Snowed In

Who needs hundreds of dollars worth of video game equipment? Not us, give us a few kids music toys, and a U2 concert DVD, and it is an instant snow day activity fun for the whole family.
Added bonus, no one gets judged at the end!

Vacation wrap up

We had a lot of fun on vacation up at Deep Creek with the Markhams. Nate also went on a sleigh ride with Meckenzie and Grammy. Jesse went skiing. We looked around many of the little shops around town. It was a good time. Here are just a few more photos to wrap things up.
The house where we stayed had a nice large lawn, with several slopes. There was one day when it got warm, so some of the snow melted, but then the next few days were plenty cold, so there was a nice sheet of ice on top of the snow. The kids loved walking and slipping and sledding all over it. Aunt Cammi was such a great aunt to take them out all of the time!

Jesse dragging Graham around.

Just hanging out in the living room.

Coloring.

The view of McHenry from the mountain.

Wisp Resort where Jesse went skiing.

So that's it. There was our vacation. I'm proud of myself for getting it done less than a month after the fact. Now I can focus on other happenings as they happen.

Gingerbread houses

One night on vacation we made Gingerbread houses with the kids. Heather and I just brought two kits to make the houses with. The kids had a blast. Well, Nate and Meckenzie had a blast. Graham had his first of 3 nosebleeds right as we were getting the decorating under way. He just sat on my lap most of the time. But Aunt Cammi and Grammy were there to help Nate decorate his.

Meckenzie's finished product. Heather got fancy and put put icing icicles on hers.

Nate's finished house.

And of course, the best part was being able to eat them over the next few days!

The smallest church

On the way home from sledding we stopped at the smallest church in the 48 states. Jesse had stopped there last year when he was on a ski trip with the scouts.

This man must be the care taker of the church. It was open when we got there, and he came right afterwards, and then in was closed when Seth and Heather got there maybe 15 min after us.

More Vacation

OK, so while we were on vacation we decided to take everyone sledding. Cammi knew of this place in Blackwater Canyon where they had a great sledding hill, with a tow rope up to the top. As it turns out, the tow rope was not running, since there wasn't enough snow base, so you could trudge up, or they offered rides on a snowmobile up to the top. I don't think anyone went up to the top, it was quite a large hill, but most people rode down from about half way up. Nate decided that he loved it. Graham had a good time when he wanted to, but most of his time was spent clinging to me, and since I was in a delicate condition, and sledding is not on the approved list of second trimester activities, he didn't get a ton of sledding time in. This is what happened when he realized that he was no longer with me...
Nate and Heather and Meckenzie at the bottom of the run.

Graham in a rare moment having fun being pulled around by Grandad.

One of the last runs of the evening. The kids were getting pretty tired of it.

....and there goes Graham too....

Nate riding the little sled.

Grandad pulling Graham and mommy on the sled. (He got a work out!)

Heather and Meckenzie at the bottom of the run.

You can kind of see that Nate has fallen off of the sled at the middle of the run. He still had fun though.

Nate and Jesse on one of the less successful runs. Sometimes you made it to the bottom, and almost ran into the building, sometimes you had trouble making it to the bottom of the hill.

One week

We are one week post paci. He looked for it once one day, just randomly. But he's sleeping fairly normal. It takes him a tiny bit longer to fall asleep, but nothing major. I think we're done with it. (Of course, I still carry one in my diaper bag if I ever have an especially bad emergency, but I'm resisting as hard as I can.)

Next onto potty training... (dun dun dunnnnnn)

Don't expect to see this face anymore

We are getting rid of the paci over here. Not by doing anything specific. Just by getting rid of it. The past three nights we just haven't given it to him. Haven't said anything. Just aren't doing it anymore. He hasn't asked for it, said anything about it, just went to sleep without his paci. So we'll see. I'd like to get rid of the paci before the baby comes. It's hard enough to keep track of one paci, much less two.

