Sunday, December 22, 2013

Tis the Season

Here's the tree!  We have a few things that seem to be becoming traditions for the season.  Here they are! :)

And, the elves..thanks to Aunt Tina for hooking us up with these at the end of last season.  Ruby's elf was named Didi Sprinkles and Owen's is named Racecar Cuddly.


Here is Ruby and Owen shopping for ginger bread cookie decorations.

These two continue to LOVE to bake, cook, or anything in the kitchen.  


Oh man, who is the lucky recipient of this sugar bomb.

We went to see the Nutcracker.  They made it through almost the whole thing, loved it, and acted it out for days afterwards.

The advent calendar.

Ruby and Owen were very involved in shopping for gifts, wrapping gifts, they helped make playdough for our friends, and delivered the packages too.

Zoo lights!


...with Team Kirby.  This santa was awesome.  And, Ruby and Owen actually told him something they wanted.  We did not prep for that nor have we ever really talked about doing that with Santa.  Luckily it was just one small thing each....which then we had to get. It is pretty fun actually- starting a new tradition.  One small gift wrapped in different paper from Santa.  The rest are from mom and dad, or whomever else.  Pictures to come. 

Tis the season!


Friday, December 20, 2013

Almost 3













These are Chip's tips peeking out from behind a Canyons map on the lift. We are the proud owners of season's passes (kids too!) this year.


Alright, this is going to be long and verbose.  Just have to get this stuff in.  I have been meaning to record more of the hilarious things they say and do, but haven't, so some of these quotes are from months and months ago.


Owen-

Owen's first day of skiing this season.  He gave the experience two thumbs up!

Eating has wavered for us over the past few months. We don't do smoothies anymore, sometimes we barely eat anything at a meal...ya know...pretty normal toddler stuff.  Overall, I think they still eat pretty well.  At any rate, when I do hit it right, Owen says, "Super yummy, mom."  It is amazing how good those words feel.

If Chip and I, or whomever, are talking too quickly or softly and they can't hear they say, "What are you talking about?"  Their little ears are always listening.

Not sure where this one came from, but at random times, Owen will look at you and say, "Whatcha gonna do, he haw!!"  It has a sort of tune and attitude.  Funny.

Classic.

This is my favorite for SURE.  So, around thanksgiving time at meals Owen started saying, "We need to do a thankful circle."...which is where we all hold hands and take turns saying things we are grateful for.  We have said gratitudes before meals (or, let's be honest, during or after- I am just not that organized to start a meal together most of the time) before, but very sporadically and not recently.  It seemed so honest and spontaneous on Owen's part, it made me cry the first time. Now, the things they say make me cry.  So, we don't do it every time, and still, it is usually one of them (mostly Owen) who initiates it, but we have continued the routine.  Owen says things like he is "thankful for his family", "his dog", "that mom made dinner", "that we have food", "that he (I) am sitting next to mom (or dad)".  I am not kidding you- he came up with all those things on his own!  What a sweet heart he has.

Family photo of our first (of many hopefully) day out.


Ruby is so cute too- she says, "I am thank you for...". She says many similar things to Owen.  Owen always goes first.  In fact, he will throw a FIT if he doesn't get to go first or someone interrupts him. Anyway, super fun routine.

Imaginary friends- we've got em.  Well, mostly one.  Her name is Didi, she is friends (thank god!) with both Ruby and Owen, she sleeps over and plays at our house ALL the time.  I know about her mom, her likes and dislikes, we made a Christmas gift for her, it goes on and on.

Ruby-
Ruby liked her first day out too!  

Ruby has really awesome verbal skills in general.  In fact, sometimes she doesn't stop talking...I mean seriously, a story or song will go on, and on, and on.  Half the time I don't even know what she is talking about because I got distracted so I just nod and smile.  However, she has this glitch in her skills where she doesn't understand how to use "she" and "her" in the appropriate spot.  She mostly only uses "she".  So, sentences come out like, " I will dress she up.", "I like to play with she."  It cracks me up. 


