Happy Valentine's Day - a day late!

Since I didn't get around to sending each of you a Valentine before Valentine's Day, here are some photos Mom and Dad took of me in my Valentine outfit.

Here's wishing that you all had an attractive Valentine's Day yesterday!

I was the most Valentiney kid around yesterday - can you count the number of hearts that I was wearing.... Mom and Dad couldn't.

Here I am practicing jumping off of Mommy's lap - one day Mom will let go and let me do what I want...

This is how I looked after Mom described to me what would happen if I jumped off her lap.

Hope you felt the love through those pictures.
I really do appreciate and love each and every one of you!
Love,
Lydia

2010 - A busy year so far

Hey everyone,
Can you believe that we've already been through a month of 2010? I've been keeping very busy in this new year.
Let me tell you about it. I'll go from most recent to longer ago.
Mom and I have been trying to recover from a most exciting weekend. The whole family spent yesterday going to church and then entertaining friends at our house for a Super Bowl party and birthday party for my mom - she turned 29... again!
On Saturday we went to Longmont to have a babies (that's right, there are two of them) shower for our friends Dave and Lori and their little boys, Eli and Eddie. Eli and Eddie are still in the hospital, but are doing very well, so we wanted to make sure that their parents have all the essentials for when the boys get to come home.
Friday was Mom's actual birthday and Dad took the day off work and we all went to the zoo! I had a great time looking at the animals, but I tell you what, I'm just as interested in watching the other kiddos as watching the animals. Then we went out for some dinner, got some groceries and then we all went to church for Mom and Dad's volleyball game (they play in a church league and I get to play with Zoe and Koen while they play).
Two weeks ago, Mom's friend Val called and we set up a play date (for Mom and Val) at Copper Mountain for that night! We got there around 4:00pm on Monday, had some dinner, spent some time chatting, and after I went to bed, Mom and Val went in the hot tub for awhile. On Tuesday, we packed up and then went for a little snow shoe hike before having to head back home for my speech therapy appointment at 3:00pm. It was a quick trip, but I had a great time (although, I mostly slept while we were hiking).
Otherwise, everyday is made up of play time, walking practice, "Baby Signing Time" video and napping and the occasional visit from one of my therapists. I've really been working on the walking and it's been paying off - I can walk well with my walking toys and with only Mom and Dad's fingers to support me. I've started signing a few words like, banana, more, cracker, and baby just to name a few. I'm getting to be such a big girl!!
Here are the pictures from the a fore mentioned events:

Here we are at the beginning of our snowshoe hike: Mom wouldn't let me bring my toy walker, so she made me ride on her back.

I fell asleep and so when Mom bent over, I gave her a big hug.

Here I am practicing my walking while wearing my "killer boots"

Whoa!

Daddy, I don't mean to alarm you, but I believe there are cheetah's right behind us!

See the monkey swinging around behind us, he was very energetic.

I got a little worn out after awhile at the zoo, but this nap didn't last long, there were more animals and people to see.

I made pretty good friends with the komodo dragon once we established some ground rules, that he shouldn't eat me even though he could.

Here you can see my eczema and Mom just thought this was a cute photo.

The tiger was right up by the glass... those things are huge... his head was the size of my whole body (gross estimate, of course)!

Mommy has a big mouth, I think she was trying to roar like the lion behind us.

That's all for now! Thanks for visiting my blog. Til next time.
Love,
Lydia

Video at aquarium

Yay! I think the video is working now! Enjoy!

Adventures

Hello friends and family,

It is time to update you on some of our family's adventures. Yesterday I took my first trip to the aquarium. This was Dad's first trip to the downtown aquarium but Mom had been there already so she showed us around. I had so much fun looking at all of the fish and other animals that the aquarium houses. They even have tigers. The only one out was sleeping behind a big log so we did not get a good picture. Dad told me that I should get used to animals sleeping and hiding when it comes to things like this. I guess Boscoe sleeps a lot too so I understand.

On Saturday Dad went on a hike with my uncle Jason and his friends Darin and Josh. They were gone for a long time but Dad was happy with the fact that he could still climb a mountain. It had been a little while since he had gone but he needs to get into shape so that when it comes time to take me up to the mountains this summer he is all ready to try and keep up with me.

Please enjoy the pictures below.

This looks like it will be fun.

It's like we are at the ocean.

What a fun day but boy am I tired.

Here are some pictures that my Dad wanted me to post about his trip. He should probably get his own blog but since I will be a hiker with my Dad I will let him do it.