Vacation part one

This year we took a week long vacation with part of Jesse's family. We headed up to Deep Creek MD to spend some fun time in the snow. Instead of overloading you, my dear reader with a week's worth of pictures and activities, I'll do this in several posts, lasting who knows how long.
On the day after Christmas, we loaded up Grammy's car up to the top....

And drove off....

Into the sunset.

That first night there were a few presents to be opened. Nate got a set of walkie talkies from Cousin Meckenzie.

Graham got a Thomas pillow. Do you think he liked it?

One of Meckenzie's gifts from Santa that she brought with her was this little cleaning cart. All of the kids loved it, and played with it all week long. Graham especially loved pretending to squirt the spray bottle, complete with sound effects, and sponge cleaning the walls. He's pretty cute.

On Sunday morning, some of us got up and went to the local branch meeting. They have this tiny cute little church, Jesse was sad that we didn't get a picture of it. Their chapel didn't have pews, it just had chairs, it was so small. And they're so used to having strange people walk in their doors, that no one came up and gathered our story. But it got us to church, which due to illness and bad weather, Jesse and the kids hadn't been to church all month. So that was nice to be able to do.

A giveaway

OK, so I have finally updated my much neglected losing my needles blog, and I reached my 100th post. I am having a give away, so head on over there, and leave a comment to be entered to win fabulous prizes!

Christmas Time

OK, I know that Christmas is SO last year, but well, I was on vacation, and did not have access to my pictures the whole week, so better late than never.

Both boys got Cars flashlights this year in their stocking, on account of the fact that they steal any flashlight they can get their hands on, and wear down the batteries so that when I actually need one, I either can't find it, or it has dead batteries.

Jesse loaded some of Nate's favorite songs onto an old MP3 player that we had, and hooked it up to Nate's favorite pair of headphones, and now Nate can listen to his music wherever he wants. As you can see from Nate's face, it was a hit.

Graham however, once he got past his flashlight, he was oblivious to anything in his stocking other than the candy. Good to know for next year. (Or rather this year?)

I found a view finder, I guess it's another one of those toys that's coming back. Nate and Graham think it's great fun.

Is it a spring form pan, or a hat?

Some of their favorite toys that Santa brought them were these Matchbox car suitcase type toys. Nate has a few others of them, but for at least a year now, Nate has seen this Crocodile attack one, and stated that he wanted it. He finally got it this year, and boy was he excited! Graham got a small Mickey Mouse Clubhouse one, and they both go back and forth playing with these, sharing, and just loving them. I do have to admit, the Crocodile one is pretty cool. If you set it up right, the crocodile jumps out and eats the car.

We went to Grandma's house that day, and there were a few more presents there. There was a music set for the boys to share. (The drum was smashed through before we left, but I have since taped it back together, and the boys don't really care it was broken, they love it just the same. Although, right after I fixed it, Graham almost was going to stand on it before I freaked out on him. We'll see how much longer it lasts....Such it is to have two little boys.)

Next Graham opened this vacuum for him, and it was very loved. So much so, that there were a few tears when it was not shared.

And Nate threw such a fit, and he wouldn't be distracted by his remaining present, that it was taken away from him, and it was only like, half an hour later when he finally calmed down, and apologized for being so bratty on Christmas, that he was finally given his final present.

And what a present it was! Nate finally got his guitar! With strings that wiggle and a strap. He plays with it every day. We have already broken one string, but I finally figured out how to fix it so that the tuning peg or whatever it is, was not so loose, so all is well again.

To end the day my mom lit the candles on one of her Christmas pyramids, which the boys have been eying all month at her house, and they were happy to finally see the fan at the top moving.

It was a nice Christmas, especially nice since I got to be at my mom's house, and I always enjoy doing the same things that I did when I was growing up. I even cheated a little and had eggnog, since I really do like it how my mom makes it. I have not died of salmonella poisoning yet.

On Christmas Eve we were able to spend the day with Jesse's family. His younger brother and wife were in town. It was an enjoyable day as well. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, but hopefully I can get some from my Sister in law.