Braggin'

I need to brag on my kids for a minute.  I know that this is my blog and I guess I can write whatever I want to, so today I brag.  And you know what, you get to brag on your own kids.  I think it's important.  But I brag on their natural talents today, so not tooting my own horn.  I'm just so sticking proud of my kids, I can't contain it!  So, read on if you dare! :)

Before I get into the thick of the bragging, I thought this picture was just too cute!  This is 2 Sunday's ago before church.  They were just so cute sitting there in their own chairs watching a cartoon before we left.  I tried to catch them watching TV but Nora saw me and looked my way before I snapped the picture.

Also, how cute is this kid?  Before school one day he asked me to take his picture then made this face.

Ok, so here goes. We took Nora skiing on Saturday.  She borrowed some boots from a friend that are better than the ones Reed has (I think he needs an upgrade next year).  We plopped her in Reed's skis and sent her down.  Usually I would start out with the Edgy Wedgy (the rubberband for the front of the skis so they don't do the splits) but I didn't have one so we thought we'd just see how she did and find one if we needed it.  She never once had a problem with her skis coming apart.  Here's how the whole skiing started for her:

My cute little skier girl!

 

Towards the end, getting some tired eyes

She's clapping in this picture cause she loves skiing!

Happy little skier!

Then we progressed to her going further down the hill with someone ready to catch at the bottom:

My cute skier kids!

This is how she ended the day!  All on her own, did great!

She really did spectacular! She never once split her skis, she fell only a handful of times and it was only folding forward at her waist.  She had amazing control of the skis and stayed upright even when the skis turned a bit.  I think she might never need the edgy wedgy.  Although she is sort of clumsy at home, falling and tripping a lot, she was super sure footed skiing.  And she stayed so balanced.  When she wasn't sliding down, she really enjoyed and excelled at just walking around and shuffling on the skis.  She understood the mechanics of it really well.  On top of all of that, she LOVED it.  She smiled and laughed the whole time.  She would say and sign "more" at the bottom of each run.  She tried saying "ski" at the end of that last video.  She stayed out an entire hour!  What an amazing girl!

 Nora in the lodge after skiing.  She asked to put the boots back on and just walk around. The people sitting in the table on the left side of the picture begged me to take a picture and send it to The North Face showing her walking in her boots with the logo on her butt.  I ended up talking to those people awhile, they were very nice. 

Here is my buddy and me snuggling on the couch Saturday night.  I let him stay up and watch TV and he wanted to sit on my lap.  I just love how snuggly my kids are.

So the next day was Reed's day to shine!  Lala and I took Reed by himself up skiing on Sunday morning.  It was a beautiful day as you can see in the pictures.  Sunny but still cold, snow was beautiful.  Reed usually takes around 45 minutes to go up and down.  On the way up, I asked him where he wanted to ski.  Immediately he said "Strawberry!".  It was a perfect day for Strawberry.  We ran into a friend (one of my former ski students) at the top so he tagged along with us.  So over we went.  The kid flew down the runs!  He was a little powder hound, going off into the choppy stuff on the side to get some powder.  He went really fast too.  He did the first run in less than 30 minutes.  At the top, we had to take a pic! 

This is Reed on the first run.  He is the little tiny speck in the middle of the picture.  It was empty that day, so nice to have the runs all to ourselves.  He was flying so fast.  Look at that beautiful view!  I had to buckle my boots for real to catch up with him, I was skiing fast!

Reed skied with Fogg on Saturday and I heard that he was doing advanced things like spinning around (takes lots of edge control to do that).  He is also starting to learn the mountain, know where he wants to go, how to get down.  What a little rockstar!

Here is Reed's stellar video.  Check out the absolutely gorgeous background.  We are LUCKY to live where we do!

What an amazing weekend.  I cannot even tell you the pride that comes from my kids not only being good at skiing, but loving it.  It's an important part of our lives so that they will love it (and hopefully continue to love it) is so awesome.  Ok, I'm done, I promise.

