Annual Family Ski Trip

Well, here they are! Photos of our annual family ski trip-we went the 10th-12th of this month. We love to go skiing as a family. Ever year we go up with my sister Gina and her family and stay a few days in the mountains to ski. Did I mention that we LOVE it? Its a great chance that our family has to spend lots of time together just having fun. That is our one objective, and we have a lot of it. The first picture is of Me(lady in the light green and gray jacket), and B and J (both in blue jackets!) My niece and nephew snuck in the picture behind us-( their keepers). And of course Brian is taking the picture! Shamefully, we never got a picture of the entire family together. Sad, but very true. Anyway, this year we were able to go up for three days, two nights. We all did better with our "Skiing Skills". Both B and J improved enough to take the edgy wedgie off of their skis. What is an edgy wedgie you ask?? It sounds very uncomfortable, but it is not, I assure you, and has nothing to do with an actual wedgie! So, its a bungee cord hooked to the top of both skis to ensure that the skis neither spread too far apart, or get crossed over one another. Very nice for kids who are beginners.

You will notice how lovely we all look in our ski goggles. They totally rock. When you're out on the slopes its all about keeping warm and having fun.
Here's a shot of Brian and I at the very top of the slopes with Donner Lake in the background.



We were out all morning with the kids, and they got tired. So, we sent them back inside with Gina we and got to stay out and ski a little longer with the big kids and my brother in law Eric. Now, Eric and his older kids are really good and just like to have fun. They go off the paths and into the powder, through the trees. I call that crazy- they call it fun. Brian loves to join them. So I got to follow all of them through stuff I never would have done on my own. I was in powder up to the top of my thighs, but I have to say, I had a great time.
This is S. This was her first time EVER on skis. She didn't like it at first, but daddy took her up on to the chair lift and that made it all worth it for her. For days after we came home she kept asking to go skiing to ride on the ski chair. She said, "I big. I go ski." It was so much fun to watch her out there with dad. We can't wait until next year to see how she does by herself!

Here's a shot of J on the lift with Brian. Here's how our family works when we ski. Brian can do it all- including ski backwards with a camera. He also teaches all of our kids to ski, by skiing with them, between his legs. He's a master. I'm exactly opposite. I can ski (sort of) and can help my kids if they fall. But that's about all. My kids are super racers who think I'm totally slow and tolerate skiing with me. They love to ski with dad. Its OK to ski with me when dad goes off and does something they are not willing to do-(thankfully, they are not dare devils!! But we are buying them helmets to wear next year!)

Here's super sweet B, who thinks she's going on 17. She is getting so good. This year was the first year we let her ride the ski lift without an adult with her (Dad's idea- obviously not Mom's)! I had to take a few really, really deep breaths, but I made it through. She's a very responsible and careful person. SO, I had to trust her and let her do something I knew she was totally capable of doing. Its just so high off of the ground, it made me nervous. Anyway, she had a great time skiing with her family and cousins. As you can see, we had a really great time and can't wait until next year. We had two days of incredibly clear weather, and one day where it was a little snowy. But it snowed every night, so there was always fresh powder to ski on in the morning. Perfect conditions- or as Brian would say, "Dude, the conditions are stellar!" This was our 6th year, and we hope to keep going for many years to come.

The Tooth fairy came to my house!

Yep, it finally happened. He finally lost his first tooth! He's so proud to join ranks with his older sister, having the tooth fairy come and visit!

It was really funny how it happened. We were over at a friend's house, and he had asked if he could eat one of their delicious looking Granny Smith apples they had on their little fruit basket. So he got one cut up in slices for him. As he was eating the slices he kept saying the apple was hurting his tooth. I immediately started invisioning dental bills- large dental bills. He actually has really good teeth for how much candy the kid sucks down as often as he can get his hands on it. Enough about his dental record. I had him open up so that I could take a look, and much to my surprise, not only was his tooth VERY loose, his poor big permanent tooth was already coming in behind the baby one! Needless to say, he was a little nervous to pull the tooth out right away. And he insisted that Dad should do it. So, four days later, on February 3rd, the tooth was pulled, he was soooo happy to be rid of it. He proudly announced that he was so tough, it didn't even hurt!

He got a visit from the tooth fairy and she brought him $3! What's up with that? When I was little the tooth fairy only left me a quarter. I told him the tooth fairy must really like him! He was proud and is trying to save his money to buy a baccugon (??not spelled right- its a pokemon thing, and apparently they're pretty hot right now cause we can NEVER get them when we go to Walmart to buy them- they are always out!)

We have this really cool tooth fairy pillow that we use when our kids loose a tooth. Its sooo cute. Its a little pillow with a pocket on the front to put your tooth in. I ordered one from my friend Megan a little over a year ago. I'll try to snap a photo of it and post it so you can see just how cute it is. Anyway, the kid sleeps with it on their bed (its too small for them to actually use it as a real pillow though- that would make things really interesting for the toothfairy though!!!) and it makes it easy for the toothfairy to find the tooth, and a handy place to leave the money so that nothing ever gets lost under beds. Very important when dealing with the toothfairy.

See my blogs are already caught up into February. Now I'm only a few weeks behind. I'm on fire!!!

I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!!

Need I say more??
Of course I will say a little more. S decided to get into mommy's makeup one Sunday afternoon when mommy was gone and daddy was home with the kids (secretly, I think he was napping! And why am I typing in third person?) Anyway, I got home and found her this way. She said "Mommy I pretty like you!" So, I did what any mother would do- I took her picture and told her she was beautiful. Little girls are heaven's flowers!

Note: Did you notice the botch job on the front of her hair? I try to do a comb over to cover it up. Anyway, her dear cousin, who's name I won't mention-(but she's the same age and lives close by to us...)She is responsible for S's beautiful, and stylish hair cut. It's kind of a Mohawk when I let it stand up. Next time its standing on end I'll snap a photo. Its really quite stunning...I was thinking we should color the Mohawk pink, just for fun..

I dislike Beans with Ketchup...

I really don't hate ketchup, but I do really dislike catching up on things I really fall behind on. So, here I am, playing "Ketchup" on the blog. But I must say, Life has been awfully busy this last month! And so, I digress. I will probably end up posting a few times today, because this week is so insane, its just not happening. And I need to keep my commitment to posting, so that I can have things in our family documented. And now I'm babbling a little. I'll stop. Okay, just one more thing, why do I feel like I can't post something with out a picture? Is that a little ott (over the top, for those who don't know text lingo-or maybe just my text lingo :)?

Anyways, here we go: A few weeks ago, after school one day, I came walking down the hall way in my house to find this-

Papers were taped the entire length of the hall, with my children's names on them, and arrows, guiding any unsuspecting visitor to their rooms. At the door to B's room, she gave instructions to a game, these are her exact words-

"You made it! Now you need to find and it is in under the bed". Hmm, what does a mother think about this? What is "it" under the bed?? These are the questions that linger, and will continue to linger at our house because we have still not found what "it" was, under the bed. Oh to be a kid again. What fun games and things they think up. We left the signs up for about a week, you know, just in case anyone got lost and couldn't find their bedrooms :)-but finally took them down right after I snapped a few photos.