Christmas Eve

As promised it has been a white Christmas.  Because the snow looked so enticing we took the whole family Nordic Skiing on the Eagle Ranch Golf Course.  We even dragged out Grandpa and Grandma, although Grandma stuck to hiking while we skied around.  Lilly has really taken to it and skis right along with a smile and a giggle.  Davis is getting there, although not as much giggling or smiling.  He is working on his stamina!

 



 

Davis Skiing

Davis had his first ski day at Vail this season.  It was the full experience!  We rode the Lionshead gondola up and took a few laps on chair 15, the beginner area.  New this year was no harness for Davis.  We worked on pizza wedge to stop and french fries to go.  Here is a picture diary of our day...

 Riding up on the gondola.

D and mommy riding up the gondola.

Action shot of D doing the pizza wedge.

Quick clip of Davis in action.

 Riding up the chairlift.

Of course we needed a hot chocolate break.

Davis carrying his skis to ride the gondola back down.  We finished up our day by having what?  Of course, we had pizza and french fries at the Blue Moose.

Franti

Franti came to Vail for Snowdaze!  I was like a little kid...I was so excited.  He played for close to three hours and was extremely entertaining!  The best part was that it snowed the entire time and really hasn't stopped.  Winter has arrived...who knows maybe Franti brought it with him:)

Santa on Skates?

Last weekend we went to the Eagle Winter Festival at the ice rink.  Lilly immediately found a friend and we only saw her in passing.  Davis got a little more comfortable on skates and eventually skated on his own, without the use of the 'red thing'.  The best part was Davis got to skate with Santa.  (Lilly wouldn't go near him!)

And it begins...

As soon as we got home from our Oklahoma Thanksgiving vacation, we rolled right into Christmas.  We decorated the house, got out the advent calendar, and put up the tree.  Here is the tree right after the kids decorated it.

Independence

Lilly has been working on being independent lately.  She has done a super job of cleaning up her room without being asked, making herself meals, putting her clean clothes away, etc...  Well, her little brother mimics her every move.  So the other day Lilly made herself a bagel for lunch.  Then her little brother did the same.  Here is his version of a bagel with some butter.  Look closely at the butter...

It might be hard to see, but the butter is about one inch high!  In order to prevent my 3 year old from having a coronary the next day, I put ALL but a millimeter back into the butter tub and worked on some butter training with D. 

Family

Here are a few lingering family photos from Thanksgiving...

 A photo after turkey...full and happy!  Although, the turkey made Davis a little mischievous as you can tell by his karate chopping legs in the photo.

A stop at a park before we got to Sayre.

Gobble Gobble

We had a very thankful Thanksgiving!  We traveled to Oklahoma where many of the Place, Brower, and McBride Families converged at Grandma Linda's house in Sayre.  We had a lot of fun, good food, and enjoyed our time with our family!   

 Lilly, Olivia and Davis helping Grandma Kelly make her famous homemade noodles. 

 Davis rolling out his little piece of dough.

A good cook is a messy cook.

We spent part of an afternoon visiting Grandpa Bil's grave.  A festive Christmas arrangement was put in his headstone along with some holiday lights.  The kids got into the decorating and found blown petals on the ground and made their own arrangement for Grandpa Bil. 

Davis just informed me that he loves this picture and he was so happy to visit Grandpa Bil

Grandma Linda had a fun little closet full of toys.  It was the perfect spot to make forts, build Lego houses, and be a kid.  Here are Lilly and Davis playing with cousin Christopher, also 6 years old.

It was near 80 degrees on Thanksgiving day, so there was plenty of outside time.  Here are Gabriel, Christopher, and Davis playing Hangerball...a pretty fun game!  

The girls stop to pose for a photo while playing Hangerball.  Jenn, Lilly, and Olivia.

Sayre has a neat City Park, so we spent some time there too.  Here is Davis digging in the dirt. 

Olivia, Gabriel, Lilly, and Davis stop playing for a moment to snap a photo.  

Lilly snuggling with Aunt Jenn.

Snowy Day

Yeah...we finally have snow, and lots of it!  We woke up on Saturday morning to about half a foot of snow in our yard and Sunday morning brought about another 8 inches.  After digging out all of our snow clothes from various closets, we headed outside for some snow angels, snowball fights, and best of all, a snowgirl.  Here are the kids with Snowflake, their snowgirl. 