Lala invited Reed to come over and dye Easter eggs (Nora would just make a mess and be frustrated).  So we took the time to run errands with Nora.  Reed made the below (and some more).  He made an egg for everyone.  Fogg's said "Daddy" but mine said "Meg".  Lala said she asked Reed and he specifically said to write Meg not Mommy.  Ok?  London got one too - it said "Londy-Boo".  Fogg ate his egg before I took this picture so it's not in.  I ate some of these eggs in my egg salad sandwich for lunch today ;)

Easter is one of if not my favorite holiday.  I was born on Easter so it holds a special place in my heart.  I love that it's the start of spring and fun colors.  I love that people are happy.  I feels like the beginning of a new year to me.  As a Christian, I love the celebration of resurrection.  It really all makes sense how Jesus rose from grave, as that is how I feel the day enlightens me each year.  Though I love the winter time, I love the feeling of sort of awakening to a new season, a new start.  And of course, the baskets of goodies!  It's just always been such a great day of renewal, reflection, excitement, faith building and happiness.  Looking forward to another one this Sunday!

Been Too Long

I blog stalk other people.  I get kinda upset if they do not update their blog often enough.  I feel like I'm missing out on their lives.  Then I looked at the date of my last posting - it's been like 3 weeks.  Or something like that.  My excuses are dumb, mostly that nothing in particular has happened.  We just go through our normal daily routine (which is jam packed), then go to bed and do it all over again.

The kids do and say things that are just priceless but of course I don't remember them too far past when they were done or said so I don't have much to add there.  Reed is smart, observant and energetic.  Nora is learning more every single day, and has gotten to the point of creating her own language.  She knows what she wants!  

We took Nora skiing two weekends ago.  This is basically all we did with her for 10 minutes.  We pulled her around, she liked that.  Fogg or I stood at the top of the hill and let her slide down for about 10 feet, the other would catch her. She liked that too.  She fell down a few times, she didn't like that.  But it's no different from home when she falls down, she will whine and cry a little.  The boots are too big for her, she fell out of them a few times.  Mostly it was successful.  Reed really wanted to ski with her, he wanted to pull her around.  So cute.

Nora had the most impressive poop blow out I've ever seen from either of my kids.  I really hate to throw away clothing, haven't done it once for either kid.  Massive blowout?  No problem, I will wash it.  This one however, there was no other choice.  I should have even cut the thing off of her.  It was an overnight poop-a-thon, there was no salvaging that thing.  Hard to believe so much came out of such a small little body.

Ok, enough of that, I just had to record that experience, it was crazy!

Nothing much else happening now, though the next several months are jam packed with business trips, birthday's, mother's day, anniversary, personal trips, visitors, Easter, weddings, camping trips, dirt bike trips, baby showers, house projects and tons of other stuff.  So hopefully it won't be so long between posts.  

Cheers~

Lately

Sorry that I don't have anything more interesting to write about today.  It's been busy, but with what, I'm not really sure.  I guess day to day life is just busy!  Fogg has been actually busy the past two weekends, he first went to a search and rescue seminar while I took Reed skiing and Nora played with Nana.  Last weekend, Fogg was on a 3 day dirt bike trip so I was solo parent for a few days.  

I want to share with you some pictures of Pinterest things I've tried.  I got invited to a pinterest challenge during the month of February so I got to spend some time trying new recipes and art projects.  I really enjoyed doing all of these!

 I made a spinach, mushroom, tortellini soup that was really good!

 I tried a new hairstyle that was really NOT good (I took it out immediately after this picture)

 The kids got their names on the walls in their rooms

 I organized all of our hats and gloves in a shoe storage.  I love this cause the mesh lets things dry out but then I can just roll it up when winter is over and store it in the closet.  The kids can also get and put away their own hats.

 I made these yummy spinach, feta, mozzerella, kalamata rolls.  They are like homemade good hot pockets.  I froze what was left and actually had them for lunch today!

 Last but not least, I painted these for mom's living room.  She has a long wall above her couch and wanted an abstract picture.  I made it into two to fit the long wall, and to balance out the color.  This is based from an actual photo.  The dots are metallic gold and will sparkle in certain low lights.  I really love painting and wish that I had more time to do it!

Reed is really into getting his picture taken sometimes.  Him and Nora were playing after bath, he asked me to snap some pictures.  

While Fogg was on his dirt bike trip, I took the kids to the treehouse museum again (love the season pass Christmas gift from Uncle Dale, Aunt Georgette and Cousin Gabby!).  I wanted to take Reed skiing but had no one to watch Nora.  It was a beautiful day.  Reed wanted me to take his picture of him sitting on this fake log.

While Fogg was gone, I also was in the mood for cupcakes.  As you can see, my frosting design came out a little more "poop"-like than I had hoped.  We got a good laugh out of it and they were still delicious!

