March Madness

OK so things always seem crazy and mad around here...but here's a quick post (as usual I am allowing pictures to tell a majority of the stories).

Ian is slowly accumulating all the necessary hockey gear -- here he is during his first hockey class with his new helmet and shin guards -- as well as his breezers, skates, socks, and elbow pads --sheeeesh! ...and now this week he got new skates (that lace) and a mouth guard. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! ---but now Mama has to figure out how to get all of this on a squirmy 3 year old INCLUDING laced skates, with a 6 month old in tow -- and no he doesn't generally just sit quietly in his carrier! Just a tad stressful each week. It takes me about the length of the class (30 min) just to recuperate. :-) Maybe I should hire someone to take video for America's Funniest Home videos!

Zachary had his first taste of 'real' food -- mmmmmmm good -- pureed pees!  He's slowly trying new foods and doing great, although he's not as excited about eating as his brother was.  I've actually had to do the airplane trick etc. to get him to open his mouth.  It seems that so far carrots have been his favorite. 

WHOA -- flavor! :-)

Hanging at the mall play area while big brother squirrels around the rest of the play area...as you can guess, Ian decided this is where Zachary should sit and watch him.

We've finally had some warm weather around here so we decided to take the boys (Ian, Zachary and Ian's friend Quin -- oh yeah and Quin's baby sister Isla) to the zoo to get some fresh air and run around a bit.  Here they are hanging with one of the apes.

Zachary wasn't quite sure what to think about this guy!

So after a few years hiatus we finally decided to have another party -- a St. Patricks Day party of course.  It was a smaller gatherin than usual with about 30 people, but we had a blast.  Here are the boys sporting their St. Patrick's Day shirts.

Zachary had had enough and was happy to pass out in his swing while the party kept on going...

Then the next day we were able to join Dale and Sue in purchasing a few more chickens for their chicken coup.  Ian took money out of his piggy bank to buy one chicken for him and one for Zachary (but I'm pretty sure he came up short and Sue took care of the extra -- already a grifter!)  Ian chose a brownish chick for himself and a light yellow with black spots chick for Zachary.  When we were leaving I was explaining to him that when they got older this summer that HIS chicken she would lay eggs for him.  He said "but I want a boy chicken."  When I explained that only girl chickens lay eggs, he asked why and what did boy chickens do? --I just left that alone and said not much except make noise and a mess -- he chuckled thinking I was kidding and talking about him.  Ha!

Z was pretty interested in the watching the little chicks too (especially from the safety of Dale's arms!)-- very cute!! :-)

 Z looking at Ian's chick.

Keeping an eye on the chicks.  Here you can see Z's chick.

Ah, yes and then last week Ian had a different 'coach' for the day and she decided to bring out the little kid goalie gear (his normal coach is actually a goalie for the Eagles).  Ian jumped in on the chance and 20 minutes later he was up in the net.  I had a few comments under my breath about how they should have to have written parental consent before they allow kids to think about being goalie :-)  but went with it and we had fun...luckily he said that is was fun to be goalie, but that he liked scoring like Gretsky better than being scored on.

Pretty darn cute though!

Haning out getting ready for a walk in the beautiful weather -- Zachary LOVES going out for walks as long as he is in the baby bjorn, not as keen on the stroller.  But he loves to squeal and talk while big brother rides his bike or roller blades (of which I'll post pictures later hopefully).

And FINALLY Z got to go swimming for the first time.  We heard the weather was supposed to start turning (and it did, we now have about a foot of snow) so we planned a day to head to the pool.  Here they have a sloped floor with a frog slide so Z could sit in the water and play a bit and then I took him out deeper every once in a while too.  They keep the water comfortably warm, so he was able to swim for about an hour and then he was ready for a short nap in his carrier while Ian and I had some swim time together.

Update on the boyz...

So the guys at Best Buy had our camera forever!  But I managed to get a few pics in the last week to update things.  Here is a pic our friends took of us while snowshoeing near Fish Creek Falls in Steamboat...it looks so posed, but really it wasn't...still like it though! 

This time of year there are Bald Eagles all over the Front Range...we found that Windsor Lake in particular generally has a bunch around so we went to check it out.  Not too good of a showing with only 8 (we've heard of up to 20+) but they still were quite majestic and awesome.  Here is Mike and Ian checking them out.  Ian about hit the deck when Mike jokingly, but convincingly, yelled "watch out!!"  -- I think Ian thought they were going to dive bomb him and eat him for dinner.  So funny.  Luckily he has a good sense of humor!

