SNOW (finally)

Since moving to Spokane 11 and a half years ago, I have come to expect snow every winter.  Usually by November we have had at least a few inches, if not more.  I am thinking this is the first winter that we didn't have a significant amount by Christmas.  We (the kids and me) were thrilled to finally see snow this last week.  I think we got over 10 inches in two days.  This was enough to actually have a 2 hour late start.  I couldn't believe it!  Most people who live here don't even check the news for snow days, they are pretty much unheard of.  (It took me a few years to figure this out, when I started my first job and it snowed, I sat up the whole night waiting for them to cancel school.  I couldn't believe I had to drive to school with 2 inches on the road!)  Spokane clears the roads alot more efficiently than the 'couve though. 

Anyway, on the 2 hour late start day, I was snow blowing the sidewalk so the kids could eventually walk to the bus stop. While I was out there, I had to tell a few kids to go back home because it was late start. I swear they didn't believe me because they stood there for 5 more minutes before I finally screamed at them, "Go home!" My kids took full advantage of the late start and hit our hill in the backyard.

The kids set up a jump at the bottom of the hill, it looks super fun and I really want to try it!  They fly and catch air, I have it on video, hopefully no one gets hurt.  We always did worse as kids though, right?  Happy sledding everyone, enjoy the snow!

Tubing

We went on an impromptu tubing trip with some of our great neighbor friends. 
We went caravan style together up to Mt. Spokane.  It was a good thing we all went together because the mini van didn't quite make it.  We were at the top of the mtn. about 20 feet away from a parking spot  and some jackass was standing in the middle of the road with his door open.  We had to veer to the side and boom, there we were, stuck, spinning in the snow.  Chris and Matt jumped out of their mini-vans (identical to ours), and rescued us.  (They didn't have to veer to the side and managed just fine). It took quite a bit of maneuvering, sand, a ranger and some pushing, but finally we were on our way to our spot.  (We have never been stuck before, it was a bit stressful).

 Our little family, minus Brayden who was off and would have nothing to do with us the WHOLE time we were there.  You will see him soon, flying down the hill with the other "big boys."

                                               All the mamas.  Me, Heather, Julie and Jackie.

                                                 Brayden is in the orange.

                        Dads and the big boys.  Matt, Ryan, Landen, Brayden, Kaiden, Gavin and Chris

                                                    Heather, Austin and Hayden

                                   Birthday cupcakes in the lodge!  Happy Birthday Austin and Landen!

 How come these messes are so much cuter when it's not your child?  Hayden will be 2 in a couple of weeks.  I use her to get my baby fix quite often, but she is getting big now too!

                              After she dug into hers, she tried to steal Ellie's!  That's my kind of girl! 
It was one of those perfect days, that you look back on and smile.  All 10 kids got along fabulously, all the parents grabbed a kid and hit the hill.  I think I got to take each of the little kids a few times.  Ellie monopolized Chris (Jackie's husband), I think there might be a little crush going on there. (I so wish I would have taken a pic. of the two of them, it was hilarious).  It was a good, good day.  Hope you're enjoying your three day weekend!

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.

Holiday Happenings

My beautiful, sweet cousin Sarah came for Thanksgiving.  It is a tradition that we look forward to every year now!  The kids get lots of snuggle/reading/special time with her, and each year we get to strengthen our bond/friendship that we have been building as adults.  We were never around each other when we were growing up, so I feel very lucky to have someone who knows me (besides my hubby) and accepts all of my baggage.  Love you Cousin Sarah!

We decorated the tree....and had a visitor

Auntie Kalin, cousin Leila and Grandma Wagener came to visit us last weekend.  My kids just love their baby cousin, poor Leila didn't stand a chance to have breathing room.  They surrounded her at all times.

We went to a Toys for Tots charity event at the Gymnastics center.  ALL the kids loved it!  Leila felt like such a cool, big kid.  She ran and ran as long as she could, then Grandma and Auntie got tired and she had to go home.

                                                                           

 Apparently it's impossible to get a normal pic of all three children at once.  THEIR gingerbread house.  They had a blast, I was completely hands off, it was too painful to help/watch.  They LOVE it!

 Sad to say, but happy to see a screaming child in Santa's lap.  I Have to say I was a wee disappointed when we had a normal Santa pic this year.  So glad Leila could visit and liven things up a bit at our special Santa breakfast.

Dance recital.  Pajama party. 10 three and four year olds.  Major good time had by all!  I videoed the entire show, now I just have to figure out how to get it on my computer.....

