What we did this past weekend... Feb. 4 & 5

Finally - a free weekend! I was excited, Emma was excited, and we took advantage of me not having school!





Saturday was a busy day. It was a Home Depot morning, so we got the kids breakfast, (I made YUMMY maple pecan scones courtesy of - you guessed it, The Pioneer Woman!) changed out of jams, and headed to Home Depot for their Saturday project. The kids absolutely love doing these as they get to wear an apron, use a hammer, and sometimes (if they are lucky) they even get to paint. THIS Saturday, they did get to paint AND have popcorn and they were in heaven. The project was a cute little Valentine box and they both had fun glueing and painting.

Here are a few pics of the kids with their creations.

After the Home Depot fun, it was home for a quick rest time (and to lay our new rugs down in our living rooms - yea!) as we had our next adventure planned out - the Hudson Hot Air Affair! I have wanted to go to this every year, as it is a hot air balloon festival! Many weekends in years past, I would see all the hot air balloons go past our house and I would say "Dammit! Missed it again!" but not this year! They had roughly 30 hot air balloon pilots signed up for the event, along with parades, flight shows, craft fairs, geocaching, etc. The weather on Saturday afternoon was beautiful and we were all anxious to see all the hot air balloons close up and in the sky.

Unfortunately - what we didn't account for was that the weather was too nice.... grrr... So, because of the nice WARM weather, the ground was all muddy, and it wasn't conducive to laying the balloons or baskets on the ground. Luckily, there were 2 pilots that were willing to take their balloons on the more solid ground and fire them up for the crowds to see.

Here are a few pictures of the balloons going up.





(see hubby and Emma on far left above)


I love the balloon on the left with the tomatoes and butterflies on it!


Here are the two kiddo's hanging out. They both loved watching the balloons - although Emma was disappointed here because they were out of cotton candy. (the nerve! a winter carnival not having enough cotton candy! She seemed to be satisfied then with the hot chocolate and warm chocolate chip cookies)

And - my hubby and I!

After the excitement in Hudson, we headed back home to get ready for supper. Tim and I were heading out to our favorite place in Stillwater (Phil's Hideaway - absolutely the best!) and the kids were bouncing off the walls excited that their beloved Theresa (their daycare provider) was coming over with her daughter Breezy (Emma's best friend) to watch the kids. Theresa does a wonderful thing for her families and gives each of her families one night of free babysitting for Christmas! By the time she arrived with candy and movies, Tim and I were ready to go out.

We had a lovely date night and dined on shrimp in a cream & white wine reduction sauce, scallops in a lobster cream sauce (heavenly), a new york strip, wine, and desserts. It was absolutely wonderful to get away for a night and relax, have good conversation, and fabulous food!

Sunday was a more low-key day. Evan had his Sunday School concert at 10:15 and he really didn't want to go. Evan has been a bit more stubborn lately and has been trying to assert his independence. It has made for some interesting times, that is for sure. Anyway, he did attend church with us and did actually participate in the concert. He proudly marched up the aisles in church, stood at the front of church with is fellow three year olds, and started picking his nose. Nice.... luckily, he did stay at the front of the church. There were many of his counterparts that (upon seeing their parents) decided to leave their spot and join their parents. So, at least he stayed at the front, even though his finger was in his nose for part of it.

The kids sang 4 songs and did hand motions to them. two of them were" "He's got the whole world in his hands" and a religious version of "if you are happy and you know it clap your hands" He, on the whole, did really good and appeared to be pretty happy up there. While we couldn't get him to dress up for the concert, he did sing and go through the motions, so that made me happy.

After church was cookies and lemonade in the church hall. A good bribe for the kids, I am sure. After that, more relaxation, chicken wings & McDonald's for the Super Bowl and bedtime. All-in-all, it was a great weekend - filled with many fun things - and good memories!

