Let it Snow!

We had such a crazy winter when it came to snowfall! It literally snowed more this year than it has in the last 7 years we've lived here combined!! The weather has been so nice lately that I was afraid I would jinx it by posting about snow. But the latest it's ever snowed here is Easter and the forecast for the next five days is calling for highs in the 80s, I think it's safe to say that all the winter weather is behind us.

I'm ready for the warmer weather, but we did have a lot of fun with the snow this year. We got the boys some sleds and Sam had a blast going up and down our driveway (we finally found a use for our crazy steep drive!). Nate had a great time as well on his little baby sled, but unfortunately we lost all of the cute pictures from that. :( While I was shoveling the driveway I must have dropped the camera in the snow and then shoveled it into the big snow pile. It showed up in our mailbox a few days later all rusted (thankfully our Circuit City extended warranty covered accidental damage!)

We also took advantage of the great snowfall to take Sam out to Wintergreen and get him up on skis for the first time. He loved it and was asking to go over the jumps in the snowboard park by the end of the day. We thought he might be nervous about it since he tends to be a little risk averse, but he never got scared even when he fell. We had a great ski instructor for him to get him (and us) started with how you teach a toddler how to ski.

Here's some video of Sam sledding. There's a couple of others of all the boys on the Dropshots site.

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Here's a video of him on the slopes:

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I'm so glad Sam got to really experience the cool parts of living in a cold climate during the winter at least once - and bonus that he's still not in the school system yet so we didn't have to deal with the 10+ days the schools were closed!

Welcome Back!

To me that is! I'm sure anyone that was reading this has given up on me by now since it's been 3 months since my last update. As I predicted between the holidays, everyone's birthdays, and thankfully a new job, life has been chaotic in the Rickman household the last few months. Life seems to be settling into a busy, yet mostly predictable, pattern so it seems like it was time to get back to blogging. To catch up on some of our antics, here's a slideshow of pictures from the last few months. More updates coming soon. I promise!

Happy Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year, but the two best things are these two little guys.





Much love to all our family and friends both near and far. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

I know, I know...

...I'm an awful blogger :). It's been forever since I wrote an update or posted new pictures. The fall has completely gotten away from me. Between starting a new job, losing the new job, keeping up with soccer, getting Nate settled at daycare, family visits, and just keeping up with stuff, life has been very busy. I'm still really behind with all kinds of things - for instance, it hit me this morning that we want to have Sam's birthday party 3 weeks from this coming Saturday!! Yikes, guess I better get cracking with invites, food, activities! Ack! How can it be that close to December already??!!

Since we're about to embark on our busy season - 3 birthdays, 3 holidays, a trip to Houston, and hopefully a new job in the next 8 weeks, I doubt I'm going to get much better at updates any time soon. So, while I try somewhat unsuccessfully to keep up, here are some pictures of our recent antics this fall.

Rub a Dub Dub

Bath time is my favorite part of our night time routine now that Nate is big enough to sit in the big bathtub with Sam. And no, it's not because it means that bedtime is right around the corner - although some days that is a major benefit :). Nate loves splashing in the water and watching his big brother, and Sam just loves getting to do anything with Nate so I love watching them interact together. Seeing Nate's baby squishiness next to Sam's gangly arms and legs is a great, yet bittersweet, reminder of how fast they grow up. And, after we're done, there's nothing better than two clean little boys happily ensconced in their pjs ready for snuggles.

Nate is on the move!

Here's a little preview of Nate crawling. This was just last week and he's already a lot more coordinated. Sam didn't crawl until 9 months, but Nate is determined to keep up with his big brother. He's already pulling up to his knees and pushing up to get his feet flat on the floor so I'm sure he'll be an early walker too.

People, including us, always think Nate looks so much like Sam. But, when you put baby pictures of them side by side they don't look as much alike as you think they do. Looking at these, I think Nate looks a lot like Chris. I'd forgotten how much hair Sam had at this point. He was definitely ahead of Nate in the regard.

Sam & Nate at 7 months -

I also added new pictures and videos from August to our sites. You can click on the links to the right to view.

Summer Recap

So, when I went out on maternity leave, I had a whole list of projects I was going to get done. I guess it's been good in retrospect that I ended up having five extra months at home thanks to Circuit City's demise since I'm just now getting to the end of that list. One of my projects was to setup a family blog so we could capture what was going on with the boys and have a central place for family and friends to access all our photos and videos. So, check that one off the list!

While the job hunting and house selling haven't always made it the most stress-free summer, we've had a great time with our two little guys and have settled into a nice routine as a family of four. Here are some of the highlights from our summer:

- Sam has morphed into a fish in the pool thanks to a few weeks of swim lessons and a flotation vest. He loves to 'chase' dad up and down the length of the pool - a great workout and a guaranteed nap inducer - for both of them! Our goals for next summer - getting him more comfortable jumping in without the flotation vest and going under water, but he's really come a long way. He's still our cautious little guy.

- Watching Nate hit so many milestones (rolling over, sitting up, crawling) and firsts (sippy cups, plane rides, teeth). He's a big sweet baby and he adores Sam (the feeling is mutual). No one can make him laugh as hard as Sam can and it's so sweet to watch them start to play together. He would be the perfect baby if he would just sleep past 5:30 :)

- Chris and my 10-year wedding anniversary in June. How can it have been that long already?

- A great weekend away in Baltimore/DC with Matt & Kenna. Sam was entranced by the aquarium and the Air & Space museum. The adults got our fix of good mexican food and a lesson on why we're glad we don't have to deal with DC traffic everyday.

- A fantastic trip with the extended family to Rick & Joyce's lake house in Missouri. Sam caught his first fish, got to drive the boat, and rode on the inner tube.

- Sam is now an Awesome Aspen and has gotten so good with recognizing and writing his letters and numbers. We're now attempting to write and sound out words. It's so fun to watch him play with his friends from school and see their relationships and interactions that have nothing to do with us.

- A lot of baseball games in the back yard and Yankees on TV now that Sam is big enough to understand the fundamentals of the game. He also knows that this family hates the Red Sox!

All-in-all it's been a great summer and such an unexpected blessing to have so much time with the boys. We'll see how our routine goes for the fall now that I'll be back at work, but I'm sure it won't be dull.

And, because I'm playing around with the features of the site, here's two of my favorite summer videos of the boys:

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