February

I'm new to sewing. Thank goodness my Mother-In-Law has an excellent sewing machine she is willing to let me use. This way I will know how serious I am about the whole sewing thing before actually investing in my own machine. Here is a shot of 3 "Hooter Hiders" I made for various friends and family. My Sister-In-Law was here the whole time, supervising. As far as I am concerned, she is easily one of the most proficient amateur seamstresses (is that a word) I know. Plus, her enthusiasm is so contagious, I always feel like I can take on the world. So, I did, as far as I am concerned, in making 3 hooter hiders in one day. They all turned out great - of course. ;)

In February we celebrated my nieces 6th birthday. I can't believe my younger brother has a daughter who is that old. His daughters age makes him seem old. And if he seems old, that means I am old. Or old-seeming...when I think about it? Not sure. At any rate, my life is definitely speeding up. Just like everyone promised. I also remember my Mom telling me when I was much, much younger and wouldn't take a nap (this is going to be a really long sentence, I can tell already), that there would come a day when I would wish for a nap more than anything - and I would look back on my younger years and realize how foolish I had been not to nap at the time. I didn't believe her. Now, more than ever, I am convinced of her eternal wisdom. Not just about napping, but in all things.

I also had a very dear friend come to visit. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of her while she was here. I did, however, get a cute picture of our adorable little boys on the couch, watching "Shaun the Sheep". I had a great time visiting and relaxing with her while she is here. Can't wait for our next get-together.

Speaking of the refusal to nap - Anytime Elsie's cousin (and best friend) comes over Elsie has a very hard time taking a nap. They often play in the room for an hour or so (very quietly so we don't know they aren't sleeping) before we find out they haven't actually slept. Here is Elsie on the couch "watching a show" after her cousin has left for the day. I have found her like this a couple of times after her cousin has left. Poor thing is all tuckered out. Too bad I always have to wake her up as soon as I find her, since it is usually much too late in the day for her to be napping.

Last, but certainly not least, we made a trip to the family cabin in Island Park with some old friends from Colorado to enjoy the snow, and peace and quiet. Tyler's brother jimmy-rigged an old bike-stroller into a "Rick-Shaw" (aka: a bike stroller with the wheels removed and skis put on in their place). It was fun to pull the kids around. At least, I thought so. Tyler was pretty exhausted when we got back to the cabin. I don't know what it is about pulling 2 kids behind you while you are in snowshoes through fresh powder that left him so tired...?

The kids had a good time, despite the wind. Sam was asleep in minutes. Elsie was nodding off by the time we got back to the cabin. 

Here's our friend helping me put my snowshoe back on. I hadn't tightened it enough, and he was gracious enough to re-harness my foot.

After our snowshoeing excursion Elsie played outside with Uncle Brendon & Aunt DeNae. They had a great time, and Elsie was rosy-cheeked and full of fresh mountain air when they came back in. We had delicious hot chocolate to warm everyone up.

Elsie & Brendon killing time.

Sam loved playing upstairs and looking down through the slots. He only got his giant head stuck between the logs once. Thank goodness it came out with relative ease.

Here he is playing on the stairs. He could see me, but wasn't able to get to me. He was very confused, and pretty upset. This was shortly after arriving at the cabin. Luckily, he figured things out pretty quickly.

Brendon & DeNae offered to stay with the kids while Tyler & I went out on the snowmobiles. We had a great time, and it was the perfect ending to a great winter vacation.

January

The kids brushing their teeth. No, this isn't the first time ever. Just the first time I managed to get a shot of both of them at the same time. Sam loves brushing his teeth, and any time he hears me in the bathroom he will come running in and start shouting "Teeth!" Which also sounds a lot like "Please!" and many other things in his new vocabulary. It was nice when I finally figured out what he was saying.

Also, any time he hears the beaters going in the kitchen, he comes running in shouting "PLEASE!" Thinking it will be the always delicious beaters covered in either frosting or whipped cream. The other night when whipping egg whites for waffles he was exceptionally disappointed when I finally relented and let him have a quick lick of the beater. Just to get him to stop shouting at me. He looked completely betrayed when his tongue touched the egg whipped beater. At least now he believes me when I tell him it is "Yucky".

Here are the girls playing Twister during a play-date with my cousin and sister-in-law. The older girls loved it - despite their struggles to coordinate different limbs into the different positions. Elsie was just there for decoration (hence the butterfly costume).

Also in January - it snowed! We got the girls all bundled up to play and play they did. They built a tiny little snowman, then came in for hot chocolate and cookies. Once naps were over the snow was gone. My sister-in-law was right when we first moved here and she said, "When it snows here, make sure you go out and play in it as soon as there is snow on the ground. Because 2 hours later it will be gone..." And gone it was. I think this is one of two "snow days" we were able to enjoy. Which was wonderful. I am definitely enjoying this milder climate.