My Uncle Jason with the "objective" in the background

North west ridge approach to the summit

Summit of Square Top Mountain. Darin(left) Josh, Jason and Dad (right)

Thanks for reading my blog,

Love you all

Arrival of my new friends!

Hello everyone,

I have some exciting news to pass on about two of my friends that just arrived early this week to the Crotser family. Dave and Lori emailed my parents some pictures so naturally I wanted to blog about it.

Here is what Dave emailed out:

Hello all! I am proud to announce that we have two little boys, Elijah Joel and Edward Charles! The boys were born on Tuesday, January 5th a little after 6:30pm.

Elijah Joel

Edward Charles

They decided to show up early, so we're at the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver, Colorado. The University Hospital has one of the top NICU departments in the country, and both boys are in excellent hands. Lori is recovering well, and is in good spirits. The boys are active and stubborn, but we wouldn't expect anything less! Because they are a bit early, their breathing is being assisted by some oxygen tubes, seen in the pictures.

I've got my coat on so that I can meet my friends as soon as possible.

Blog ya later.

Good Grief!

Can you believe that I haven't blogged for two months - most of you are saying, "Yeah, I've been looking at the same pictures that long!" Hopefully I haven't lost anyone's attention.

I was out of contact for two months, but not bored. We've been a busy family with all the holiday festivities. We had a great Thanksgiving at our house with Dad's family (grandpa, grandma, Jason, Lauren and Liv), Mom made all the food and I think everyone survived. We had a Christmas celebration with Daddy's folks in Colorado Springs in which I got some cool gifts. Then we had a little birthday party for Dad and then went to Iowa for two weeks to have Christmas with Mom's family. While in Iowa I experienced a real Iowa snow storm, -34 degree weather (not including wind chill), Christmas with the whole clan and New Year's with almost the whole clan.

I can't begin to tell you all the things I've been enjoying over the last while... so I will show you some highlights via pictures:

My favorite room in the house is the bathroom - I can't get enough of Q-tips!

I've been sportin' more ponytails lately as my hair continues to grow.

Liv and I get to play a bit amongst the Thanksgiving fun.

I love Grandpa and Grandma's new house in Colorado Springs - this is me there for a Christmas party.

I just thought I looked pretty cute posing by gma and gpa's railing.

This is me and Grandpa and Grandma after a full day of Christmas hoopla.

A new favorite pastime of mine - they make such great noise on the wood floor.

We celebrated Daddy's 33rd birthday, we had some friends over as well for dinner and cake.

While in Iowa, I got to meet some of Mom's high school friends, Mike and Gina. Here I got to pose in front of the Christmas tree with their daughter Kylie.

They also have a little boy, his name is Carter - I wish he'd let go of my jammies!

I got to see what it's like to go to school with Grandpa and Grandma one day. This is me and Mom having lunch... we sat with my cousins Max and Maggie for a while too.

This is where grandma works... I like her computer... Look closely at her monitor and you'll know why.

Grandpa's pretty comfy... there are several pictures like this from our Iowa trip.

I was supposed to have my picture taken by this snowman with all the snow, but I don't like the cold enough to pose for that picture.

Here's grandpa clearing the snow - again - from the driveway. They had to clear the snow several times since they got around 20 inches of snow while we were there.

Dad and my cousins really like to play legos... here is one of the masterpieces that Michael made. It's a medieval battle.

Dad, Marty and Max worked on a space station while we were all cooped up inside because of all the snow.

This is Main Street in Orange City, IA all decked out for Christmas. Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Julie went for a walk in a the winter wonerland.

Here we are in Okoboji celebrating Christmas. Here's me, Mom and Julie enjoying the gift exchange.

Some of the clan braved the cold in Okoboji to do some sledding - I had a little cold, so I'll have to wait until next year to experience that. Left to right are: Erin, Joni, Maggie, Julie and Ethan.

Here's a great picture of Maddie having fun on the short hill.

Here Aunt Joni got a turn going down as Maddie and Julie observe her technique.

I love to play "roll Daddy!" So do my cousins, Maddie and Erin turns out.

Lego City! Dad, Max, Marty, Maggie, Maddie, Michael, and Aunt Julie occupied quite a bit of time during our week in Okoboji creating this masterpiece.

There's a great pool at the resort in Okoboji and I got to enjoy it a few times.

Oooh... the water is fine!

Five on a couch, right Barry?

We got to celebrate Michael's 14th birthday while in Okoboji. Just a tidbit for you, he's 6'2"

Hope you all enjoyed as many blessings with family and friends as we did.

Now we are home and need to start getting back to normal... whatever that may be.
I hope you all feel caught up.
Til next time,
Lydia