Happy Halloween

BOO!  Halloween was a lot of fun!  Both kids had their school parties and then we trick or treated around the block.  There were a few spooky houses that were almost to scary to visit, and one or two house were passed up altogether!  Davis dressed up as a Policeman and while out trick or treating a Policeman was patroling the neighbohood and stopped to talk to Davis.  We had fun, but the kids tuckered out pretty quickly, so it was a relatively early and mellow evening. 

 The Policeman

 The Magic Butterfly

  Trick or Treat

Playing Hookie

Davis' very best friend, Mackenzie, asked him to play hookie from school today to go to the zoo and aquarium in Denver.  Uncle Rick picked Davis up first thing this morning and spent the entire day supervising a pretty long date!  Aunt Kimmers wants to pick out the china patterns now!  Thanks Uncle Rick and Mack for a fun day in the city!   

 It might not be a horse drawn carraige, but the Red Radio Flier did the trick navigating the zoo. 

Look at these big trout...I bet daddy would like to catch one of these guys!

Hawk Honor

Friday was our school's Hawk Honor Assembly where individual kids were recognized for various character traits.  Lilly was awarded a Hawk Honor for growth, which is pretty impressive since we have only been in school for a few weeks.  Her teacher said she has grown in writing by working through the hard parts and taking more risks.  We are so proud of the student that Lilly has become!

Hard to see..but that little girl in the front of the crowd is Lilly receiving her Hawk Honor in front of the whole elementary school and the parents.   

Here is Lilly getting high 5s from her classmates and friends. 

Fall Weekend

A few weekends ago we spent our Saturday morning cleaning up the river as a part of the Eagle River Cleanup Day.  The kids found lots of interesting items.  Lilly is holding a Boy Scout Manual from 1960.  Our group also found a wheelbarrow, a tire, and a milk crate...quite unique for the side of the river! 

The following weekend we went to 4 Eagle Ranch for Wild West Days, which is like a carnival fundraiser for the county schools.  We played lots of games and took a wagon ride.  Here are Mackenzie, Davis, and Lilly riding a pretend horsey.  Giddety Up!

Happy Birthday Buddy

Today is Buddy's 12th birthday.  Hard to believe he is 12 years old.  Just last weekend we were camping with Buddy and took him for an evening walk.  He had so much pep in his walk around the campsite someone asked us how old our 'puppy' was.  Here's to being young at heart! 

Tired

The day after camping causes extreme fatigue...well for most of us! 

Camping

Over Labor Day weekend we packed up our camper and joined some friends for a camping excursion near Eagle.  The kids were filthy the entire time...I am talking totally filthy!  Buddy even got filthy!  Which means everyone had fun.  Our friends even brought a 4-wheeler for the kids.  Great way to say good bye to summer!

 All the kids playing in the mud.  They were making hot tubs and pools for the water striders.

 Lilly and Quincy take a break to pose for a photo. 

Davis stayed in his pajamas that day until 5:30 in the evening when he finally got so dirty and wet he had to put on clean clothes. 

 Even Buddy got in the mud!

   Jeff giving 4 wheeler rides

Bush Gardens

This post is a little late, but I just figured out how to save and attach these pictures.  While in the east coast this summer we got to spend some time with Grandma Jill and Papa Larry in Virginia.  Grandma Jill took us all to Bush Gardens.  The kids really had the time of their lives!  Davis and Lilly both rode a junior roller coaster.  I was amazed at their bravado.  Not one tear, whine, or complaint.  In fact when we got off the roller coaster both kids ran back in line to do it again!  Thanks for a fun day Grandma Jill!

 Davis and Daddy are in the back car and Mommy and Lilly are in front of them ready for departure.

 There we all are in the last two cars with our hands in the air.  Yahoo!

Davis on a swing ride.

 Grandma Jill and Davis

Grandma Jill and Lilly

 At lunch we were treated to a fairy tale performance.  Here are the kids posing with the good witches and a prince, of course. 

 Here is Davis with the Hansel and Gretel and the naughty witch who wanted to eat them, which is why Lilly wouldn't pose for the picture!

Lilly and Davis got to pet one of the newest Budweiser horses.  He was only 7 weeks old and only a few people got to pet him...lucky kids!