skating

The kids have been itching to skate ever since the rink opened. We finally found some time last Sunday afternoon to go. The had fun, and the smartest decision Reid and I made was wearing our boots instead of skates.

christmas morning

We had a wonderful, peaceful Christmas. The kids had fun opening presents, each with their own style. Charlotte fast and furious, moving from one present to the next. She wanted to see her whole lot before she began to play. Timothy chose to savor each present for 15 or 20 minutes before someone urged him on to the next one.
This was a pretty big Christmas for the kids and I am thankful that they will not (I hope) remember next year to compare.
I am pretty sure we stayed in our jammies all day.

in the meantime

I know, I know, Christmas pictures right?? They are coming very soon. In the meantime, I have to share an adorable conversation that I had with Timothy last night. We had just finished reading books and were laying in my bed. When he said:

T: I'm not tired
M: Okay, let's talk for a while. Tell me about your day at Mrs. Donna's. Who did you play with?.....Did you play with Charlotte?
T: yea
M: Did you play with Mason?
T: yea
M: Did you play with Kieran?
T: no
M: Well, who else did you play with?
T: Avery, she's pretty.
M: oh, she's pretty.
T: Yea, but I cannot pick her up. Charlotte can pick her up.
M: Oh
T: I'm gonna cuddle wif (with) her.
M: I bet she is a good cuddler.
T: Yea, she's not scary.

Be still my heart. He is adorable, and so sweet and gentle. For all his tough boy side he has just the opposite soft, gentle side. I think he broke it down to the basics pretty well. I wonder if he will be thinking the same thing about girls 14 years from now?

santa x 2

 

 

We saw 2 different Santa's this year. One 2 weekends ago at Cinch's nursing home and one last weekend at the Children's Museum. The kids did not want to get off his lap either time!! They thought he was the best. Charlotte asked for a horse (3rd year in a row), and Timothy asked for flowers-pretty cute :)
Charlotte then asked when we got home "Mama, why did that Santa look different from the other one?" Ummmm-I thought I had a few more years before I would get a question like that. So much for blind faith :O)

sledding

tree adventures

We didn't head too far off the trail this year for our tree. The kids thought it was a blast for Papa to pull them on the sled down the trail. They only tipped over a couple a couple of times in the deep powder. It was a bit humerous and a bit frustrating at times to help them in powder up to their thighs. I can only imagine how hard it was for them to try to walk in that powder too. We made our selection quickly and headed back to a nearby hill for some sledding.

ready for christmas

Here are the kids and Ava getting ready to load up in the van and cut down our Christmas tree.

Nutcracker

Night one of the Nutcracker performance was last night. Charlotte was beautiful, and even though she looked a bit apprehensive she was eating it up. She could see us and some other people she knew from the stage and she just had a blast smiling and waving at us, it cracked me up. Timothy had fun watching her up there too and trying to follow along with the story. One more performance tonight and we can relax tomorrow.

I think this last photo is my favorite :)