Playing in the Snow

I'm not sure who was more excited to see the field completely covered in snow, the kids or Ryan. 

 It was just deep enough to pull the snowmobile out and take the kids for a spin. 

 Based on the kids shrieks and Ryan's grin, I think they all were quite pleased. 

The other fun part about a fresh blanket of snow was that Frosty made a return!

This little ragamuffin was most pleased.  All those various renditions of "Frosty the Snowman" she's been singing this past while finally paid off! 

A Logan Update

Logan at 15 months:

• Logan loves being chased - he's toddling along at quite a clip now.
• Still loves to climb and loves to get into things (the dirt in the potted plants being the latest favorite...)
• Can navigate up the stairs like a champ; a bit slower going down.
• Does NOT like wind in his face.
• He has been very slow getting teeth.  He only has 4 teeth all the way in and 1 molar halfway in.  However, he has 5 just starting to peek through.  Tylenol is our friend right now.
• Some signs he makes:  more, please, thank you (sometimes), eat, drink, down, all done.  I'd been working on the please sign with him for quite a while but the first time he used it was when Ryan and I were working out whose turn it was to change his dirty diaper.  I told him to tell Daddy please.  He did.  Frantically.  It worked.
• As you can tell from his signs, he loves to eat.  Just not pasta.  Weird, huh? 
• This little kiddo is quite ticklish and you gotta love the giggles that tickling produces.

Happy Friday to each of you!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

I was sighing to Ryan about Morgan completely ignoring her new doll the other day and he just chuckled.  "I didn't think you were into dolls when you were little.  Weren't you a tomboy?"

Hmmmm....guess he's right.  Although I do remember my Cabbage Patch doll and playing house with it with my brother.  Of course, the only way I could convince Geoff to play with me was to agree to help him  turn the ping-pong table into a multi-room fort.  Somehow it always took much longer to build the fort than it did to play house. 



When we were home to my parents' place this last time, I asked mom if I could borrow my photo album from when I was a kid.  I've never really seen much resemblance between my kids and I, but I do remember a sequence of photos in a rocking chair that was given to me by my aunt.  Last fall I took some pictures of Morgan in that same rocker and I was curious to finally compare them.

     

Morgan at 3 years and myself at 2 1/2 years.  Family resemblance?  Maybe.  



Ryan took one look at this picture of me and said, "Oh, looks like you couldn't sit still either!  That's where she gets it."  Family resemblance?  Getting stronger.



Family resemblance?  Yep.  Definitely my daughter!

Daughters and Dolls

Morgan got a new doll for Christmas. 

Doesn't she just look thrilled to be posing for a picture with her new dolly?  Okay, Mommy.  But only if I have to...

All the month of December, she had been busy wrapping up her various stuffed animals in her own pajama and getting frustrated because there was so much extra fabric.  Watching all this, I was excited for her to get her new Bitty Baby doll.  How much fun would that be to dress up a 'real' baby?  Especially since I had so much fun making skirts and jumpers and shirts that would fit the doll perfectly.  I even made Morgan a matching skirt or two.  All the while envisioning my daughter happily playing with her new doll and doll clothes.

Here's the new doll and clothes.  I think I mentioned that Ryan got me a new camera and I have been busy trying to figure out all the various settings and such.  I'm finding that stationary objects are the easiest test subjects.  Things like dolls.  They sit there nice and quietly without moving at the last second.

Except, where exactly is her doll?  Stuffed in the closet.  But the new jumper makes a perfect hat and the stuffed animals love their new (slightly big) clothes!   

Shoveling Snow

Winter finally returned and brought with it some snow.  Of course snow means snow removal and that doesn't top most people's lists of "Things I Look Forward to Doing." 

The kids though, they love it!  To them shoveling snow is quite a lot of fun.

 Well ... for the most part it's fun.

That's my boy!

Hope you all are staying warm!

