They are growing up! Kai is becoming super responsible, maybe a little too much... I was downtown and we parked at a meter and met some friends for lunch. He asked me how long we had and I said an hour and a half. He reminded me several times during the lunch to check my clock and was very intent on not being late and getting a ticket! He nearly ran out of the restaurant... yikes. Meili is going through a little phase right now that I'm trying to be very patient with. She's always comparing herself to Kai and is feeling like she is always in his shadow. In turn she's pretty grumpy and has a lot of attitude. I'm trying to boost her confidence and encourage her to be happy and hoping this phase passes quickly! Regardless of the bumps, we are blessed to have them. They love to play pretend and I thought I'd throw in a few random photos for the month :)

The sheriff and her canine.

 This girl LOVES her daddy :)

 They made their own firetruck!

 Kai's 1st grade photo :) notice during picture retakes he ended up in full camo attire... well he fits in here that's for sure!

Winter lovin'

We got 2 huge storms back to back and ended up stranded for 3 days at a time. We literally had to wait to get plowed out and lost power for a couple of hours. Glad we were prepared! The kids have absolutely LOVED playing in the snow and were even out one day for 4 hours! It was amazing! They have a great little sledding hill and we made snowmen and a fort. Tristan used to hate the cold and the snow, but now loves it and wants to stay out as long as the kids are out. He also used to hate sledding, but loves it now and he has to be going down with someone every single time someone goes down :) It has certainly been fun :)

Love Day!

Happy LOVE day :)

The kids woke up to a little vday love and thoroughly enjoyed some sugar for breakfast! 

 We had a party with our buddies, and Meili decorated a heart cookie, really decorated it!

 Such a fun day to be with those u love, Rich and I went out over the weekend and traded with another couple, dinner and a movie! 11 years we have been together :) Fabulous :)

February

This baby is growing way too quickly :(

Meili started gymnastics and is loving it :) It is such a great thing for her bouncy little self!

 these too are getting to be quite the besties since Kai is at school. If she's at preschool he walks around saying, "beedee? beedee? arre you?"

 ninja pose

Tristan's nursery leaders are awesome and have started taking pictures of the kids while in there, it is fantastic, I had to add a few :)

 every once in a while Meili puts on a dance show. The video is spectacular. Definitely a keeper!

Happy new year!

We had some bubbly with the kiddos and then went to a friends house for a new years party and played games and had lots of yummy food :) Making new memories without family super close! It was a fun evening and all 3 were still awake at 1230 when we got home :) Tristan was even still kind of happy! It was great fun!

Grams

 We packed up and headed to Grandma Gayle's house. We were lucky enough to also be able to see my parents, my 2 sisters and their families and my brother. It was so nice to see everyone. It was great to spend time with aunts and uncles and our cousins :) It was a beautiful couple of days full of family, food, and games.  We loved spending time with Gram. One night we stayed up late with her after bowling with uncle Keith and she told us all about her growing up and meeting Grandpa. It was great time spent. I love seeing my kids with her, she is doing fabulously well for 90.

 Learned and became addicted to a new game called cash flow!

 slap jack :)

 giggles :)

 playing with cousin pey :)

 Uncle Daniel whipped out his blue suit, which we took him bowling in... scary right.

 This is close to my favorite picture of the whole weekend. For me this photo is a look into my future. This is Meili, she can be pleasant, but this is her mood most of the time. Interesting that she shares the photo with my niece Lauren... They are one in the same :)

 We did some sledding in the backyard. Cohen and Tristan aren't really fans of sledding, but they did enjoy the snow for a bit. It was sure fun for Kai, Mei, and the adults though!

 Ms Mei got some pampering from uncle jerry and aunt becky :)

 Loved bowling with my siblings and uncle Kieth. The 'blue man' got 4 strikes in a row. It was amazing! It was kind of surreal for me to bowl at the same place that my Grandpa died of a stroke 46 years prior... We did have a great evening together though :)

 Love Grandma Gayle and can't wait to see her again soon :)