the santoro life

2016 has been busy so far! I snuck in a spontaneous trip to SD to see Amy who was in town for 48 hours, and catch up with friends. From the moment I stepped off the plane, every minute of the trip was amazing. We also got a nice visit from Noah's cousin Todd. Finn made a volcano for his school science fair, Emmett got the dreaded hand foot and mouth virus and everyone got the flu last week. But, it's been in the 60s all weekend - loving it! Dinner with the sister at Juniper & Ivy. Ocean to mountain. Much needed BFF catch up! We hiked Cowles Mountain which for some reason I'd never done after 14 years in SD. It was a pretty serious hike and Emmy was a superstar. Today Finn's best bud came over and we all went to visit the chickens at Park Hill Elementary. So very Colorado.  This little dude. He says "I'm happy" and "cool" now.  Hanging with cousin Todd. Science fair! It erupted! I picked the kid...

Emmett is officially a baby no more. He is mischievous, funny, curious, friendly and just so much fun. He calls Sophia "ia" and we're not sure what he calls Finn yet. He wakes us up every day at 6 saying "hi mommmmmy, hi dadddddddy". He still consumes more calories a day than anyone else in this family and has discovered ketchup. Finn and Sophia were never into. He is into it. I need to get him that shirt that says I Put Ketchup On My Ketchup. After dinner last night he walked around for fifteen minutes saying "mo meatball! mo meatball!. He loves to fake laugh, he hates the car wash, he tells me when he's got a poop and he's very protective of Sophia. He's a total ray of sunshine. Love this kid to pieces.    New trick - putting his toes in his mouth. Thinks he's hilarious. In the tent at The Children's Museum. Swinging at Teller.

It's been real, but Christmas break is officially over. Well, technically Finn doesn't go back until Wednesday but I'm back to work tomorrow and Emmett and Soph are headed back to school. We all got lots of good quality time together. I think we went to every museum and kids venue in Denver over the past two weeks. Here's a cute one from the Butterfly Pavilion yesterday.

We hosted a NYE party at our house this year. Four families with nine kids total. It was a blast. We had dinner, lots of drinks and made kick-the-can ice cream in the basement. Finn and Sophia helped me make goodie bags that the kids got to open every hour. Of course the night ended with us busting out Sophia's karaoke machine! Dance party. There's a few random Christmas break pics sprinkled in here. Didi got Finn Twister for Christmas.  Rolling those ice cream cans! We made vanilla and cookies & cream. They were both delish. Watching the Rose Bowl. What a sad game. :( This is from Amy - lighting a lantern over the beaches of Thailand. It's a tradition and is supposed to bring good luck.  Testing out his stocking stuffer wooden airplane. It flew pretty well until we got it stuck on the roof.  Bros with the iPad. Finn's still into Minecraft and now also loves Solitaire.  Happy 2016!!