Cleaning his room

One of everyone's least favorite chores around our house is cleaning up. Even mine - I really don't mind doing laundry, but I do not enjoy putting it away :-)

Evan is usually a pretty good helper. The job the night this picture was taken was cleaning rooms and putting away clean clothes. He picked up his cars in his room, jammed all of his clothes in one drawer, and proudly called me up to his room so I could look at it. I was very happy with what I saw. Then... I saw this:

Yup, this is his closet. He had hung up two pairs of undies and two socks. I have absolutely no idea where he got this idea because, no, I do not do this or make my children do this. I couldn't help but laugh, and of course, grab my camera.

The last of the New Years pictures

Here is Evan out ice fishing and doing his favorite thing - cleaning out the holes. Unfortunately this weekend also, he stepped in a hole and got his leg all wet.

This one was a little blurry, but it captures Sage's adventures on the ice - stealing other people's fish and bringing them to Tim. The next few days the guys we were fishing with wised up to his moves and starting to bring him dog treats or catch him smaller fish to keep him occupied.

Emma making a snow angel - or just laying down because she was bored. She wasn't all about the ice fishing at times.

My boys... and Dog.

One more of my little lady.

And the last one just sums up our vacation - relaxation :-)

More New Years pics.

And - my second attempt was successful. More pictures of our vacation during Christmas & New Years.

My Nephew Andrew came up to the cabin with my Mom and Dad for New Years. Here he is trying to teach Emma how to play Chess.

Sage - playing in the snow.

Our Little fishing house on the lake.

On New Years Day, we actually had some snow. Maybe 4-6 inches? The kids loved it and had to play outside.

Emma -

The group out sledding.

Evan -

Tim and faithful companion coming in from ice fishing.

Evan and pomegranite face... (this little guy LOVES pomegranites)

A sunrise (and yes, using another setting on my camera)

Our New Years Vacation

We had the pleasure of taking off the week between Christmas and New Years and spending time at our cabin. We had no big plans other than ice fishing, homework (for me), playing with our new Christmas presents (primarily the kids) and relaxing.



The day after Christmas we headed to the farm to see some cousins & family that were in town for the holidays and from there - it was all about the cabin. Unfortunately, we didn't have much snow right away for snowmobiling or sledding, but we did head out ice fishing a lot. It was so nice to be able to relax after the craziness of the holidays. Emma brought Kit and some of her new dolls, Evan brought some new matchbox cars and Thomas the Train toys, I brought my new camera and homework (blah) and Tim brought Sage -haha!



I don't have a lot of stories to share from this week -as we really just relaxed and watched movies. We spent some time with Tim's family as they were up to their cabins as well. Playing cards, getting together for meals, and being lazy was on the agenda.



Here are some pictures of the week- a lot of picture - with my new camera :-) (a nice Panasonic Lumix point and shoot. Unfortunately my other one broke.)


Emma playing on my iPod. (in sepia, which is a nice setting my camera has)

Evan - playing with Emma's guitar.

Litte Kate

My family and my Grandma & Grandpa

My Dad.

And - a big grrr - as blogger is not letting me upload any more pictures.

More to come.

An individual

One of the many things that I love about Emma is her style and individuality. Yes, some of her clothes combinations are odd, I will admit that. But sometimes, she amazes me and makes me smile.

She had some Christmas money to spend from gifts from family and from the return of the Justin Bieber clothes. We were at K-mart and she immediately went to the girls clothes and picked out this hat:



She just had to buy this hat and wore it around the whole store. I am not sure if it was the color combination or the little story that came with the hat about the dog, Rebecca Bon Bon, who was from France. But, she loved it and wears it around the house a lot. Unfortunately, they cannot wear hats like this in school, but she gets a lot of wear out of it around here.

Christmas 2011 stories

Unfortunately, I am unable to locate my Christmas 2011 pictures (go figure) but I have the stories :-) I actually didn't take too many pictures on Christmas day as I was focusing more on my video. But, I did get a few.

