say cheeeese

Timothy was very excited for me to take a picture of him with a doe bedded down right outside!! I love these winter visitors.

ipsssdr

Once again we had a blast at the International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race the largest sled dog race in the lower 48 states. We are of course pulling for our local team with musher Jerry Bath. This is a world renowned 8 day race and we had teams from all over the world: Canada, Sweden, Jamaica, and more.

The kids and I stood at the day 2 start line and counted down before each team raced by. The kids would have stayed until every last dog was gone. We hope to make this an annual fun family event. You can go to the link above and see a map of the race, see more pictures and follow along as the race progresses. We sure will.

Update: you have got to check out day 2 pictures here. i want to be a musher!!

lander's little secret

So it has been wonderful here the last few weeks in the 40's!! Yesterday it was almost 50 degrees. I keep hearing folks say how unusual that is for us in Lander, but from my last 6 years here, it seems pretty normal. November and December are bone chilling cold, but then temps get tolerable. Maybe its global warming but I'll take it.
We have been able to get out lots, running around, playing tag and just being silly outside. The kids and I love to talk about vitamin D from the sun; they reach up and try to grab more. We also love seeing animal tracks and trying to figure out who made them.
I think warm winters are Lander's little secret :)

#1 sign

The number one sign that I should mop more often:

Scene: me in the dirty, dirt on the floor, dishes in the sink, crumbs on the counter kitchen with a sponge mop and a mop bucket scrubbing away.

Enter 4 year-old with attitude: What are you doing?

Yep, pretty sure if she doesn't know what I am doing, I don't do this often enough.

A great day for a spontaneous playdate in the park. We have had at least 4 days in a row of almost 50 degrees!! We headed over to the park to go ice skating, but the rink was closed since it has been so warm. Luckily we found some friends, the Rudd's, at the park in the same situation. A great remedy for the mid-winter crazys.

pom poms

This weekend the kids and I made tissue pom poms from MS instructions on her site. They turned out great!! And were the perfect decor for the kids room, with their new curtains from Ikea.
The kids helped me lay out all the same colors together. MS suggests using 8 sheets of paper, but I found they looked much better with 12-16 sheets depending on the size of the ball.
Then we folded them accordion style.
We put a pipe cleaner (color of their choosing) in the middle, trimmed the ends (semi circle for a puff balls look,and triangle for a dahlias look) and started pulling them apart.
Here's Timmy hiding from the camera :)
Then the kids lost interest and went outside to shovel and sled with their Papa, while I continued puffing out pom poms.
Then the hanging (picture compliments of Charlotte).
Viola!!! Fun decor for the kids room. I couldn't believe how easy these were to make. I have been thinking of buying them on Etsy for a year, just because I did not want to deal with making them. I am so glad I made them instead!! They are pretty hearty as well, the kids really handled them before they got hung up, and they withstood it all.

happy 2011

:

Happy New Year.
Baby, it is cold outside. I am not sure if if rose above zero today. On winter days this year, here is what you will find us doing.

Last night we took the kids to see Tangled at the movie theater. It was their first movie experience. They were full of popcorn, a few twizlers, a few sips of 7-up, and ready for the full screen experience. The were mezmerized. I kept looking at them frozen in their seats for the first 30 minutes. Reid and I were like little kids filled with excitement for hours before we left for the theater, I am not sure if I was more excited to take them or to see a feature on the big screen for the first time in at least a year. Afterward, we headed out for mexican and on the way home the kids were in the back seat giggling away and saying "Feliz Anyo Nuevo..hehehe.....Feliz Anyo Potato... hehehe...Feliz Anyo Tomato...hehehe". It was a great end to the night hearing them giggle and roar together.

I hope this finds everyone looking forward to a great new year.

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 :)