Magic carpet

Ruby and Owen each have a snowglobe that goes in their room during the holidays.  Each night, after we tuck them in, they ask us to turn on the snowglobe (cause they play music when you wind them up), only Ruby says, "Can you turn on my snow blower?".


Ruby loves checking out ski magazines.  This is a good sign, right?


Ruby LOVES her friends, and started a few months ago, calling all of her girlfriends, "her girls".  She'll say things like, "my girl, Greta and I are going to..."  And then they turned into her "Super Girls".  She reminds me often that she has lots of super girls, and that she and her super girls can do all kinds of special things.  It is so cute.


















Two friends playing in the snow.

Ruby must have been scratching her head or something and I asked her what she was doing.  She responded, "I was wiping my brain, cause it was itching."  Ha!

Speaking of brains, and speaking of "speaking of", Ruby and Owen will both say, "Speaking of...potty, I have to go pee", or whatever.  It sounds so mature.  And then, what I was going to say is, speaking of brains, it is SO fun to feel like you can literally just watch the connections misfiring and then eventually connecting.  So, Ruby for a while would say, "When Owen becomes a girl, will he....insert question?" and both of them will say, "Mom, when you are a kid will you...insert question?"

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Thaksgiving

Aunt Mindy came to visit for Thanksgiving.  Ruby and Owen LOVE their time with Mindy as indicated by all the smiles and hilarious pictures we have here.  Dress up is one of Ruby and Owen's favorite activities.  Aunt Mindy was game. :)

Aunt Mindy is also very good at selfies.  I love how accurately Owen (and Ruby later- you'll see) are able to imitate her faces. 

Ruby wears Mindy's sunnies on the way to sledding.


When there isn't enough snow to go skiing on Thanksgiving, we like to go sledding to work up an appetite!

Almost the whole dinner crew joined us.  Eli and I were sled buddies. :)

A group shot from the top minus....

the photographer and her sled partner in crime.

Portraits of all of us after the big run.  



Time to eat!!!  Dinner was at our house.  15 people (8 adults and 7 kids). Lots of goofing around, good conversation, cuddling, and....

Delicious food!!!

We enjoyed the day after Thanksgiving continuing the goofing around and starting the decorating for Christmas.

Fake tree, erected in 2 minutes.  We both said we thought we would never be fake tree people, but it is now agreed- fake tree is the bomb!

Thursday, November 28, 2013

November Stuff

It is fitting, since I got to start October with a girl's trip, that Chip got to start November with a boy's trip, to San Diego.  Chris, Stephan, and Jay drove southwest until they hit the shore.  Michael J, his lovely wife, and a few other friends of friends joined them there for surfing, camping, and lots of fish taco eating.  I wasn't there, but it sounded like a good time, and is also, something that will happen again. :)





 Below is the only decent photo we have of our first annual "It Takes a Village" progressive party.  Eight or nine families were involved.  Four homes hosted a part of the meal, and the others supported in either food or drink contributions.  We walked a few miles around the neighborhood, making our way from appetizers at Renae's (including a scavenger hunt!), soup at the Kirby's after a jaunt down the Moose Moss, pulled pork at our house, and then dessert at Chuck and Rebecca's.  It was a great celebration of community and something we are very grateful for. 

.
Wheeler Farm farmer's market.  We caught the last one!  Just in time to stock up on our grassfed beef for the winter, some final squash, and get in a pony ride

It was a glorious day!




And then it snowed and got cold.  


We love to hide and be obscured. :)

Duross'- both Summit and Wilson clans, and Kirby's made it to a performance in downtown SLC.  This was Ruby and Owen's first time seeing anything on the stage indoors.  They LOVED it.  It was called Ring Around the Rose at the Rose Wagner Theater.  It is a monthly event.  We got to see dancing, but sometimes it is acting, magic, live music, etc.  And, all geared for kids.  Lunch out in the big city afterwards was a nice compliment to our cultured morning. 


The kids loved playing on the bike racks.  Graham and Ruby were particularly cooperative with the photographer.