The kids, obviously were very excited on Christmas Day. Evan woke up first around 6:30 and didn't really mention anything about it being Christmas. If he did, he didn't press it, and settled in bed with Tim and I and watched Mickey Mouse on TV waiting for Emma.

I heard Emma's door open around 7:15, but she didn't come into our room. I heard the steps down the stairs a little bit - then called for her and told her to come in as I really wanted to capture the present moment on camera.

She leaps into the room and yells: "he comed!! Santa comed!! I saw our stockings were full! He was here!" At this announcement Evan jumps off the bed and does a little dance... Picture little blond boy with red Santa footie jammies, shifting weight and dancing from side to side, moving his arms left to right. (I know I didn't describe this well, but it was precious) Then, he starts chanting "Santa came... Santa came..." while dancing.

We had to convince them to wait for us to get up, get the video camera and let me get down the stairs before them. I knew, once they saw the presents, it would be all over :-)

Emma races down the steps first - and then Evan. The whole time shouting & bouncing & cheering about Santa and the presents. They went back and forth checking everything out - cookies were gone, vege's were eaten, presents were there, and Santa left a note :-

Santa only brings two presents for each kid to our house and doesn't wrap them (as it would take the elves too long to do that for each kid) so those were the first presents the kids saw. Emma and Evan both received kids snowboards from Santa. Then, Emma got a kids guitar and lesson book from Santa. She LOVED this! She instantly started strumming and singing. Evan's other gift from Santa was a remote control Lightning McQueen. He was very happy with this as well.

The other presents were from the family to each other. Emma also received a baby doll trundle bed, Justin Bieber clothes (which she actually returned) a few leapster games, and a baby doll beauty salon chair from Evan. Evan received a Cars Leapster and a few games, some Imaginext toys, and a Handy Manny build set.

The kids were happy and playing while I heated up the Pioneer Woman Cinnamon rolls that Kristen and I slaved over (but was totally worth it!) and got out the other light breakfast that the kids would be too busy to eat. (but it worked out okay, as their cinnamon rolls didn't go to waste - YUM!)

Then, it was quickly pick up the wrapping paper and breakfast dishes, put on a Christmas movie for the kids so I could get ready for the Heuer family Christmas. Tim's family (about 20 folks) were coming over for lunch and presents later that day. On the menu was Italian Salad, prime rib, Pioneer Woman herbed potatoes (didn't I mention that I was slightly obsessed?) and desserts. It was very fun and a great way to spend Christmas Day. Busy - but fun! The kids were spoiled her with presents as well. They opened up big and mini pillow pets, a Monster Doll for Emma, Cars for Evan, and many other fun things!

After that, it was time to relax and watch the Packer game! I thought it was so nice that the Packers were on that night, as it was a nice excuse to sit and do nothing. I unfortunately was coming down with a cold, so I didn't make it much past the third quarter due to the Nyquil and craziness of the day. The kids calmed down easily and went to bed as well, happily dreaming about all of their new things!

I will post pictures as soon as I have them!

Nailed It!

Hello! Thanks for sticking with me. My class is now done and I can breathe a deep sigh of relief. All right, in all honesty, I was done this past Saturday. However, I have been enjoying my laziness and my time (well - only 3 days) until my next class started.

Good report though - I believe it will be worth it! My papers all got A's, my presentation went well, and I got some good insight, did some deep soul searching, and met some very nice people. All-in-all, great experience (even though brutal) and I am glad I did it. One class down in only 4 weeks :-)

Now, bear with me. I have stories from January to tell, and Christmas for that matter, and I do plan on telling them. As some of you know, I create a blog book at the end of each year, and I have to make sure I have my Christmas and vacation stories included for 2010.

A yummy cake

I have recently become somewhat obsessed with The Pioneer Woman

I found out about her through my sister when we were discussing Thanksgiving and I was looking for new recipes. Kristen showed me the website and I WAS HOOKED! Everything I have tried from her recipes were fabulous! Plus, I received her cookbook for Christmas, and I spent my vacation between the holidays cooking/baking through her cookbook. It was fun and too yummy!