Winterfest

There's something strange about buying a snowmobile.  It's a little known fact (that you learn of after the sale is complete) that the buying doesn't seem to stop with a single snowmobile.  Nope.  The hubby starts wondering if you'd be interested in trail riding.  So then the hunt is on for a good deal on a second sled.  Oh dear.  Now you have two, and the back of the pick-up doesn't work anymore for transporting them to the mountains.  Better find a good deal on a trailer ... then we'd better start hoping for snow.  

Well, thanks to Craig's List (again!), we found a trailer up the valley from my parents home and my Dad was happy to go pick it up.  That meant we got to head back to Bumpa and Grammy's this past weekend to bring it the rest of the way home.  It also meant that we got in on Winterfest.

Winterfest is known for it's ice sculptures - and there were some really neat ones like this throne and side chairs:

Walking hand-in-hand in search of more ice sculptures.

 

Ever heard of an ice slide? 

We hadn't either.  The kids sure got a kick out of it though!

The detail in these sculptures was amazing. 

There was a ice sculpture contest underway.  It was fascinating (and cold!) watching them work.  The train sculpture was my favorite (see pictures of the completed sculpture here) and it was fun watching the artists use chain saws and other power tools to create the shapes they wanted. 



Daddy, I think the car might be warm ... 

It started to snow just as we were leaving.  Although it didn't snow much, the forecast is looking snowier.  Maybe we'll get to use the snowmobiles and trailer this winter after all!

A New Toy

 Here it is, the real reason we don't have snow this year:

Just kidding.  It always seems that way though - buy something that requires snow and it'll be a mild winter.  Although there's still quite a bit of winter ahead when you look at the calendar so there may still be some snow in our future.  Regardless, doesn't Lane look pleased with the new sled?!  His Daddy sure is!

Back before Thanksgiving, we had a big snowstorm that dumped over a foot of snow and Ryan got snowmobile fever.  Out he went to the shop with high hopes ... before about throwing his back out trying to get the old John Deere started.

After complaining about how sore he was, he started looking at Craig's List for a new (to us) snowmobile and found hundreds for sale.  As he is known for doing, he started hunting for a good deal.  The John Deere got some TLC and then posted as a vintage (ack! it's only a few years older than me!) sled on Craig's List.  A retired fella came and snapped it up and brought it home to his shop where even more John Deere memorabilia is stored. 

For $50 more than he sold the 1974 JD, Ryan gained 22 years and a happy back!  However, that lovely snow from Thanksgiving is long gone.  The kids are singing 'Frosty the Snowman' in hopes that will help.  We'll see...

Playing on Ice

This winter has been a strange one - lots of sun and very little snow.  Generally it's the opposite.  I think the only ones that are too terribly disappointed are the kids.  They would really like to build a snowman but have been making do playing on the ice instead.  One of the most amusing things about parenthood is watching my kids learn, especially when they have no idea they're being watched.  

Lane loves trying to break up the ice.  He'll bang on it for ages. 

Hey!  My stick broke!  How frustrating!

Hey Lane!  I have an idea ... why not try jumping?  I missed the picture of her landing.  I was too busy laughing.

Forget breaking the ice.  Maybe we'll stick to 'ice skating.'

Naw.  Forget the ice.  What else is there to play with out here?  And off they went chattering a mile a minute - with Lane fearlessly leading and Morgan faithfully following.

Christmas - Part 2

On Monday, we waved good-bye to Uncle Geoff, Auntie Jocelyn and Aislyn and then settled in to wait for Uncle Lance and Auntie Laurie's family to arrive...

by playing Yahtzee of course!  Daddy decided he'd join us for a round and both Grammy and I decided he didn't need to join us again.  He soundly beat us both.  The nerve!

Tuesday we waved good-bye to Daddy who headed home to work while we stayed behind and played with cousins:

The 2 1/2 year age gap between these two is narrowing - they had great fun playing together.

Kort very sweetly came up to me and asked, "Auntie Bean, can I please hold Logan?" 

Uncle Lance did his best to show Morgan how to fly an airplane...

 

 she'll work on distance next!

Syd and Morgan were champs when it came to sharing their Grammy!(:

Here's one big good-bye hug!

We enjoyed our time with my family and had a wonderful Christmas.  We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and wish each of you a very Happy New Year!