Here’s a short video Erin took during Cole’s birthday party at Chuck E Cheese’s.

Can’t believe our little guy is four years old today! Cole had a busy day, with Erin making an appearance at Cole’s school followed by a small party with his friends and family at Chuck E Cheese. Here are a couple of shots from this past weekend that I couldn’t resist posting. Here he is passed out on Erin’s lap, holding a handful of chocolate in his right hand. 

The next few were taken at Cole’s pre-school today, where he was treated like a king on his special day. 

Future scientist? 

Cole with his head in the stars and the world in his hands

The picture above is Cole with his friends Ethan and Danny. 

Score!!!

Here’s a video of Cole’s first attempt at Skiing. We’re looking forward to enrolling him in the ski school next year; think we’re better off with the professionals handling this

The boys finished up their skiing lessons yesterday at the pass.  The conditions were phenomenal with more than a foot of fresh powder waiting for us.  As you can see from the picture below however, it looks like we brought the mountain weather home with us. 

Nathan has already missed a couple of weeks of baseball, due to our Saturday ski outings, but he’s excited to join his old team mates (this is the 3rd year he’s played with the same kids) and usher in the spring time weather with a little baseball.

Ian is also doing incredibly well with his skiing.  Both he and Nathan have been skiing black diamond runs for the past three weeks.  Erin and I are looking forward to enrolling Cole along side the other two next year and planning a ski vacation at Whistler. 

Ian’s decided to give t-ball a try this year, so it’s going to be a busy spring time

(Ian playing with his Star Wars guys) 

And then there’s Cole.  I can’t believe that he’s going to be turning 4 years old on Tuesday!  Cole started swimming lessons a couple of weeks ago and I’m told that he’s wasting no time picking up where he left off last year. 

A couple of weeks ago, we brought Cole skiing and I took him on the chair lift a few times.  He had a great time and was completely wiped out by days end.  He actually passed out on Erin’s lap at the bottom of the slopes as we were waiting for Nathan and Ian to finish their lessons.  If you ask him about it, he’ll proudly tell you that he did four face plants.  He must have picked that up from Nathan, who continues to think it’s cool to crash

BTW, we did capture some video from Cole and the other boys skiing.  I’ll try and post it soon, once I figure out the best way to make it available on the site without lag, crashes and other bad side effects. 

One last picture that I took this morning out of the back window this morning.  I thought it was supposed to be spring time?

He’s still got the cheeks doesn’t he?

Here’s a snapshot I took on the way to work last week.  We’ve had a few days of light snow in Sammamish, but nothing like last year!  Just enough that the garbage guys decide to take the day and then week off

Nope, not a typo.  Snoqualmie pass received well over 6 feet of snow between Tuesday and Friday and the pass itself has only been open to traffic for a couple of hours between Tuesday and this morning.  The PowderPig website (the school that we enrolled the kids in) posted some pictures on their site.  It looked like 5 feet of snow had accumulated on the roof of the chalet and that it would take hours to dig out the chair lifts.  Ian is chomping at the bit to get back to the mountains after last week, but the cancellation was probably a good thing since Nathan is feeling pretty crumby.

Not much else to report (that I can talk about anyway ;-)  I’ll try and post some new videos and pictures soon.

Yesterday was our second day of skiing lessons for Nathan and Ian at the pass. Like last week, it dumped snow all day long. The kids are all making great progress and enjoying the snow, although the drive home was kind of bad given the snow, traffic and affect that hunger has on kids.

I posted some un-edited video on the site. Click here to see it.

Nothing much to report. The holidays are still coming too quickly and I haven’t come close to finishing my shopping, but I refuse to stress over it Erin and I had a night out last night and we we able to purchase gifts for the kids in record time. Erin thought we might want to press on and finish up the rest of our shopping, but I convinced her to punt on that plan and enjoy a couple cocktails and dinner out instead
No one has to get Cole into the Christmas spirit. Erin snapped this pic of Cole eating ice cream with his Santa hat on.

Mom started the tradition of getting us kids a new ornament each Christmas that represented something from the past year. Erin and I have continued the tradition and bought the kids their own trees (Ian and Nathan share one and Cole has his own) that they can decorate with their ornaments. Here are a few shots of Nathan and Ian decorating their tree.

And last week mom and Amanda came over for dinner to celebrate mom’s 46th birthday (give or take a decade). Happy Birthday mom!

Nothing puts you into the holiday spirit quicker than a light snow on the first day of December. I made two trips to the storage unit to pick up all of the holiday decorations, but went outside first to snap a few shots of the kids enjoying the snow.

Enjoy the season!

The kids

Our backyard

Cole