Here, after a long day of class on Saturday, I decided to help the kids make the Pioneer Woman's chocolate cake as I needed a chocolate fix! We all had fun making it and Evan had an especially good time licking the batter and frosting from the bowl!

The cake was fabulous, but really, what can you expect with 4 sticks of butter in the whole thing. Our dear neighbors (J&MJ) contributed to the frosting and came over later Saturday night for cake & drinks. A great evening to a very long day!

Random pictures

Well - these were not the pictures I planned on posting, but since they loaded, I thought I would keep them here.

This was the week of vacation we took between Christmas and New Years at the cabin. Emma was relaxing on the couch playing with my iPod. (I recently downloaded Angry Birds and while a complete waste of time, she and I enjoy playing it :-) )

And Evan - being crazy I guess.

Star of the week

My little lady was so excited for this week as she is the Star of the Week! On Friday, she proudly showed us the packet of info that her teacher brought home about being the Star of the Week. Emma, me, and Tim (since I was in class) put together a book all about Emma with pictures, her hand-writing, and drawings. (this will be laminated, bound, and sent home for a nice keep-sake) Then, she got to bring in her favorite toy (although she wanted to bring in Kit, I dissuaded her from that. She brought in her Monster Doll instead) her favorite story (about sharks - her favorite thing!) and then an article of her baby clothing. She had a great day and came home with this huge poster that her teacher and classmates made for her.

She went through all the drawings and told me which ones everyone did. She pointed out that drawing of hearts that Jack did for her as well. Apparently they talk in the lunch room that they love each other and they exchanged phone numbers last week as well. Emma (unbeknownst) to me actually tried to call him. I think I was arguing with Evan about something and the little lady got the phone from the wall, went to the living room and supposedly called him. I did not hear the conversation, so if it did happen, I cannot say as to what they spoke about. The redial did list his phone number, so she may have actually called him.

Anyway - I am going in to her classroom for breakfast tomorrow and Tim is going in Thursday for lunch. Such a fun week for a little girl!

Christmas Eve

And the fun starts :-)

Evan and Emma were a little confused about Christmas Eve. They were pretty sure that Santa was going to be there when they woke up. So, after a little disappointment, we reminded them that Nana and Papa were next door and that we were still going to have a Christmas party. We had some breakfast, some excited talk, some cheers, and then started getting everything together.

Bag full or presents - check.

Meatballs - check.

Yummy cheese dip - check.

Homemade blue cheese dressing - check

Evan ruining a Christmas present for Tim - double and triple check. grrrr....

So, we were at the kitchen table, cleaning up, and talking about Christmas. We are all kind of doing our thing when all of a sudden Evan looks at Tim and says, "Mama bought you a flashlight for Christmas Dada!" and then jumps down from the chair and goes to wash his hands. Just like that - the one Christmas gift that was not on Tim's list . . . was ruined. AND - this wasn't any ordinary flashlight - this was a cool, three colored light, ,sensing something flashlight for hunting. The blue light was for tracking, some light for map reading and then another light. Cool, right?

The funny thing is that Evan has been "building" Tim a flashlight since I bought it. He would sit at his little workshop and in his words, "I am building my Daddy a flashlight!" Apparently Tim didn't catch on with the little elf in his workshop building presents -- which is good.

Anyway - we went over to the Kellogg's for Christmas Eve and had a lot of fun. The kids were so happy that we let them open up their presents first before eating and everything. Before you know it, wrapping paper was flying everywhere.

This was a special Christmas Eve because their Nana had a very special gift for all of them. She bought all of the kids (yes even Evan) an American Girl/Boy Doll. Plus, she bought some matching kid-doll outfits, made some outfits for the dolls, and had some other fun accessories for them as well. (and thanks to the woman who made it all possible with the "in" at American Girl who got Mom a great deal on the dolls! And yes, I feel like I need to justify this as the dolls are so expensive and Tim and I didn't plan on getting her one.)

