tubing!

Thursday night we headed back to the mountain for some tubing! 


We had fun playing in the snow before the tubing started.

The boys LOVED it!

 

Tubing was so much fun!

hitting the slopes

Thursday morning we hit the slopes bright and early.  The boys were excited to ski for the first time!

We were ignorantly excited about teaching them. We learned our lesson and next time we will definitely put them in ski school!  It's hard to teach little kids to ski down a slippery mountain!

All ready to ski!

Eric taught Ethan while I worked with Austin. 

Love his tiny little skis!

The boys were very happy they got to try skiing for the first time and are looking forward to doing it again. 

 

Then the fun began!  Leon came to pick up the boys and Eric and I had a date on the slopes! 

We rode the ski lift to the top of the mountain and enjoyed lunch while it snowed. 

Since Eric and I got engaged on a mountain not far from this one 9 years ago, it was so nice to experience it again together.

My sweet husband lured me to the top of the mountain by claiming there were greens all the way down.  When we got to the top, a big sign stated "NO easy way down!".  Eric patiently guided me down the blues and I only fell a handful of times. 

When I fell and slid 15 feet down the steep mountain in this crazy position, all we could do was laugh.  Laugh, and grab a camera!

Our trip begins

Last Tuesday we stuffed our car full of all the warm clothes we own and headed north to celebrate a white Christmas with Eric's family.  We traveled 8 hours to Amarillo and spent the night there to break up the trip a little.  Wednesday morning we caravaned the remaining 5 hours to Red River, New Mexico with Eric's parents and sister's family.  The kids passed the time by watching movie after movie, while I played Angry Birds and Eric drove the majority of the trip.  We only heard "are we there yet?" and "how much more minutes?" 44 times the entire trip.

When it was my turn to drive it suddenly turned  F O G G Y! 

We passed one spot on our journey that had herds of giant deer. I was so happy to be able to stop the car and snap this picture and the kids were excited to see "reindeer". This picture makes the fog worth it to me. 

This picture does not do these awesome mountains justice.  They were spectacular.

We were pretty excited when we looked out and saw this for the first time on our trip...

Snow!

Everyone was excited when we arrived to our condo that afternoon.  It had four floors and the kids had their own loft on the top floor. We were all excited to see what adventures we would find in Red River!

To be continued...

Our early Christmas

 

 Monday we celebrated Christmas with my family at my parents' house. It was a short visit, but it was so good to spend some time together!

My dad thought Lauren's hair was a little too wild, so he brushed it with some Brylcreem. The picture on the left shows her greasy, slick hair and the picture on the right shows it a couple minutes later.  Needless to say, there will be no more Brylcreem in her future! 

To say Austin liked his present would be an understatement.  We are so thankful we got to spend an early Christmas with my family!

Christmas parties!

Austin was Joseph at his preschool's Christmas program.  They sang the cutest songs and he made us so proud of him!  Isn't giant baby Jesus so cute?

Austin loved singing Jingle Bells and ringing his bell.  After the program, he had a party to celebrate Jesus' birth with his friends.  It was fun!

Ethan had a Christmas party for his kindergarten class too.  The party was 2 and a half hours long.  The kids went from classroom to classroom doing different activities in each room. 

They colored, made wreath pins out of beads, watched a movie, listened to a book and decorated sugar cookies.

Ethan and his best friend Vivian had fun doing sticker art together.  It was a fun party and a great way to get ready for Christmas break!

Christmas card rejects 2010

Monday Eric and I took the kids up to the trees with hopes of getting one decent picture of all three kids for our Christmas card.  We were not successful.  This is the best picture we got of all three of them and I cut their heads off.  Ugh!

The boys were happy and enjoying watching the cute squirrel jumping around on the tree behind me as I took this picture.  They were all smiles until...

the squirrel jumped out of the tree and ran into the street where a car was driving by.  The squirrel narrowly escaped, but the boys couldn't see that he was safe. They were devastated until we assured them Mr. Squirrel was safely across the street and not squished in the middle of the road.  I love my compassionate little guys!

Our next attempt will include all five of us.  Yikes!

smashing pumpkins

Saturday we went to the first annual Pumpkin Chunk at Erica and Ray's house. Being the pumpkin lover that she is, Erica decided dropping her pumpkins off the roof was the most fitting way to dispose of them.  It was so much fun!  It was very cool to see the pumpkins fall to the ground with a big thud. 

The kids LOVED every second of the chunk.  They drew bullseyes on the driveway, counted down for Ray and loved throwing pumpkin chunks around the driveway.

We had a great time at the Pumpkin Chunk and are looking forward to next year!

Max Ryan

After much anticipation,Sammy, Chris and Jacob now added baby Max to their family!

  He is a gorgeous baby and the sweetest little thing!

Sammy and I had fun taking pictures of her adorable little man around her house.

She even let me stick him in Jacob's dump truck outside!

He is a dream baby and I can't wait to snuggle him again! Congrats Sammy, Chris and Jacob!

Ethan's Art Show

The other day Ethan came up with the idea to throw an art show.  He talked about it all week and planned out all the details.  Tuesday we invited my parents and some friends over for the show.

When our guests arrived, Ethan welcomed everyone and showed them his art work.  Austin was in charge of making sure everyone had a drink and a cookie.

Here are just a few of his creations.  His pictures are always very detailed and he can tell you all about each thing he drew.  He is quite the little artist and it amazes me how he can draw a detailed picture from memory.  I have to look at a picture of a sea horse to remember how in the world to draw it!

Ethan's Thanksgiving Day picture was hands down the crowd favorite.

Ethan's first art show was a huge success and I'm sure there are many more in his future.  Austin is already planning his art show now!