lots of fun!

Happy 4 months to Lia!!

Tatum and Grace together. As soon as we arrived to Colorado, Grace and Tatum were off to play together and it was like none of the rest of us were there.

Christmas feast at the little girls' table

Chutes and Ladders with Grace hoarding all of the characters, oops, guess that's why they say for ages 3 and up...

If only you could have seen what and how many attempts it took to come up with a great photo like this with all 4 looking good. It might have been just as fun to have a video of Aunt Christy and her heroic antics behind the camerawoman (me) to keep these girls happy and cooperating. She is a better person than I. :) Here we have the 4 Carrington cousins, Liana, Kalina, Grace and Tatum, ranging from 4 months old to 3 years, 4 months and 1 day.

my Christmas babies

The eldest cousin, Tatum, looking quite sophisticated, an interesting snowflake and the little elf saying, 'Hey! Get me out of here!'

Grandma Pat-Pat/Lola (depending on whose household) and the Christmas girls

Pocky and Pat-Pat/Lola. Things were beginning to get testy...

There was too much excitement at the house and Grace was having a hard time napping. We decided to take a drive and lull her to sleep. What unfortunate views we encountered! Geez!! I would have to hike/run/bike EVERY day if I lived here. It is just so beautiful. This was Red Rock State Park. It looks like the Colorado version of Sedona.

Once the girls were awake, we found ourselves in Golden, CO and decided to get out and explore. What a neat town with an amazing mountain profile as its backdrop. We had a little hot cocoa to warm up, strolled through downtown and saw the beautiful Christmas lights as we were leaving. It truly felt like Christmas with it being legitimately cold.

Lucky Dan will be returning here in 2 weeks with his team for their Christmas training trip. They'll train hard core and compete against Colorado School of Mines. Wonder what a week of training at altitude can do for the swimmers?

We celebrated Miss Kalina's first birthday, coming up on the 28th. She was a delicate explorer of textures but before we knew it her little cake had been completely brought to crumbs. The big girls had their cake and were wired and were super excited to open Christmas presents. You should have seen the shreiking, jumping, running and giggling that went on. Too much to even capture on camera. Luckily there were no casualties.

Early Merry Christmas! What fun!!