Emma LOVES her doll. She got Kit and plays with Kit all the time. Emma, Kaylee, and Kyra play with the dolls before school together, after school, and on the weekends. The girls were so excited and happy and in Kyra's quiet words, "I think this is the best Christmas ever."

Evan, on the other hand, still isn't quite sure what to make of his doll. He got a baby boy doll, one of the Bitty twins, and he, well, isn't sure what to make of it. He decided to name the baby boy Mater (which makes me smile every time I hear it) and while he has changed Mater's clothes a few times, normally Mater is in his closet. . . asleep. I have tried to tell him that he is Mater's Dad, then that he is Mater's brother, then that he is just his friend, but to no avail. He said that Emma could have Mater, then Emma decided that she didn't want Mater, and now I feel bad for Mater :-) Mom, Tim, and I had discussed Evan getting the doll a few times prior to Christmas and we didn't know how he would react and we really didn't care if he got the doll or not. We thought we would try it and see. And, now we know :-)

Anyway - Christmas Eve was great. The kids were so excited playing with their dolls! Evan was excited to play with the present that the Kellogg's got him. From them he received a build set. It was an airplane, motorcycle, and car that he can take apart and put together using an electric drill. He LOVES it! (and I think Mater was sitting next to him while he was playing. But, that was because I put him there!)

We ate a snacky lunch with chicken wings, nacho's, mini hotdogs, meatballs, cheese, crackers, and I am sure other food that I am missing. Then, more playing - and rest time. Evan went to our house to sleep and the older girls watched a Christmas movie and played games. Mid-afternoon we separated ways as my family, along with Mom and Dad, went to Church. We haven't done church with the kids much on the holidays as it is crazy busy at Church. Luckily, the kids did well. Emma brought Kit and I brought some crayons, paper, and snacks for Evan.

After Church, back to our house with Mom and Dad for a nice Christmas Eve supper. We had a yummy beef tenderloin (with bacon, shallots, and wine reduction), mashed potatoes, homemade bread, pecan pie, and butterscotch pie! The kids were pretty tired after the busy day, but still enjoyed a few games of Duck, Duck, Goose with Mom and Dad. Then, we spread the reindeer food on the lawn, got out milk & cookies for Santa (well twice actually as Sage at the first round of cookies) and then put them to bed. They laid down very well and didn't fight much to wait up for Santa. Which was nice. I had cleaning to do, prep for Tim's family coming over the next day, and a few more presents to wrap.

The day was fabulous and everyone was excited for Santa to come. Even me :-)

And finally - Emma with Kit. Notice their matching outfits?

To my faithful readers -

Dear Faithful readers -

I have not forgotten about you. I have many stories to tell and memories to share. However, I am in a fairly intense J-term class at the moment and have been spending nights and weekends doing homework. I have been taking many pictures and good notes about my kiddo's and will be back when I have time. I hope to be back for a bit Saturday after class - lounging in front of the TV, with a beer, and blogging to my hearts content.

Thanks for your understanding-

Christmas Eve Eve

The day before Christmas Eve, Emma had school, which surprised me. Granted, it was a fun day filled with a holiday party (which I was volunteering at) and the movie "The Polar Express" with popcorn. Her biggest thrill of the day (other than me showing up at school, of course :-) It was a pajama day!

I left Evan home with Tim for a male bonding morning and I took Emma to school that morning. She was giddy and bouncy all morning -- she could hardly contain her excitement! All the kids in her classroom were the same way and came up to me with stories about Christmas, their pajamas, their pets - you name it. That is the fun thing with volunteering in the little kids classrooms - the stories the little ones share. They are so excited to see anyone knew in their class and Emma was a star because her Mom was there too.