 "Come on Ring Those Bells"  I was quite proud of my girls at their school performance.  They sang loud and proud.  I didn't know what would happen this year.  Last year Dani stood silently and GLARED at everyone.  She is my child who enjoys music the most and may have the most talent in this area.  It was nice to see her participating and enjoying the songs that they have been singing/yelling for the last few weeks!

My beautiful girls after their school performance.

We are officially on Christmas vacation. For the first time I am taking the same two weeks off from work.  I am looking forward to catching up with friends, lazy days, movies, reading, cookies and lots of snuggle time with my babies that won't stop growing.  Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

Frank

Frank has been back in our lives for almost three weeks.  He has been wreaking havoc like crazy!  We have been loving it!  Frank is our elf that came into our lives 2 or 3 years ago.  We had him before The Elf on the Shelf got so crazy popular.   Back in the day (who am I kidding, I still am)  I was too cheap to spend the $30 for the book and elf.  I went to Target and bought an elf ornament, and he became Frank.  He is glass, so he is a little limited on what antics he can perform, but he has been pretty busy so far this year.  Last night he did this:

 He was found one morning drinking our syrup.

 Taking a bath in marshmallows

 Playing a game of checkers with Mickey

 And reading a book.

He also dyed Kent's eggnog green, which he wasn't too happy about.  :)  Naughty Frank.  He made a snow, sugar angel on the counter and was in my coffee cup.  The kids are at the perfect age for this and every morning they run in to tell me what Frank is up to......

I would love any new ideas for Frank, we still have 10 more days....!

Sneaky sneak

As I was reading with Ellie today she asked, "What movie did you watch last night?"  We watched "Friends With Benefits"  (which I thought was pleasantly hilarious), but didn't think it was appropriate to tell her the title of the  movie, so I said, "Friends." 

She proceeds to say, "I like that Friends movie.  It's funny when you see their naked bums.  Are you going to watch it again?"  

What the .....!!!!! 

Apparently my four year old snuck out of her room and watched some/part/all of the rated R movie last night.  Feeling like mom of the year.  And yes you can imagine what the movie was about, the title says it all......

Back in Business!

I finally  just bit the bullet and paid the $5.00 for 20GB a year....not sure exactly what that means, but it sounded good to me and I can upload my pics again!  Does anyone have recommendations for sites that can help me make my blog into a book?  After 3 years it is getting out of control, I would like to have it in a hard copy!  Please let me know if you have heard of anything and can steer me in the right direction!

 It seems like lots has been going on since I left the blogging world for a few weeks.....

 Aren't my little angels adorable?  Yes, my girls are now in dance lessons.  This is my parent's Christmas gift to them.  Isn't it a grand idea!?!  I was thrilled, I don't want anymore toys around the house so mom suggested this.  Unfortunately, we had to start a tad early (before Xmas).  The dance "school" starts lessons in September.  We were 8 weeks behind by the time soccer ended....don't worry, they have massive skills and are pretty much caught up already.  I think their lesson is one of the best parts of my week.  All of you who know me, know that I am not a dancer (tho pretended to be throughout college at the bar scene), but holy moly, these girls (3-4 year olds, my girls are the oldest in the class) are freakin' HILARIOUS!  I think it's even more funny than trying to coach soccer.  The first time I took my book to the lesson thinking that I would read, but NO WAY, there was way too much entertainment taking place.  Picture this:

TEN  3-4 year old girls
20 tap shoes rocking the place (most off beat)
10 tutus fluttering every which way
20 slippery ballet shoes being turned all about
at least one girl at any given moment just sitting down and scooting around on her bum (I'm assuming to rest)
THEN tumbling! 

I am so paranoid that someone is going to break their neck.  The teachers have 35+ years of experience, but they just tell the girls, "Do  a somersault."  The girls just stand straight on their heads and try to flip.  What the.....????  I am still holding out hope that they will get better directions for this.  However, Ellie can tumble like nobodies business.  She has been flipping around the living room forever.  She taught herself how to do a cart wheel, and I caught her doing a front flip off the couch the other day.....gymnastics may be more up her alley, this concentrating and graceful business is a little rough (my mini me).  Dani, however, really pays attention and can follow the positions and moves (I don't what they're called...moves??)

                                             Ellie, Cousin Ally and Dani

Dani

                                      Wheel barrow race for part of tumbling.  Ellie is carrying Dani.
Thank you Mom and Dad!  We love it!  There is a recital in May, come and watch if you can!  :)

Brayden will be starting Basketball in January, he is super excited and is thrilled to be taking swimming lessons in the meantime!
I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving, I will post about ours soon!  It's so nice to be back in the blogging world!