Soccer

This is Ben's first soccer season! He started a few weeks with a few practices and has had 3 games so far! He really enjoys playing with his two friends, Jack and Brandon. They play great....well, until about 1/2 time and then it starts to get a little crazy! All the kids get loopy and lay on the field or wrestle with one another....or just whatever! It's quite entertaining, actually. Emma cheering on her big brother
Doesn't he look like such a serious athlete here?
His first game

Ski Trip!

This was our first ski trip together in YEARS! I haven't been since having Ben, so it was fun to get back on the mountain again! We took the trip with our friends, the Beemans, who were visiting from Texas. Ben went to ski school and learned how to ski! We are so excited to get our kids involved in a sport that we both love. Emma has a few more years, but we'll get her there! So here are a few pictures from Copper Mountain, Colorado. The two of us had a few hours of ski time by ourselves!!
Picking Ben up from ski school - I think they wore him out!
Me and my good friend, Calneta
At the end of the day - we were exhausted!

Ben Turns 4!!

Ben's birthday was on a weekday, so we celebrated with a couple presents in the morning when he came downstairs and then Mario got off work early and we took him to Casa Bonita to see the cliff divers and watch the shows. He loved it!

At Casa Bonita (a place that I have been going to since I was a kid!)

The birthday cake on his actual birthday
He wanted a Batman theme so I made him a Batman cake!
At Chuck E. Cheese getting ready to blow out his candles
The big FOUR! I can't believe it!
Ben with Chuck E. - and blue lips!

Blowtorch Birthday!

Ok, so I am calling this "blowtorch birthday". It's a funny little story. So I made a cake for Mario's birthday, but we couldn't find any matches...or a lighter. Sooooo, we figured a blowtorch would just have to do! It worked fabulously! And we got some good laughs too!
Ok, here we go!
Wow! How many candles can we fit on one cake?!
Ben wanted to help blow them out

Bye bye tonsils!!

We all know that tonsils can give you trouble. Sometimes it can be A LOT of trouble.

I never realized how much tonsils can affect your whole well-being. Ben got to experience that firsthand. Lucky us! For about a year, his tonsils just kept getting bigger. And bigger. He developed sleep apnea somewhere along the way. Did I mention that he snored like a truck driver? Our pediatrician first thought he just had allergies. But after about 2 months on allergy medication, he referred us to the ENT. That doctor said that Ben's tonsils were extremely large and probably should be taken out. So we scheduled surgery for February 17, 2011. We walked him back to the OR (a very long and scary walk, by the way!) at 11:35 a.m. and they finished the surgery a little after noon. We spent 2 hours in the recover room with him and during that time, he came out of anesthesia and then promptly asked for one slushy after another!

I won't lie. It was a BIG day for us. It was so scary to leave Ben's side in the OR after holding his little hands and watching him fall asleep after they administered the anesthesia....and ultimately leaving him in the hands of others. Walking out of that OR was very hard. However, I was somewhat relieved to know that The Children's Hospital in Denver is one of the Nation's leading hospitals for children and that his surgeon was known to be one of the finest. We got lucky to be able to have it done here in Denver!

The first week was pretty rough. He had a lot of referred ear pain (which is common) and that took about a week to subside. It was a loooong week!! He has made a full recovery and now feels great!

This was a few hours after surgery - when he still had

his appetite.
Flowers the hospital delivered to us :)
Opening a gift from one of his friends
My poor little man!