It's been a while

I have mentioned before on this blog about what great friends the Air Force has provided us with, and here is likely the most shining example. Sierra and Tobin we met while we were stationed at Vandenberg AFB in California while Sierra and Jeff were in training to become missileers. Tobin and Sierra, along with Bill and Crystal (Bill was in the same class) would turn out to be our life long best friends who also lived with us in Montana. Also from this class were Mary Yelnicker, Jake Licheliter and Jeff Parish.

When we arrived in Montana as a group we were the only friends we knew, will all of us just couples (or single). We celebrated Bill and Crystal finding out they were pregnant just before moving to Montana, then Caden being born. We congratulated Jake as he brought Kathryn, his new bride into the mix, and then more celebrations as we welcomed Haley Kay into the mix, shortly followed by Haley Madison being born to Bill and Crystal, then Emily to Mary and Brett, and then were amazed as Jake and Kathryn had twins Nathan & James. We cried when it was time to say goodbye to Sierra and Tobin and once again celebrated when they had Kora far away. All of this in just 4 short years. We all marvel to look back on our beginnings and laugh at how there are now 8 kids added to this mix of friends.

This weekend Sierra and Tobin were able to make it out to Colorado for an all to quick visit en route to Florida for vacation. It had been about a year and a half since we'd last seen them, kids had been born, or grown bigger and yet, it was still just as comfortable and fun as always. During this visit we were able to get all the kids together (minus Emily who now lives in California) to meet each other and play for a bit while enjoying to company.

We are truly thankful for the friendships that the Air Force has provided us, and know that these are people who will be a special part of our life forever. We've experienced things together that no one in the "civilian world" could possibly understand and for that we have bonds for a lifetime. I look forward to watching each other's children grow and accomplish things and hopefully become as good of friends as their parents. And while we might not always live close to each other, we'll always be just a phone call or quick visit away, and still be as close as we ever were
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All of the kids - clockwise from on top of the table: Kale (ours), Caden (Bill & Crystal's), Haley Kay (ours), Kora (Sierra & Tobin's), Nathan? (Jake & Kathryn's), James? (Jake & Kathryn's), and Hailey Madison (Bill & Crystal's).

Tobin: feeling the itch with my not so small baby (the youngest of the group - for now)!

Kora, Kale and Haley in the swimming pool sized tub. Yes, they're rocking the Mohawks (as best Kora can anyway).

Monkey Jammies!! Yeah, they called each other and coordinated outfits (or at least their mom's did).

Me & Sierra - we realized the night before they were leaving that we had a ton of pictures of the kids together, but none of us so we quick took one in the kitchen in the midst of sterilizing binkies.

It's Snoooowing! Or, Our Blizzard

Early in the afternoon on Thursday marked the beginning of our first Colorado blizzard (well, mine, Haley & Kale's anyway). We were skeptical that anything was going to come of all the warnings they were putting out, but this time it didn't disappoint! Thursday night rolled around and there was no end in sight. The wind was blowing really hard and what could have been a normal snow storm turned into a bunch of huge snow drifts (pictures below). Peterson sent Jeff home at 1:00 in anticipation and he was lucky enough to get a snow day from work on Friday so he spent the morning delivering Carri Blockyou to the Denver Airport (the snow drifts were so big, she couldn't make it to our house to drop Bear off - Jeff had to go get her in the truck) and the afternoon was spent outside with Haley shoveling the driveway.

This is about 10:00 at night, we were trying to take a picture of the growing snow drift in the back yard, but had to take the flash off to actually get a good picture of it. There was sooo much snow blowing around.

The snow was blowing from the south so it was hitting the front of the house like crazy, note the little drift at the bottom where the kick plate is.

This is part of the giant drift in the back yard. Jeff is standing on dirt.

Being a goofball, I guess she was having fun laying on her back in the snow. You'll notice her thumbs look a little strange - she would not put her thumbs in the thumb hole! Also, please disregard the utter chaos in the garage - that area of the house is not my responsibility to unpack - the only reason I can park in there is because Jeff's folks came out for Christmas and I'm pretty sure Dad either got bored or fed up with it (thank you Dad!).

Making silly faces on the snow. Where else would you make silly faces?

This is her being a nut in the snow. She falls down but is actually able to get back up this time (last time it snowed it wasn't so easy). She also shows atlas the snow too.

St. Baldrick's

Our family, like most families, has been effected deeply by cancer so for the last couple of years we've done the American Cancer Society's Relay for life and Jeff's also been known to do a Race for the Cure. This past year, I was only a couple days shy of delivering Kale, not to mention nearly homeless and on our way to Colorado so, unfortunately, we weren't able to participate. Jeff's Det had a new kind of cancer research fundraiser to take part in: St. Baldrick's. The cause is wonderful - Children's Cancer Research. It was great, he got a free haircut to show solidarity with the children, and thankfully, Molly, Linda, a work colleague, Haley, Kale and I sponsored him so he earned some money for the cause. Hopefully this will go a ways toward finding a cure so that no other families have to deal with this.

