Skiing at Arapahoe Basin

To take our minds off losing Ionna, Kim and I went skiing at A-Basin. It was a beautiful day:

Ionna

Sadly, we lost Ionna at the end of January. She was 18 years old and very well loved by everyone. She went down hill quite rapidly near the end s we took a few photos of her with Kim the kids:

Daddy's birthday

The kids helped me celebrate my birthday:


A personal card from "W":


Mattie picked out a Curious George coloring book for me:

Bathroom remodel Part 2: The distruction!

Here are photos of the bathroom all ripped out:

More of Mackenzie

You can't have enough photos of a little baby in the tub:





You goota start kids early on the computer:

Mattie meets the Mayor

Denver's mayor, Mayor Hickenlooper, moved into our neighboorhood, about a 1/2 mile form our house and just a few blocks from Mattie's preschool. We were invited to come to a "welcome to the neighboorhood" party for him back in January. He's a very popular mayor and a down to earth kind of guy. I talked with him for a while and soon found myself way over my head in the conversation on different city and transportation policies in Denver vs. Aurora where I work!

Mattie enjoyed meeting him as we were about to leave. She wanted to show him her "kitty"! He was very sweet and I snapped this picture of there meeting:

Master Bathroom re-model Part 1: Before

We remodled our master bathroom starting in January. Our old bathroom was an addition to the original house done many years before we moved in. It was updated right before we bought it but it was never very exciting. The worst part of the old bathroom was that it had no heat. It was poorly insolated and was absolutly freezing during th winter. Our bath supplies would actually get close to freezing during the winter months. We had a portable heater that we used but that didn't keep the floor from being ice cold. The window also didn't help matters as it was so warped that it didn't close. Here are the "Before" pictures of the bathroom:

Mattie first day of Preschool plus Mackenzie in early January

January 2nd meant that I went back to work full-time at the City of Aurora. It was wonderful to have the time off to spend with Mackenzie and to do so much traveling. However, I'd be lying if I didn't say I was really looking forward to get back to work. It was not as easy the 2nd time around for me being "Mr. Mom". I wouldn’t have missed it for the world but it was nice to get back into a routine again. Here are a few photos of things at the beginning of January:


Mackenzie sleeping peacefully:





Bath time! Mattie was such a good helper:






Mackenzie having a "big-hair" day:



Mattie had her first day of school on Monday, January 8th. She was so excited and had been talking about it for months leading up. "I'm going to skool in Janwary". Montview Preschool is only a mile or so from our house. She is in class on Monday and Wednesday mornings form 9:00 to 11:30. There are 15 children in her class. Nancy Weaver is the teacher and Eileen (last name?) is the assistant. There is always one "Helping Parent" at each class as well. The kids get to do all kinds of fun activities, reading, painting, dress-up and more. They go outside and play on in the playground everyday regardless of the weather (at least for a short time). Here are some quick photos of her big first day: