What do you do to help get through the winter?

Winter for us lasts a very long time.  Sometimes it takes quite a bit of creativity to stay busy inside while having fun (hence the previous post of juggling oranges).  I include 'while having fun' because the winter is when I start going through closets and dejunking and cleaning everything, but that doesn't really count as fun.  So for fun we like to have friends over and play games and such. On this day we had pizza and frosted cookies for FHE.  It was great fun even when Mitch turned it into a competition to have the best frosted cookie!  Of which I'm still not sure who won?

Other times when it is just Addy and I, we spend lots of time coloring, and running to the bathroom, reading, and running to the bathroom, playing "Let's Go Fishing", and running to the bathroom, creating things with playdough, and running to the bathroom, and watching "Despicable Me" or sometimes Mickey Mouse Playhouse.  

   

One evening while I was preparing dinner (like the good little wife that I am..hehe), Addy built this tower all by herself.  In case you can't tell from the picture, she was so proud!!

We are always looking for new suggestions/ideas to keep us busy and having fun.  So feel free to share!

Sledding

We have already gotten so much snow this year that we are running out of places to put it!  Okay so really there is still plenty of places it could go but it seems like we just keep shoveling and shoveling.  

Every now and then we have a nice warm sunny day, which I desperately need, and we can actually go outside and play.  This last Saturday ended up being one of those days.  We bundled up to go out and shovel and then stayed out to play because it was so nice. 

 I had Mitch put Addy up on the pile of snow in our front yard so I could get a picture, but it soon turned into a great sledding hill where you didn't even need a sled!

Mitch even made some little steps so Addy could climb back up to the top by herself. We were getting a little tired of putting her back up every time!

Up she goes...

then down she goes... 

and then repeat over and over again... 

And for a two year old, life just couldn't be any better :)

We're in Training

You may have guessed from the title but this little lady is potty training!  All things considered she is doing pretty good.  I think I went into this expecting the worst and thought I was going to be constantly cleaning up potty accidents all over the house.  Thankfully it hasn't been that bad, of course she isn't perfect and still has accidents every now and then but overall I am very impressed with how quickly she has caught on.  It might help that she knows she will get a "tweeeeet"  and sticker after so it gives her a little incentive to tell us when she needs to go.

 

It is extremely difficult to get a normal smile from this crazy head but trust me she has beautiful big brown eyes!

As for Mitch, well he is in training for the circus!

His juggling skills could use a little work ;) It's why I gave him 8 months notice! 

For Addy's birthday this year, I want to do a circus theme (I realize it is still a ways off but there is nothing wrong with planning ahead!). So I told Mitch he was going to be the designated clown so he better practice up.  One evening he took me seriously and him and Addy put on quite a great show!   

You might ask what am I in training for?  And this is your answer. I might just die along the side of the road somewhere between those 190 miles but that is also what I thought back here but I survived.  Once again I plan on completing something that I think is VERY HARD but it should also be quite fun and rewarding! Wish me luck and feel free to be my running buddy anytime!

At the Cabin

For part of our Christmas this year, my parents rented a cabin up in Island Park for a few days.  It was so great because everyone was able to make it up for the majority of the week (minus my little sis who is in Scotland).  The first couple days it was really cloudy and snowy, so when you looked out the big windows out front you couldn't even see this hill it was just clouds. The last day or so it cleared up and it was so beautiful with all the newly fallen snow but it was also extremely cold.  

We rented snowmobiles for a couple of days and had fun going out and playing. We found a nice sledding hill and instead of walking back up the hill, the snowmobile would meet you at the bottom and bring you back to the top! It was very high class sledding :) 

One morning after it had snowed a ton, Mitch and I went out on a ride but we didn't have a very good machine for all the powder so we had to stay in others tracks most of the time.  Well we were following a track up the hill into some trees when all of a sudden the track turns around but we were going too fast to turn in time so we ended up getting major stuck in the snow (this was not the first time, I think Mitch told me he dug out about 15 snowmobiles between everyone in the family getting stuck!).  As I was helping to push us out, the snow ended up coming up and smacking me in the face. It was no fun especially since it was like 2 degrees outside.  Once we finally got out of that mess, I made Mitch be a little more cautious about where he went. 

Other highlights of the week, Addy would not sleep in her pack n' play.  She just wanted to sleep with Gracie which meant that my sister was sleeping with both these crazies in her bed. She was a brave woman. The first night we tried to move Addy into the pack n' play after she fell asleep but at 6:00 in the morning she woke up crying because she wasn't sleeping with Gracie. It was very cute. 

My brother brought up his Wii and dance game.  I loved this game, it gave Mitch a little hope that we might own a Wii in the future (maybe). The best part was Addy would watch the dancer on the screen and try to follow along.  Surprisingly, she was quite good and gave us quite a laugh with her moves!

My dad also brought up his projector so we watched several of our Christmas movies.  I don't think I made it through any of them before I fell asleep.

We spent lots of time changing in and out of snow clothes. Sadly the snow wasn't great snowman snow so we just made snow angels and played around in the soft powder until it got too cold. 

The girls playing with their Santa toys.  For the most part they loved playing together.  One day Gracie got a little tired of having Addy follow her around everywhere she went so she told Addy that she needed her own alone time! and went and watched a movie by herself. 

It was such a fun and relaxing time with family.  I think my mom spent most of her time on the couch by the fire or in the giant bath tub keeping herself warm!  One of my favorite memories was watching my sister get about 4 feet of air on the snowmobile when we were trying to take them back! Hilarious, hilarious, hilarious. Then after my dad picked us up from the rental place trying to get back to our cabin was quite interesting with all the snow on the road, but we made it.
Well hopefully we will be able to rent another cabin in a few years because that was a great time!!

Christmas 2010

We had such a fun Christmas this year and part of that was because Addy was finally old enough to understand a little bit about Santa bringing presents but not so much that I couldn't buy her presents right in front of her.  I'm sure next year I will have to be much more sneaky!

Playing with the toys from their stockings.  Gracie made sure that Santa had eaten his cookies and milk!

You get some crazy faces when it is early in the morning....

These are two of the cutest girls on the planet!

Getting shots of whip cream for breakfast!

It is tradition in my family to sing for Santa and sit on his lap before we can open any presents from under the tree. 

Addy restin up for opening gifts! I think she was woken up a little early :)

This year, I crocheted hats for everyone in my family.  It was great fun but I still have to finish Jaquels, I ran out of yarn right at the end of making her hat (of course) and it was christmas eve so I didn't feel like running to the store.  Overall, I thought they turned out pretty good. 

Mitch really spoiled me this year...I got a really nice Kitchen Aid, lots of cake pans and cake decorating books because I really want to get into that as my next hobby (anyone want to take a class?), and a ipod dock.  I got him a new watch, jazz tickets, a game called Redneck Life (very fun) and some new shirts and movies.  It was a very good christmas!!

Addy getting ready to open her special present from us...

She was so happy it was just too cute.  I wish we would've taken video of her reaction because she let out a little happy gasp and then started playing.

I think we picked good!  She loves it and still plays with it and makes me food. Her favorite part is when you put the pots and pans on the stove top, they make boiling and sizzling sounds. My dad was impressed because she even tried to crack the eggs!  I think she was watched her own dad make breakfast a time or two!

The rest of the day was spent playing games and watching movies! Then the next morning we packed everything back into the car and headed up to Idaho to spend a little time with Mitch's side of the family before our week in Island Park!

My angel child...or not...

We had such a fun Christmas break, which I will share more of later, but these are a couple of videos my brother took on his phone when we were down visiting my parents. I'll let you decide what you think.

We usually play the wiggle/freeze game right after family prayer to help get the wiggles out for bedtime. It cracks me up because every time she "freezes" her mouth has to be open and arms spread wide.

This was one of those moments that you can't help but laugh because it really was quite funny but at the same time not so funny because she did just hit someone for no reason at all. Hmmm.