Below are his after pictures. A little bit creepy looking, but at least you only have to look at the pictures - I have to wake up next to this goofball.

I don't even know what to say about this one.

Uncle Fester anyone?

Haley Kay is Getting Bigger!

On an average day at the Roberson House you'll find Haley and I having a conversation about something that's she's noticed or is thinking about. Sometimes it's simply: "Hey Haley? I love you!" "Too Mommy!". Her favorite things to say are "I try?" when she wants to share something with me, "I'm okay" when she bumps something, and "Stttooop it Kaaale!" for pretty much whenever he's bugging her.

Daddy fell asleep on the floor in her room one night last week so I brought him a blanket and pillow and took the camera with.

I was finally able to convince her to hold still long enough to braid her hair into pigtails after a bath the other night. It took a book and lots of silly faces in the mirror. I have to say that I'm mostly excited about this because it's one more connection I have to my mom. I remember her braiding my sister's and my hair at night and am glad to carry on the tradition with her.

When we bought this house, Jeff's mom predicted that the kids would be putting their body parts through the dowels and getting them stuck, or use them to drop toys on us from above. While she hasn't dropped toys from the loft yet, (the part over by her room, yes, but not from the loft), and she hasn't got any body parts stuck - I still think this picture is oddly proving the premonition nearly true.


On most days Haley will blatantly tease either of the dogs with the food she has by showing them the food then saying "NO! Goway! Sit!". But here she is completely unaware of the sadness she is causing Atlas by eating her cheese so close to him. He's pretty bummed.

I took about 20 of these pictures with her and the flowers trying to get that cute artsy shot, and while it didn't show up in any of them I did learn a few things: first, the kitchen is not a good backdrop, second, when trying cute kids pictures I need to clean my kid's face, and lastly, I really need to learn how to turn down the flash (I wish there was a dial).

In true "Old School" fashion, there are sometimes things said around this house that small children shouldn't hear, much less the small children who are learning to repeat everything you've said, so we taught her Earmuffs. This also shows her favorite game to play with Daddy - she pushes him over, asks him if he's okay and helps him up, then pushes him down again.

Kale is Getting Bigger!

So today is Kale's 9 month birthday. His check-up landed him in the 85th-95th percentile for weight (around 24 lbs) and he's off the charts for height (31 inches, meaning he's grown 10 inches in 9 months), I guess you could say we've got a big one on our hands (18 month clothing and 1lb less than his 2 year old sister). I thought it was time to show a little bit of what he's up to lately. Mostly trouble and being a boy would be the best description.

Here's Kale's newest favorite toy - the dog water. He will scoot himself over there as fast as he can and then splash around in it. When you catch him and scold him for it he looks up at you and just smiles his gummy smile as if to say "you know I'm too cute, you aren't really mad at me for this"! Then he goes back to playing in the water.

We took a quick break this past weekend to let the kids see the backyard as the fence continues to come along. Kale, being the boy that he is, wanted to mostly eat the dirt. I can't wait till we get grass.

This is just a cute picture of him - Haley decided that he needed to be wearing his hood.

I found some sippy cups on the floor the other day - you'll notice him escaping the scene of the crime and also how independent he's becoming these days.

They Love Each Other

One of my biggest reasons for having kids as close together as mine are is that my sister and I were so close to each other growing up. As my kids experience this transitional life I hope that they would have each other as friends. One of my biggest concerns as a parent is that they will get along and so far, it's going better than I could hope. That's not to say that we don't have the normal brother/sister fights - it's not uncommon for them to be hanging out in the stroller and Kale will be pulling Haley's hair and Haley is hitting Kale, but for the most part the following is part of our day.

Haley decided to snuggle up with Kale in his chair. If you look closely you can see them holding hands. Melts a mommy's heart.

This was the scene the other night as we were putting the kids to bed. We let Kale snuggle up in her bed for a bit then put Haley in. Kale kept trying to steal her Binky and she thought it was hilarious!

Kale is MOBILE!

It should be noted that since having a boy, lots of people have tried to "warn" me about them and the trouble they can get into. Starting with my mother-in-law warning me about "When Jeffrey was a baby" and continuing to the nurse at the ER (he was running a high fever) last week about how this was only my first trip there and that there were many more to come. OK, I'll believe you all, but it's not going to change that he's still my sweet baby boy. But now he's mobile, batten down the hatches y'all, there's a trouble storm a brewin'! Here's a tiny taste of Dude-a-Man's crusing, he started after Atlas, but I couldn't get the camera out fast enough so I only caught the last of it and had to quite early because... well, you'll see!

Kale's new favorite toy

You know how they say that you can spend thousands of dollars on toys for your kids but what they'll want to play with is the box it came in? Well, here's Kale playing with the door stopper. It should be noted that for safety purposes we long ago removed the actual stopper piece from the end of this - I'm a fanatic when it comes to possible choking hazards.