As always there is hockey going on at the Feighny house...here is a pic Ian during our "date" at the Eagles game. We were chaperoned for our first official date by grandma and grandpa and Zachary. But Ian did ask to put on "smell well" (cologne) and brought me a flower (from the bouquet Mike gave me last week) -- very sweet. I kept our date location as a surprise until we showed up at the rink -- he couldn't believe it. He really go into the game this time b/c a bunch of the Eagles guys had been at Wendy's a few weeks back and gave him an AWESOME swag bag including this cool hockey helmet felt hat. While watching the game he noticed the cheerleaders at the end of the rink and said "Grandma! Those girls don't have any pants!" HA! He has also taken to chanting "WE WANT WENDY'S" when he plays hockey in our kitchen every day now b/c that's what everyone was chanting at the game (whenever the Eagles score 6 goals everyone gets free Wendy’s with their ticket stub the next day -- they only got 5 goals).

Another reason he was so excited at the Eagles game is b/c his "coach" (hockey class teacher) is an Eagles goalie. He started hockey class 4 weeks ago and is L-O-V-I-N-G it and doing really great. Working on swizzles, he can skate backwards and can almost stop -- not too bad for a 3 year old! He does great in class listening to his coach and trying to do all the skills. Lately he's been asking "do hockey guys eat this all the time Mama?" which of course my answer depends on the nutritional value of the food. He also learned about Gretsky and Crosby from Grandma and Grandpa and is always saying he is one of them when he plays in the kitchen etc. -- But sometimes he forgets Gretsky's name and just says "the hockey guy who is too old now." HA! Since he is obviously in hockey to stay we've been shelling out the dough for equipment..including his new youth xs (so cute) hockey helmet...he finally fits in one and can leave his bike helmet for the bikes. Here he is modeling it the day he got it...he then was so excited he proceeded to put it on EVERYTHING in the house and show it to me. Crazy kid! 

Sporting all his gear on the ice for hockey practice

Here he is playing with one of his friends at hockey class -- Avs vs. Bruins! The Bruins kid is a little over a year older and has had about 4 more skating classes, so he's quite good and Ian loves playing with him.

Otherwise Ian is just busy being a crazy kid. He's doing great in pre-school and is trying to find his place as "big brother." One moment he is sweet as can be talking to Zachary or doing some super kind unprovoked act and the next he is smacking him on the head or yelling loud just to get a reaction from Zachary. It's been interesting. This week was pet week at preschool and we got to bring in Luna to show the class. Ian was super excited and Luna did great. As we were driving there Ian was telling Luna "I will introduce you to Mrs. McCormick so you know who she is and you have to be nice or you'll have to go to the doggie safe chair" (their equivalent of a time out chair). When we got there he formally introduced Luna -- "Luna this is Mrs. McCormick, this is Luna." So cute!

Other than that his only other obsession remains to be

Star Wars, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Princess Lea, Yoda -- he knows and talks about them all!

Here is is being a crazy kid...leave the straws in reach and this is what happens.  Hey if one is good, 7 is better, right?

Lovin' bathtime

Zachary is now 6 months already!!!! He is growing like a weed and doing awesome. He's been a bit cranky lately because he was TEETHING. Yep that's right his first tooth finally popped out on his 6 month birthday with the second tooth a few days behind! He is SO cute when he gives his big ol' gummy smile with 2 little tooth buds now! He is still a super happy baby and is doing great being carted all over for big brother's preschool, hockey etc. and just our active lifestyle. He is a complete "squirmy wormy" and NEVER stops moving until he falls asleep. I can't even really read to him during story time at night b/c he is always squirming all over and grabbing at EVERYTHING. Usually he sits on the floor now while I read to Ian -- at least he's hearing the story and a book is out! Oh yeah, and yep, he's now able to sit up for extended periods of time, which he is really enjoying playing with all his "new" toys and exploring from a more upward position.


Here he is with Sue at Angie's baby shower -- He always has such goofy faces in his pics! Here it looks like he's thinking "what are these people doing to me? What is this 'family' thing? These guys are crazy!" Yep.

Sporting his new skill of sitting up...nothin' to it!

and of course bathtime is so much more fun while sitting up AND teething AND big brother are involved!

Baby Butt!! :-)

Time to get out already??