pt III: respite

We came to Colorado Springs with heavy hearts, compounded by the anxiety of myriad unknowns.  Quickly though we were wrapped up in love by our family.  Ashley and I are both very fortunate to have an extensive network of parents and siblings that love us and our boys. This was affirmed to us through out our time in the Springs.

 One of the first events that allowed both our families to get together was George's birthday. Ashley's sister Amie and all her kids came, as well as my sister Blythe, her family, and my brother Eli and his family. Not to mention both our parents. It was a cousin, aunt, uncle, grandparent smorgasbord.

 It was great to have so many familiar faces around for George's birthday party. He loved being the center of attention and getting lots of playtime with cousins.

George loves the happy birthday song. Though I'm afraid that he's convinced that his name is a permanent fixture in the song and cannot be used for other people.

George got outfitted by stylist for the stars and all of my children, Aunt Blythe. 

George got some much needed/welcomed help opening his presents from his cousin Jada.

Life settled down a little bit after his birthday party, and we discovered another love of George's, dirt. 

Coal miner - nope, just dirt enthusiast. 

Of course it helps to get some new trucks that play oh-so-well in the aforementioned dirt. 

Any time George came in looking like a depression era field hand I knew he had been in the dirt for at least 13 seconds. It didn't take long for him to work his magic. 

Ed continues to grow, almost exponentially. He seems to be much chubbier than George. He is very happy most of the time (as long as he's being held).

Easter came - and Ed and George really loved getting to spend the day hunting with the cousins in Grandma & Grandpa Potter's backyard. The eggs were abundant and so was the unsupervised consumption of chocolate.

Ashley's sister Amie is a fantastic photographer. She did the bulk of our wedding photos because we got married in a blizzard and our photographer punked out big time. I love this picture of George.

Ed is a happy guy and its really easy to make him smile. George was much more of a "poker face". Which coincidentally was his favorite song when he was born.

Just look at these friggin guys. We are lucky parents.

Easter was a grand success though it was difficult staying one step ahead of George in terms of moderating his candy intake. He is very sneaky - this is a firsthand account from Grandma Potter.

Grandma - George, do you like candy?

George - Yes, I hide it in my room.

We've also started George on his big boy bike. It's a harder transition from his little scootbike because he's just so skilled at it. It's like asking a grand pianist to take up another instrument.

In summation, we have had a great stay in "the Springs." As some of you may know I was offered a job in Chicago and will be moving out there this week to start and find a place for us to live.

Stay tuned for more pictures and adventures of Ed, George, Ashley and David.