Snow

We went back to the snow last week with the intention of skiing a bit, but it turned out everybody was too grouchy to ski.  So we backed off a bit and just spent the day tubing instead.  Lots of fun!

 

[flickr video=8404352988]

 

[flickr video=8403658725]

 

Swimming

Nicky and Kate are getting to be little fishies in the swimming pool. Kate LOVES to play in the water and copies pretty much anything she sees her brother doing, including blowing bubbles, kicking and paddling, going underwater and swimming on her back. I think Nicky’s starting to learn a bit from Kate too – over the last 6 months or so he has finally started having fun in the water too and is comfortable enough to do class without mommy/daddy in the water. Yay!

[flickr video=8354756135]

Snow!

At the end of our trip, we headed to eastern Oregon to play in the snow. The kids had a great time eating snow, building snow men, sledding, riding in snow trains and skiing! Nicky caught on very quickly to skiing. He was really frustrated with learning any of the basics and was eager to just do it. Not surprisingly, given his approach to life in general, he wasn’t content to play it safe and slow with snow plow skis. All he wanted was to point his french fry skis straight down the hill and go, as fast as possible. Which is fine except that he has no way to stop or regulate his speed. Not so good when there’s another little kid sitting in the middle of the run right in your way. Sam had to tackle Nick from about 15 yards away in a full, laid out, football tackle to just narrowly avoid a collision – luckily, everyone was ok! Pizza pie skis is definitely something we’ll need to work on, but for now he’s definitely enjoying his first taste of the sport.

IMG_0134

IMG_0144

IMG_0146

[flickr video=8344434106]

Christmas

Christmas at Grandmommy’s is a festive event. She had not one, not two, but THREE Christmas trees – which pretty much makes up for the fact that we had none at our house. We were very excited about Santa and his “strange creatures” coming.  Luckily, he came and brought lots and lots of presents. We managed to hold the kids off (for the most part) from opening their presents and everyone else’s until the aunties and uncles arrived. Kate’s morning nap coincided perfectly with their arrival, so she slept through the whole present opening event but then had a special audience for her presents when she opened them after she woke up.

IMG_0064

IMG_0066

IMG_0093

IMG_0070

[flickr video=8340282093]

Oregon Trip

We’re back from a very fun week in Oregon (pictures here). We got to catch up with family and friends, played lots of games, had a very fun Christmas, and played in the snow. 4 days later the pictures and videos have finally finished uploading, and here are a few favorites from our time in Eugene:

[flickr video=8338605964]The magical Christmas tree train, guaranteed to keep Nicky enraptured for hours

[flickr video=8339110916]Helping grandmommy make pumpkin pie