Boxing Day

We had the BEST sledding day today. We were headed up to the mountains but found out there was a lot of snow at G&G's. Although they were out of town we enjoyed playing at their place with Peter and Lonnie and kids. First Ray pulled the kids around, then we found the perfect size hill small enough for the kids to walk up themselves but big enough to make it worth the hike up. Once they were done with that Peter had the 4wheeler out. After a few times around there was a nice flat and fast track and the kids LOVED it. I took a ride and laughed the whole way, except when I went over a frozen pinecone - ouch! It was just too much fun. What we thought would be maybe an hour of sledding turned into an all day thing. They built a jump and it was pretty funny watching them try to get some air and never quite getting there, although I wasn't the one flying up - maybe it felt like more than it looked. Best quote of the day heard by Lonnie : Porter: "Kate can I go down the hill first" Kate:"Well you are King of the hill"

Started off slow on the mini hill

Lunch time in the back of the van.

Video of Kate sledding "That was Awesome Dad"

This is Ray trying out the jump.

Ray again cruising around the whole track. It was scary riding on here trying to tape, I had the hardest time holding on since I was sitting backwards I couldn't tell which way Peter was going to turn but I didn't fall off so we have this lovely video. This is a long video but the air he gets at the end is worth it! (:

The Big Day

Christmas with kids is just too much fun. We had a great morning and Kate even went to check if Baby Jesus was in hthe manger. For the last few weeks she has added a piece of yarn to the manger when she did something nice and then it was all ready for him to be born on Christmas. It was nice to see her remember and thank you to Grandma for making it with her. Jack wanted to stop and play with each toy which was great because it stretched it all out a little longer. He loved everything Diego "look ..iego, iego!". Kate's enjoying her new camera and LOVES the light bright Jack gave her. Ray was surprised and thoroughly enjoyed getting a cooler full of Graeters ice cream straight from Ohio. I had it shipped last week and stored it at P&L's house. I knew I would benefit from this as well and I am - right now actually eating as I type this - best ice cream ever. Santa brought the family Zoob and we have had a lot of fun with this. I think the kids will like it more as they play around with it and figure how it all hooks together. Here is a bike Ray made - it comes with cards to show you ideas of what you can make and after being hooked it can all move, it's just so cool we love it. And last week Jack came running into the living room dragging a huge body pillow behind him yelling "look at this, look at this". I had never seen it and I knew Ray had something hidden under our bed as I was forbidden to look there. Jack decided to drag it out so lucky me I got it early and have been enjoying it all week!

Christmas Eve

A few highlights of the day. First the kids helped me make cinnamon rolls. When Ray got home from playing basketball we went bowling (aren't the little bowling shoes cute?). This was a first for Jack and he loved it for about 5 frames and then wanted to go to the arcade games. Kate is a pro but after about 7 frames she said "ok, I'm gonna go do something else". Ray gladly finished off their games so they could move onto the next thing. Although we enjoyed a yummy Ham dinner at Peter and Lonnie's that night we kept our pizza tradition by getting Papa John's for lunch. We were going to drive to the top of a Butte in town but the road was closed so we ate in the van, much warmer anyways. It was a great day and after a yummy dinner with family and friends and then back home to open pj's and slippers they were off to bed by 10:00. Luckily they did sleep in until 8 the next day, I'll post pics of x-mas in the next post.

Getting ready for Santa

Kate had a Christmas party at her Preschool and had a visit from Santa. It was cute to see her reaction to him walk through the door, although she told me on the way home it wasn't the real Santa. All the kids sang us the songs they had learned. Last week they went to an assisted living home and sang to the residents and helped them decorate their tree. So we had the chance to hear all that they had learned. The kiddos also started on their note to Santa this year that we'll tape across the doorway leading to the living room. I think this will come in handy this year since Jack wakes up at least an hour before the rest of us and I can just picture him out there opening all the presents. Only 3 more days !!!!

Latest bags

I haven't had a chance to sew anything since we moved and I've missed it. Mom asked me to make 2 bags for her to give away for Christmas and I enjoyed getting back into it. Both are pretty simple and slightly different than what I've made before . This first one is for my Grandmother, I put on longer handles to make it easier to put over the shoulder and it has a snap closure. I had fun thinking of what she would like. I don't know types of fabric very well but it is like a tweed and the black flowers are velvety. I hope she likes it. The second is for my aunt, it is being filled with Grandkid fun activities. It has stiff interfacing, a few pockets and snap closure too. I think this design with a few more pockets would make a great diaper bag. .

Snowmen

I saw this idea on my friend Tricia's blog, I wasn't sure exactly how to make them so they turned out a bit different. They are soft and cuddly and the kids had fun making them. Kate loved picking out her items, she added a belt "because it's so stylish" she said.

Gingerbread Houses

We have a long family tradition of making gingerbead houses during the Christmas season. We've had everything made from TP's, outhouses, potato cellars, tractors, Santa sunbathing on a lawn chair and probably many others that I can't recall. We always used graham crackers to make our creations. This year it worked out perfect though with all the kids to buy the pre-formed gingerbread houses to just put together and decorate. Jack mostly liked eating it and therefore santa on the chimney lost his head half way through! So here is our creation....

Like Father , like son.....

Yummy Paint

We're making use of our Christmas house this year. Each day the kids open up a door to find a small piece of chocolate and a note. The note leads them to a bucket hidden somewhere where inside they find a fun thing to do that day. This has been a lot of fun so far, just 18 more activities to come up with. Today they helped make and paint with pudding. I've heard about this so many times but we've never done it. You just make the pudding with less milk (we used half) and paint away. It's meant to be finger painting but I had some new paint brushes and they preferred that so they could lick the paint brushes. Jack said with surprise "Mom, it's good, it's good". Should be interesting trying to explain next time we paint that he can't eat it.