I was in charge of the Dreidel game and had to bring in large marshmallows, pretzel sticks, frosting, and a Hershey's kiss so the kids could make and eat their dreidel. Then, we got to play the game. Other stations in her classroom were a jingle-jangle bracelet station, a "make yourself an elf" station, a Christmas tree station (where each child was given a sugar cone, green frosting, M&M's, stars, licorice and other candy to decorate and then eventually eat) and a Christmas Bingo station. The noise level in that room was pretty high, but all the kids were behaving well and having a blast. The biggest excitement - probably more than all the sugar they were consuming- was the fact that it actually started snowing mid-morning. Many kids gasped, many jumped up and down, and some exclaimed "Look - it is a blizzard outside!" but all were happy to see the snow had actually arrived.

After the holiday party, it was home to spend time with Evan and start cleaning my house and baking for the next few days. Evan took a good nap, I peeled some potatoes, cleaned the house, and did other un-fun errands. Evan woke up and we made a yummy batch of fudge and it was back to Emma's school to pick her and all of her art-projects up and bring them home. The month of December was spent learning about all the different holiday traditions and doing a fun craft to go along with them. I now have a Dreidel on display, a Ginger Bread house, a paper poinsettia, a Santa Clause, an Indian craft, a Kwanzaa craft, and other various things.

Tim was out doing his Christmas shopping, so the kids and I went outside to enjoy the 3/4 inch of snow that fell that morning. Emma had to get on her cross country skis and head outside and Evan and I shoveled the snow. Evan LOVES shoveling the snow. Sage, unfortunately, also loves it when we shovel snow as she enjoys running away with Evan's shovel.

That night was more cleaning and prep for me - more jumping and excited hollering by the kids - and the discussion that Santa wasn't coming that evening... they had to wait one more exhausting day. I finished up my wrapping as the kids were nestled snug in their beds and watched my last cheesy Christmas movie.

The next few days - fun chaos! More to come. With pictures hopefully! (taken on my new camera!)

The days leading up...

Christmas has been such a blur this year (as can probably be accounted for by my lack of blog posts.) No matter how hard I try to be prepared, the week and half leading up to it always seem frantic, stressful, busy, but fun. This year I had most of my presents bought early, but could be found late evenings (not blogging) wrapping presents while enjoying a cheesy Christmas movie on TV. Oh, how I heart a cheesy Christmas movie on the Hallmark or Lifetime network. Tim does make fun of me because of it. And yes, they are the same story each time with either a widow or corporate exec. The widow inevitably finds love and the corporate exec gets fired, moves to Colorado and coincidentally finds love as well. And then, it snows. Sigh.... I think I like them because the story always ends happy. Anyway, I am digressing....

The weeks leading up to Christmas were busy with my wrapping up of my B-Law class, Sunday school for Evan, Faith formation for Emma and I, and the baking, the wrapping, the shopping, and everything in between. The nice thing is that Tim and I decided that the weekend right before Christmas, we would go to the cabin for a holiday reprieve - and it was nice. We went out to eat one evening, did some ice fishing, had some movie nights, and relaxed without my pile of unwrapped presents or mounting list of holiday to-do's.

We enjoyed ice fishing both days of that weekend and had some luck with the crappies. Both kids had fun with that and sliding/boot skating on the ice. We went to town one day and Emma and I bought some ornaments that were on our Christmas list and we savored some family time together without the disruptions of our computer, stores "lowest prices of the seasons" sales, and other distractions. It was nice and needed.

(and, I have to add much to Evan's embarrassment in the future - he had some big news as we were leaving the cabin on Sunday. Our going-home-from-the-cabin-ritual always includes packing whatever toys/clothes/misc items we brought, loading the cooler, packing snacks, and going potty. This particular weekend, the truck was packed and Emma was in the truck. We were waiting for Evan to come out so we could lock up and head home. He excitedly opens the cabin door, puts his little fists in the air and exclaims, "Daddy! I peed through my undie hole! I did it!" and then he bounces out of the door and down to the truck. --- and yes, to those that are wondering what that actually means - he was able to go potty without pulling his undies down - the big boy way. You can figure it out from there.)

