Aunt Jess and Josie

It was such a treat to have Aunt Jess and baby Josie here for a week at the beginning of April. I feel bad that we didn't do too much, and that I left Jess alone with a few kiddos a couple of times so that I could get something-or-another done, but we sure did love having them here! Josie fit in with my kiddos right away. It's a good thing that we FaceTime with her all of the time.

The snow finally melted and it was warm enough to wear flip-flops (even though we still needed sweaters) so we spent as much time outside as we could.

 ...Including going for a walk near the Hudson river. We got a personal escort by the Magistrate of the town of Corinth to find our hiking spot. (I tell ya, Jess and I always have adventures together!)

We had more than one matching outfit for our girls.

We did a mini-photo session to try to get a picture of all 4 kids. We got a cute one ...

...but it was like herding cats!

These two were really cute buddies.

My handsome little man.

Beautiful girls!

They were here the week before Easter, so they got to dye/decorate Easter eggs with us.

We got some bathtub pictures to bribe them with someday. :-)

We also did some good shopping, and lots of GREAT visiting while they were here. It was hard to say goodbye, but happy to know they will be back in July! Love you ladies!

In his own time...

Somebody decided this weekend that walking is SOMETIMES an acceptable way of getting around.

Yellow Belt

My big-little man earned his Yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do. Here is little video of his testing, the end is the best.

A few days later was the belt ceremony.

 Removing his old belt.

 Bowing/showing respect for his new belt.

 Master Miller

Maple Festival 2014

We always look forward to NY Maple Festival weekend. There are dozens of maple farms around the area but we found the one that was closest to us and hearing from other people seems to be the best "festival" one. The cold weather has really hurt the sap season so far, they hadn't collected much yet last weekend and they were really hoping for some warmer days and cool nights to get the sap flowing before the trees get buds on them (I guess that's when the season is over). We did manage to stock up on our syrup for the year though.

The big kids fed the goats.

It really wasn't as cold as K makes it look, he just found a face mask that he wanted to wear.

L chillin' in his new-to-us ride.

Last year we bought 1 gallon of syrup and just finished the last few drops the same weekend we bought the new stuff. This year I bought an extra 1/2 gallon to add even more to my pancakes. Jess, the cute little ones are for you!

First Steps

L is pretty sturdy on his feet, but not confident enough to start walking. He likes to hold onto two hands before he will walk with you, but really he only needs a tip of a finger to stabilize himself. We caught one of his very few attempts at walking on video, sorry it's kinda shaky we had a 6 year old videographer using the camera for the first time. :-)

K's 6th Birthday

Once again I have been slacking with my blogging ... We weren't planning a big/extravagant party for K's 6th birthday, but a week filled with a nasty stomach bug right before his birthday kinda pushed things to be even more casual.

Sick mom forgot to bring the camera, so all I have are cell phone pictures. But I DID document it!

K invited his buddy J to go see the "LEGO Movie"

Afterwards we went to a fun place called "Cookies & Milk" and the boys each got to pick their own yummy cookie.

He opened a couple presents here.

Later that evening he got to open the rest of his gifts.

 

He is very into Skylanders right now and so we got him several new figures as well as the newest game. I can't tell if he was excited about it:

Trip to CO

A few weeks ago we went on a fun trip to CO. 

The trip out there was an adventure. There was a winter storm headed towards the East Coast, enough that school was already cancelled for the second 1/2 of the day, but luckily we had a 6am flight, so we thought we could make it out before the snow started. Everything looked good until the time our flight was supposed to leave, and they informed us that we did not have crew and that they were driving them up from JFK (4+ hours away). Thankfully, we only left 2 hrs late but the snow had started and we were going to miss our connecting flight in Cleveland. Knowing that we were going to miss our connection we debated staying in Albany but the gate agents assured us that if we didn't leave on this flight we might not make it out of Albany for another 6 days and that the Cleveland people will be able to help us for sure.

We got to Cleveland and the customer service agents looked at us like we were crazy for getting on the plane and informed us that they could not get us on a flight until Saturday (it was Thursday)!! We got our seats on the Saturday flight and proceeded to try flying standby until we got on a flight. We also decided that we would split up, if necessary, and one adult would go ahead with as many kids as possible. As it is with customer service it really depends on who you talk to. After not getting on standby on the first flight we talked to a gate agent who took pity on us and spent some extra time looking at flight options. She was able to get CC and I (LP with me) seats on a 7pm flight and she even took my phone number so that she could keep an eye on flights and try to get Matt and KP seats too. THANKFULLY she did! Because she called me back a few hours with seats for KP and Matt on the same flight. She was our angel for the day and I would have bought her flowers if I could have!

Our other saving grace for the long layover was the free passes for the United Club Lounge that I get with my United credit card. They had a family room that allowed us to shut the door and relax. The kids got to take a much needed nap, and I was more comfortable letting LP roam around the room instead of being trapped in the stroller. The free snacks, TV to ourselves, and multiple outlets to charge our devices were just added bonuses.

We spent 9 hours in the Cleveland airport and door-to-door our travel time was 23 hours. It was a pretty awful day, but it could have been so much worse if it hadn't been for our angel agent and United Club. The kids were amazing troopers too.

On Saturday Jessica threw a fantastic birthday party for our two 1 year olds.

Seriously how cute are these two?!?!

JJ's Gma Deb reading books.

Love Grandpa Huber!

JJ has always had a little crush on KP. SO sweet!!

JJ is a month and a half younger than LP but she is bigger than he is!

The picture below makes me laugh because LP is all about the singing and knows that the cake looks yummy and JJ isn't too sure about it all.

Didn't have to tell him twice what to do with that cake!

I wish I had video of the little show that the kids put on up on the balcony. Very cute.

We had the opportunity to have a nice visit with Great Grandma Porter.

The purpose of our trip was to go with Holly as she went through the temple for the first time for her Endowments. It was a fantastic experience for everybody and we were so thankful that we were able to be there for it.

Aunt Sydney and her Grandson Miles.

We had a great time and didn't take nearly enough pictures. We got to spend some good time with Grandma and Grandpa Huber, some friends met us at our favorite Rec Center that has fun water slides and a lazy river, and I took a friend out to dinner for a "bridal shower." Our other big "fun" was that Matt and Cady, and then subsequently Bill, Holly and Lance, got the stomach bug. It lasted about 12 hrs for each of them, but it was enough throwing up that CC spent several hours in the middle of the night at Childrens Hospital.

The trip home was completely uneventful. Both of our flights were on time and LP actually slept through most of them. We left 60 degree CO and came home to 18+ inches and below zero temps.

Love this picture

I am just looking though our pictures from our trip to CO and I found this gem. It makes me happy.

L's First Year Video

Here is L's first year condensed into 12 minutes. It kinda feels like it has gone that quick too ...