February- part 1

So much fun in February.  First, there was Valentine's Day.  Ruby was all dressed for the occasion. Owen was just happy to be celebrating love as you can see in his photo below.  

Then there was story time.  We love to sing songs (especially when it includes shaking bells), we love ginormous teddy bears, and little dolls, and we also love hangin with other little people.

Free concerts at the Canyons Resort all spring (which apparently according to them starts in February- who knew?!).  So, we headed up for some tunes outside in the snow and ended up enjoying our TWO rides in the air more than anything.  First, you ride the open air Cabriolet from the parking lot up to the resort which gives you a nice view...and then we scored tickets from a really generous security guy to ride the enclosed gondola further up the hill to a midmountain lodge where we had a snack and played in the snow for a bit.

The first ride

The gondola

It was President's Day weekend- busy- lots of skiers- Owen was very interested.

Open Gym at the Black Diamond.  Foam pit was a highlight.  Apparently, so were the mirrors.  This picture above is Owen kissing himself in the mirror.  HI-larious.

" I wear my sunglasses at night...so I can (so I can) see".  Owen was channeling that song as he showed off his new sun glasses the other night.  The boy really is not lacking in self esteem. :)

Niether is this girl.  She don't care if her naked little rolly polly heiny is hangin out her sweatshirt.  She will climb right up to the counter and preach her words to the choir.  Which, on a side note, she has a lot of these days.  About a month ago, she started trying to repeat lots of things.  We can make out at least a few new words each day.  

Pinterest- my new love (thanks, Hope!), inspired the dino sweatshirt that I put the fins on above, and this mess-free finger painting idea.  Pretty ingenious.  

"Owen, you missed a perfect opportunity to make orange.  Move over and let me show you."

In honor of Valentine's day and a whole month of love really-

"We loved with a love that was more than love."  

-edgar allen poe

Inside and Out

Oma is in town again!  We are SO glad.  She has been amazing already- playing with the kids, making baby food, washing the never ending pile of dishes, walking with the kids and I, changing diapers, covering nap times so we can get out, helping us run errands, make it to story time, and go swimming!  The list is endless. We love having Oma here, that is for sure. :)

Taking pictures is harder these days.  This is the best recent family photo we could manage.

 So, inside time....there is a lot more of it in the winter.  Sometimes I don't mind, especially when Chip gets all motivated to whip up stuff like this for breakfast.  SO stinkin good...I am craving them right now.

Here are some other things we do inside (circle from right to left)- playing with our ever growing pile of toys, learning to walk, unrolling all of the toilet paper in the bathroom while mom is probably trying to get dishes done or something, reading (Eric Carle's Head to Toe has been a favorite- they can act out most of it as you read- really fun), and...playing with balloons!  Who doesn't love to spend some inside time doing that ever so often?!  And finally, a little video of another inside activity...the evolution of the curtain play!  Enjoy!

We do get outside too...and here is how it looks.  Mostly, Ruby and Owen like to eat snow, lots and lots of snow, and sled (pics of that to come).

 Also, we made a trip to Wheeler Farm.  Awesome.  So many animals to check out and touch.  And, I can't believe that Chip got the video of what you are about to see.  We found some bread on the ground near the duck pond.  It seemed like the obvious thing to do was to feed it to the ducks.  I guess I have never lived close to, or on, a farm, because I had no idea how bossy and frightening geese are.  They tried to steal all the bread from the ducks and then engaged them in a full on ambush of us humans!  Man, I will think twice about sharing the butts of my bread with these feathered "friends " again.  

Winter...you there??

We have been waiting patiently for winter to show up.  Mother nature is really testing us.  We have had snow on the ground since November (it has been cold), but hardly any accumulation.  Luckily there has been enough for us to get out skiing with the kiddos once on cross country skis, and enough for the kids to be entertained by a few snow blowing episodes.  

Walks keep us sain.  We get out twice a day ususally- morning and evening...even when it is 15 degrees (that is my cutoff for cold) or snowing.

I am a slave driver.  Got these little ones cleaning already!  No- really they just have some sort of infatuation with cleaning tools.  The dust pan and brush occupied at least 30 minutes.

IKEA makes the BEST stools for kids.  We have two of the this same stool- they use them to play up at the counter and to brush their teeth in the bathroom.  The pictures hardly do this tooth-health routine justice.  I will post video sometime soon. So stinkin cute.

Just a little cuddle time with daddy.  I mean, since winter won't show up, why not read about Surfing.

A little pouty lip cause mom took the binkie away.

And, Owen joins the fun!

"In the Midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer"  

-Albert Camus