The week after was busy with our last night of Faith Formation with the giddy kindergartners, final shopping and last-minute returns, book club for Mom (and much needed girl time), karate, and other stuff. Then - the big days - Christmas Eve Eve with Emma's school Christmas party and some unexpected snow, Christmas Eve with a fun kids party, and the big day. More on those later!

What we did this past weekend. . .

Cross Country Skiing!!

I have wanted cross-country ski's for quite some time now. I did a lot of pricing in stores, online, but never liked how expensive they were for really not knowing if I would enjoy the sport. I thought cross country skiing would be a great way to get some good exercise in the winter and still be outside, plus I see some people cross-country skiing around the lake at the cabin and I wanted to be that person. :-) Finally, last year I made it out cross country skiing at the Lake Elmo park reserve with some friends when they had an afternoon of demo's, practice, free lessons and rentals. I loved it and got a great workout - so I figured this was my year to bite the bullet and buy some.

I went searching on Craig's List one day and found some that I thought would work. Lo and Behold they did! I paid some cash ( a lot less too than buying a new pair!) and took them home and went out in the backyard to try it out. I loved it!

On Sunday before the Packer game, I decided to go out in the backyard again to do some skiing. Emma came with me as she decided she was going to run along side me to get some exercise. She tried running, she tried to use her little kiddie snowboard, and then finally said, "Well, Mama. This just isn't working! You should buy me some ski's too." To be honest, while I was looking on Craig's list for ski's for me, I was looking for little sets for the kids as well. I figure the more emphasis I can put on being active and enjoying winter, the better for them in the long run. And, I just knew that if they both saw me out there, they would want to be there too.

Since I couldn't find anything on Craig's List, Emma and I went to Play it Again Sports to see about finding her a little used set. Once again, we got lucky and found her a little pair of skis, boots, and poles that fit her pretty well. The boots require 2 pairs of socks and are still a little big, but hopefully they will work next year as well.

We came home and she instantly put on her snow stuff, boots, and had to get outside. I tried to warn her that skiing is harder than it looks and that it is okay to fall and then she was off.

I was/am so proud of her! She appeared to absolutely love it and bounced up when she fell and was out there as long as she could be. She went around the yard once and then worked on going downhill. She still has a long way to go, but she didn't want to stop and that is what I was happy to see. I tried to teach her as much as I could about skiing, but since I am new to the sport, I didn't have a lot of insight to offer. Together though, we did okay and it was so much fun! Her smile and laughs were definitely worth the money to buy the skis and I know that once we get snow again, her and I will be out there trying it out again.

When we were in the house and she was drinking hot chocolate, I asked her how she liked cross country skiing and she said, "Well Mom, I wasn't really cross country skiing. I was just practicing in the back yard. I wasn't going that far or across the country, so I was really just practicing."

Now, of course, Evan wants to get out there too on some skis which I think is great. One person told me that they have seen some parents (instead of buying special boots and bindings for the skis) duct tape their kid's snow boots to a little pair of ski's. That way the little ones can still "practice" and there isn't as much of a cost. So, we will see. Hopefully soon there will be snow!

Winter random pictures

Here are a few other random pictures from my camera:

Emma, all cozy in her room on her floor bed, playing her leapster:

Evan in the tub.

Emma's disaster of a room. Apparently instead of putting the clothes away in her drawers as I asked, she stuffed them on the side of her closet so I couldn't see them. Nice. . .

And, having fun outside. The kids were so excited to have our first snowfall and went outside as soon as there was a dusting covering the ground. The tubes came out along with their little snowboard and down the hill they went.

And - making cookies the following day. 10 batches of cookies, 6 different kinds, 6 helping kids, 2 Little Caesar's pizza's, and 1 order of crazy bread. (oh yeah)




And - finally - little Kate.