While importing my pictures today, I found this old picture of London sleeping on the tile floor in our first house.  We had him for maybe a year at this point (it might be around 1 1/2-2 years old in this picture).  Look how young and skinny he was compared to the next picture!  The second was taken this winter (not too long ago).  Still likes to sleep the same way!  Poor old dog!

Well, that's all I got for now! 

Cheers~

Reflections

I am a sentimental kind of person.  Call me sappy, but I love to reflect on the past (good and bad) and remember all those moments that seemed to take forever but are now a flash.  I put pictures all around my house of the kids and our life.  I hate taking down old ones because they remind me of that fun time in the past that is hard to imagine.  Baby pictures of both kids, it's hard to remember them so tiny!  Pictures of trips, regular day to day fun, awesome expressions, memorable moments. 

I just picked some random oldies from the past few years to include below.

Dad holding Reed only a day old.

 Dad holding Nora only a few days old.

 Me holding my baby boy in the hospital - hours old.

 Me holding my baby girl only a few hours old.

 One of my all time favorites - Brother kisses!

 Reed in the hospital snoozing

 Nora in the hospital snoozing.

 Reed was such a happy baby - I love this picture

 Nora is happy too

 This is Halloween 2009 (6 months old).  2 years later, he would have a brand new baby sister

 Baby girl is only 2 weeks old on her first Halloween.

 Reed learned to walk at 14 months.

 Nora walked at 10 months

 Oh, I don't miss this part!  This is pregnant with Reed at 38 weeks.

 This is pregnant with Nora at 38 weeks

Well, that's a nice walk through memory lane huh?  Reminds me a lot of how the kids are so different!  They come from the same parents, yet their whole lives are different.  They are very opposite which is so interesting to me.  Though they do have similar traits, they really are different people.  Reed was a big baby, Nora was small.  He took forever to be born, she was quick.  He was always a good eater and sleeper, she never has been.  He loves fruits and veggies, she loves meat and carbs.  Reed is generally a very happy and compliant little boy.  Nora is a very independent and emotional little girl.  But they are both simply adorable (I know I'm biased - but seriously, can you imagine any cuter little people?!).  They are both cuddly and loving. 

Here is a nice example of their differences.  I wanted to take a picture of them the other morning, Reed happily wanted his picture taken.  Nora was so frustrated that I had to actually take the picture before she could see it that she threw her head back and started crying. 

 

 Made these yummy little gems for Valentine's Day at work.  Yes, Papa Fogg, these are the ones with the chocolate at the bottom, strawberry cake on top.  Yummo!  Sorry you couldn't enjoy one!  I'll make some for you when you come to visit again.

I took the kids to the Treehouse Museum on President's day (the kids daycare was closed so I took the day off to hang with them.  I thought it appropriate to visit the replica Oval Office and say hi to all the past president's.  The kids obviously didn't care much about that, they just wanted to push the buttons.

Well, that's all I got for the day - see ya!

A typical weekend

We went skiing Saturday morning (as we do most weekends).  Reed hasn't been for a couple of weeks so he was excited to get back on the slopes.  He kept saying, "can we go now?" and "let's go skiing now".  He doesn't really like the hanging around part much anymore, or at least yesterday.  Well, he did FOUR runs down from the gondola!  That is so many!  I went skiing Friday morning and only did 3!  He really is getting good and excited about trying new runs.  He did his usual run, then a blue run a couple of times, then he tried a new blue run (wildcat bowl) and it's actually pretty difficult.  He did it three times!  What a trooper and he loved every minute of it.  Anyway, here is some video of him skiing Saturday (this is a different one than was on facebook).

 

We went up again Sunday morning and Reed did a lap and a half (we stopped halfway down the first one and rode the lift back up).  We tried a few new runs for him, fairly difficult blue ones.  He rocked them all!  What a rock star!

Nora and I hung out during two of his runs (Fogg took him once and Lala took him once).  She hung from the stroller and met some new dogs.  She loved the dogs, they were much, much bigger than her.  But she kept petting them and barking at them. 

Here is Reed during his quiet time Sunday afternoon.  He was pretty intent on not taking a nap, in fact, threw a fit about even having quiet time in his room for a 1/2 hour.  So I told him, well, you need to be in your room but you can read books if you want.  1/2 hour later, this is what I found.

We also had dinner with friends on Saturday and Super Bowl party on Sunday night.  Lots of playing for the kidlets!

Well, that was my *very* quick weekend.  Hope yours was great too!