Play date with Lilah!

She's really going to miss Lilah when we leave. They had an instant bond when they met at summer camp in 2011. 

Late night piano jam session

Looks like she's trying to play it with her hair… that's an interesting technique.

Moving back to Colorado!

Well, you can't undo every mistake in life, but we are very fortunate that we are able to undo the mistake we made over 2 years ago when we left Colorado! We knew, from literally days after we left, that we should have stayed. We have tried to make it work in the midwest but this is not the place for us to call our permanent home. We miss our outdoorsy lifestyle and the Colorado sunshine. We miss being in a place that is populated with more like-minded, holistically-thinking people. A fantastic job offer for Andy in Colorado combined with the fact that my business, OHCO, truly calls Colorado home, sealed the deal for us!

We will put our adorable bungalow on the market next week and head west on Reid's birthday, January 25. We will most likely live in Lafayette, in Boulder County but haven't bought a house yet. We are heading out to house-shop in two weeks. We already know that we love Colorado, it is our home. When we were determined to leave during the years between Harper's birth until we moved, we had this image of living close to family, having our kids grow up with their cousins and grandparents playing a very steady role in their lives. Chicago is closer to family but it's not close enough in to make any significant difference in the role family plays in our life. A flight is a flight, whether it be a 2 hour one or a 4 hour one. As the girls grow, flights will not have the same stress as they did when I was juggling a newborn and a 2 year old.

We are very excited about this next stage in our lives and are happy to be able to fully settle down in a place that we know we will want to call home for a very long time, perhaps forever.

Harper's winter drawing

Showing off her new favorite food

Raw beet slices... This kid!

Reid wears jeans!

This never happens so it deserves its own blog post. Now if we could get Harper to wear jeans... ( Fyi she painted her face at the zoo)

Harper's snowman

Sisters in love!

Cousins!

Noah, 8, Harper, 5, Luca, 6, Eli, 2, Reid, 2

Haircuts!

They straightened Harper's hair.

And cut out all of Reid's dreadlocks! 

Bathtub or playroom?

They love to bring their toys into the tub. Very interesting. 

Holiday bakers.

I let the girls roll out pie crust and cut it with cookie cutters today. That mess was something!! But totally worth it. 

Harper's quote of the day

Harper: Ms. Alma said 'no kissing in class.'

Me: Why did she say that?

Harper: Because Liam keeps trying to kiss me during class. I might marry him.

I won't go into the details of the rest of the conversation but we discussed how it is inappropriate for Liam to try to kiss her during class and how she should respond to it. This is not the first incident with Liam, I think I'll have a talk with Ms. Alma tomorrow. Age 5? I was not expecting this so soon.

Cousins in the tub!

Reid and Leo (13 months older) are great playmates!

Goofy girls.