Christmas and beyond

We have had a wonderful past few weeks.  When I have talked to friends I can't really tell them what we've been doing, but it's been good.  We saw a few movies at the new discount theatre, went tubing with the other Phillips clan and we've been playing lots of games.  Christmas has come and gone and we're back into our routine, which has been nice.  Here are just a few pics. of part of our Xmas.  B was thrilled to get new Spider man jammies on Xmas eve.

 Ellie was just as excited to get a new Tinkerbell nightgown.  Yes, it is ginormous, but I wanted to make sure this one covered her bum.  Her old one is a tad short.  (Dani also got a new nightgown, but preferred to wear her old holey footy jammies.)

 Christmas morning!  The girls got boxes for all of their jewels.

 Grandma Wagener made them quilts that they absolutely LOVE and use all the time!

 We went to Target the day after Xmas and they used their gift cards from Auntie Kalin.  Hello Kitty shirts and a binder.  B plans to put all of his art and papers in his binder.  :)

Then yesterday we hit the slopes (well just B did).   Brayden was so excited for his first day of skiing that he got up at 5:40 am!  I walked out to the the living room and he was all dressed and ready at 6am.  We (all 5 of us) left the house at 6:30 am to get to Lookout pass to sign up for their FREE ski school.  When I called, the guy told me to be there by 8 to register when the lodge opens.  He made it sound like the 500  people that they cap it at would be there waiting.  Yeah, we were the first ones in line, then we had to to wait for 2 hours until the lesson started at 10.  By 9:00 the whole lunch that I had packed was eaten and we had played five games of Uno spin.  Brayden was so anxious to ski, I thought he was going to burst.  We had all the gear on and we were ready by 9:40, which gave him time to get a feel for the skis and practice getting up after he fell.  :)

 Overall, it was a good experience, totally packed out, but the instructors were great.  Next weekend I am going to take him up and try to teach him on my own....will let you know how that goes.  They taught him the basics, then they got in line for the rope tow.  Yeah, the worst contraption ever, you would think there would be something better by now.  He waited in line for 10+ minutes, then his instructor had to go teach another class.  She bailed, but he still wanted to do it.  When it was his turn, the poor guy had no instruction.  The crabby old lady running it just told him to grab on.  FAILURE!  That thing yanked him so hard, his ski popped off and he went face first into the snow.  I have it on video, it will be fun to watch.  :)  BUT this put him over the edge.  Tears were rolling, he was mad, embarrassed and not to mention overtired.  We packed everything and everyone up and headed home.  The girls were great troopers and seemed to enjoy watching all the chaos on the mountain.  Ellie really wants a turn, (you have to be at least 6 for the lesson) but Dani said, "I NEVER want to do that!"

B also said he was never going to do it again.  Maybe he'll be ready by next weekend.