January Diversions

Oh January... you always save something special for me to start off the new year.  This time, the kids had colds (Owen's may have been a minor flu? based on his fever, but it passed rather quickly) with lingering coughs, and I got strep throat!  You are too kind. Really.  Stop.

Anyway, Owen started back at ice skating lessons.  I was really surprised that he seemed to retain a lot of what he learned last winter.  In fact, he tried to tell me that he would just go skate (by himself) without a formal lesson.  Glad he's confident, but there's oh, so much more to learn.

We are also spending our non-hacking winter days bowling,

 reading at the library and at home (sometimes Owen even reads to Hadley!),

and having tea parties with the natives.

And today was a big transition for Hadley: she got a big girl bed!  We've known it was coming for a while, since I caught her straddling her crib rail a few times.  I was hoping she'd chicken out and we could keep her confined a bit longer, but no, this morning I was greeted by two children in the living room. :)  She seems excited about it; fingers crossed that she really will stay in her room until "it's green, mom!" (Her alarm clock lights up green when she's allowed to get up.  It's worked well for the crib.)  Here goes...

Sibling Friends

I've mentioned that the kids seem to get along pretty well together, and I love it!  Sure, Owen has his bossy moments, and yes, Hadley likes to push his buttons, but they do like to be around each other most of the time, whether it's cuddling, playing pretend dog and owner, hunting monsters in the basement, watching TV, or wrestling.  I hope that continues to be true as they grow.

One Sunday morning, Owen wanted to wear a tie. I thought he looked so handsome, so I had to document them both in their Sunday best (with and without animal ears).  :)

Never underestimate the fun to be had with good ol' Play-doh.  We don't break ours out very often, but when we do, smiles break out too.  Owen likes to make tracks with all of this trucks, and Hadley just likes to make tiny pieces.

And there's nothing wrong with a family trip to the mall when the weather makes you shudder, but you're a little stir-crazy at home after the holidays!

The Rest of Winter Break

Happy 2015!!  I found a few more pictures to wrap up 2014, and I realized that I sort of skipped over Thanksgiving.  We celebrated with friends (read - lots of kids) with a tasty meal, and one of them graciously took our family picture. :)

After Thanksgiving, I took Owen to do one of those kid-friendly projects at Home Depot, and guess who was there?  Santa!  Incidentally, this ended up being the only photo with the big red guy we took this year. We had a really nice mom-and-son morning with the HD project, painting at the art museum, and a scavenger hunt downtown.  On the drive home, he told me, "I didn't know today was going to be so special!"  Melts my heart.

And here's a classic shot of Hadley:

Owen loves to make faces at himself in the mirror.  Oma sent some cards and heart stickers, and the siblings had a field day making faces for the camera.  Here are the highlights:

Owen's pre-school also did a Christmas program.  He was so excited to sing the songs for us, as you can see in this "before" shot.

He's in the middle-ish in the black argyle sweater.  They had so many hand motions to go with the songs, and he did pretty great with the whole thing.  We have some video too, but I'll spare posting it on the blog.  :)

I mentioned the snow we got on Christmas.  Well, it kept falling for the next two days. The kids had a blast sledding, building a snowman, and playing in the white stuff.  Here's our backyard with several inches accumulated and our dinky little snowman.  I need to take some lessons on working with dry snow!  We've seen some snowmen in the neighborhood over 5 feet tall, but I have no idea how to pack dry fluff.  I even added water, but it was still only about 2 feet tall.  Sad snowman.

The morning after Christmas, the kids were in their matching PJs again.  They still fit a year later!  (Hadley refused to wear hers on Christmas, which is why they didn't match for those pictures.)

Hadley really likes to sing, even though she doesn't really know any songs!  (except part of Kindermusik songs) Occasionally, I will hear her singing her own song in the back of the car to her own tune, about who knows what.  Over the holidays though, she learned "Jingle Bells", so here's her rendition with Owen's after.  I might have to sing "Jingle Bells Away" from now on.  :)

Finally, a few pictures of post-Christmas gifts and play...  It might take a few more years for the chopsticks to be a viable option for eating.  :)

Hadley has a Big Mickey, Little Mickey, and a Tiny Mickey.  She likes to take them for strolls. Below are Big and Little sharing a ride.

Thanks Great Aunt Kathy for the DIY ornaments!  The kids had fun making them!

Oma and Grandpa's December in Idaho

Their travel may have been terrible coming and going, but Oma and Grandpa were in Idaho for two weeks, from Owen's birthday party through Christmas.  We really enjoyed their stay with us.  We even put lights up on the house, er, paid someone to do this! So worth it!

On to the highlights!  The same night of his birthday party, Owen got to sit with Oma (and his buddy, Carson) and get the inside scoop on the local production of The Nutcracker.  I think it was his first time watching performers on stage. His first question was "are they real?"  :)  I was impressed that he stayed awake for the whole thing, since it started close to bed time.

Then the next morning, we got lots of new snow to shovel and play in.  (Strange to think that our Yellowstone snowcoach adventure was cancelled for lack of snow!)  I've mentioned before that Owen loves to snow shovel!  His handiwork on the front walk made me laugh though.  I guess a straight shot is too boring!

Hadley had to have her turn at shoveling too, of course.

After she did her own exploring on foot and bike...

Then Owen and Daddy got into a bit of a snow fight.  I think the one with the shovel has an advantage here.  Good thing Owen likes snow in his face.  He actually loves to roll around in the snow, too.

We took in the Museum of Idaho's Christmas exhibit, complete with trees, gingerbread creations, nativity scenes, and holiday-themed items from the last 100 years.

But the kids' favorite part of the museum is the kid room (obviously) that has some pretend frontier/wilderness play opportunities.

Once everyone was off from school and work, we drove an hour and a half to Lava Hot Springs to check out the warm pools.  It seemed recently renovated, clean, and pretty uncrowded for a no-school day.  All of the pools were at least 92 degrees, along with a hot pool, so it didn't matter that it was only 20 degrees outside! They also have a fun area with slides and sprays, which the kids really enjoyed.  There's a whole outdoor section that we'll have to come back to investigate in the summer!

Then, of course, there was much quality play time at the house, including snuggling, reading, some wrestling, massive tea parties, lots of Lego assembly, arts and crafts, make believe, and lots of silliness.  Good times!  Side note: When Hadley said "Grandpa", it came out like "Papa", which might just stick.  :)

And Owen really enjoyed being Oma's helper in the kitchen.

They even got to make Christmas cut-out cookies together!  Owen was an enthusiastic helper in all parts of the process, especially in the eating part. The first to go may have been the cookie of Owen's hand.

On the last day of their visit, we drove to see the Tetons and eat some Korean food in Driggs.  There was plenty of snow over there, and we got a great view of the mountains in the morning, but no children under 21 were allowed at the Grand Teton Brewery, for future reference.

Thanks for coming to see us, Oma and Grandpa!  We really loved having you here.  You are welcome back anytime.  :)