortable on most blue runs now and doing the snowplow less and less every day. I don't know if I'll ever be able to keep up with my husband but it feels good be picking up some speed finally. We got the chance to try Beaver Creek last weekend and it was an amazing experience, so beautiful there that we were sad to Leave the Beav at the end of the day! Here is our home away from home - the top of Dercum mountain at Keystone... James, Mimi and Papa took the girls, Joseph and Andrew on a sled ride while Bradley, Jolene and I went skiing - looks like they all had fun! Here is James pulling Sophie, Bella and Joseph...

The little kids all sledding together

Sweet little Sophie enjoying the snow

I almost wanted to say that this is the whole crew - but we are missing Mimi and Papa in this picture, no wonder the people who live below us think there is a herd of elephants in the condo - we have a rather large group :)

Ah, nothing like some Captain to warm you up after a long day on the slopes!

Andrew, Bella and Sophie in the tub - so fun watching the cousins play together

Our new obsession is "nigh nigh" time to go to sleep, but just for pretend, they never actually want to go to bed!

The kiddos all really enjoy playing together and it is great that we finally decided to put Andrew in with the girls for naps and bedtime, although the room is crowded with 3 pack n plays we are all sleeping much better now! Unfortunately Sophie learned how to climb out last weekend... so far she has only done it when she is done sleeping and not in the middle of the night so we are hoping she can stay in there for a little while longer. It was quite a shock to open the door and see her standing there the first time she did it! Andrew and Bella were just looking at her like "whooah that is cool, can you let us out now!"

Santa Visit

Last year...
What a difference a year makes!

Christmas Cuties

The girls are loving all of the Christmas decorations and activities so far! They both say "wooooow!" everytime we see christmas lights, so we took them to the Westminter city building where there is a Santa village and lots of lights - they loved it! We also took them to Blossoms of Lights at the Botanical Gardens, but it was freezing cold that night and not quite as much fun since we kept them in the stroller. They have had a great time at the Christmas parties they went to and at Uncle Bradleys graduation party (Congratulations Bradley!!!!!!!!!!). It's great to see them being more social and playing with the other kids (they were so clingy 6 months ago we used to have to hold them the whole time whenever we went anywhere!)

Around the house they have been playing with our little snowmen and a singing penguin. The other day I walked into the living room to find all of the snowmen laying down covered with washcloths and the girls saying "shhhhh" - they were putting the snowmen to sleep - so cute! As far as the christmas trees, they have been doing pretty good - we kept some ornaments within reach for them and they like to look at them and try to pull them off :) But so far no destruction, which is a good thing! They did however get into some of the presents and there are a few gifts that are partially unwrapped already!

I'm not sure who is more excited for Christmas - the girls or us... We can't wait to see them play with their new toys :) And we are looking forward to spending the holidays with my grandparents Otto and Marion again this year! Christmas just wouldn't be the same without them here. And it's fun to pick out cute clothes for the girls to wear when great-gramma and grampa come to see them!

Holly Paccione Session - 17 months