March Arts

So maybe I should post a picture of our "art center" each month - displaying what the kids have made? This will motivate me to do art crafts with my kids and to rotate and display the various ones we do. I'll probably forget by the end of next month, but oh well. I'll start today.

Thirty-One

So today I turned 31. I had a good day. A really good day. I don't care about being 31. I mean I was just 30 yesterday, what's the big deal? If I were 11 yesterday and then suddenly 31 today I think I would be a little bummed. But that's not how it happens, thankfully.

Ben and I had a little 2-hour "birthday date," as Miles called it. We went "window-shopping" (since we didn't buy anything) at some antique stores in our town and then to lunch at a coffee shop. I got the yummiest soup - artichoke with chicken fettuccine. Delicious. It was a fun time together.

After we got home Ben wanted to take the kids out so I could do whatever. I told the kids that for my birthday I was giving them $5 to spend at Target on a toy for themselves. They freaked. Jonas declared, "You are the best mom ever!" It was quite hilarious. So they went out and I finished up icing my cake, doing some dishes, getting online, talking to my dad, and even took a perfect 30-minute nap.

The kids came home and just played for a bit while I started a few "craft" projects - that I may or may not show, depending on how they turn out. Ben made some soft pretzels, again. Dinner was made and eaten (paninis - yummy!), and then presents opened and cake enjoyed.

Oh, how lucky and blessed am I? Beautiful children, lovely flowers, delicious peanut butter rice krispie cake with chocolate frosting, and a wonderful husband behind the camera.

Opening some gifts. I am making a funny face b/c I am being choked by my daughter.

I just love this picture. It makes me happy. I love the flowers - Miles picked them out, I guess. So springy! And I love our new cake pan/lid that Ben found at an antique store (he went back out later in the afternoon to another store remembering he'd seen one there). We didn't have anything for our cakes and I love what he found. Perfect.

A really, really good day. Surrounded by a really, really great family.

Emmy

SUGAR

& SPICE

(We all can't wait to have another little girl around the house!)

Grandma and Grandpa Came

Here are some (okay, probably a lot) of random pictures showing the adventures we had with grandma and grandpa. Our plans to go skiing on Saturday were derailed when a storm came through and closed down the mountain pass we had to travel on - in addition to it being really cold on Saturday. So we just did the stuff we do in life and got to enjoy them a little more because we had the grandparents around. Lucky are we all.

Ben was asked to make something wooden by Miles. So here are the boys in their workshop, i.e. garage. 2 wood shark-fish is what Ben carved.

A favorite past-time at our home was caught on camera by grandma and grandpa.

A Sunday walk - it was lovely that day and the next! (Today it is snowing.) Well, let me correct myself. The weather was lovely. My children weren't. Can I blame it on colds? Rather than parenting?

Tantrum #3402. Grandma and Grandpa got to know Jonas a little better on this trip.

Wilson is still a part of this family. He loves Grandma Max, in fact, and was even treated to a couple walks.

Sunday afternoon we made Ben's favorite: soft pretzels - Scandinavian-style. Which mainly means adding cardamom.

Here they are rising. Emmy patiently waiting. . .

Monday we enjoyed the weather. Miles created his own world in the sandbox.

Jonas biked around some.

Emmy enjoyed riding her "brand new bike" as she calls it. (Ben found it on his ride home from work on Thursday by a "free" sign. Our perfect price.)

We also went to the library. Emmy was very intent on her coloring.

The boys and the dimple enjoying a book.

Grandma reading them one of their favorite books, "If I built a car."

Miles helping grandma around the library.

The family reading some literally "big books."

The end of another great time with grandparents (and parents and in-laws). Thanks for coming!

Ultrasound Day

Pine Wood Derby

Our ward had a fundraiser dinner and derby last Friday night. Anyone could make one and so I asked Ben to make a VW Bug one (just like his car). And, in my most humblest of wives' opinions, I think Ben rocked it. I loved how it turned out. And the bug didn't race too poorly either - nor too greatly. But it made it to the finish line, won our first 2 races - then it lost. It even fish-tailed some and that was pretty sweet.

Here are some pictures:

The derby bug. Yes, pasting pictures of our kids on our derbies is becoming a tradition, I guess.

Pretty great, I think!

Ben had to drill out a ton of the car to make weight. A ton. It's practically a shell now. But he did get it down to the necessary 5 ounces.

Miles got to take it up the first time to race. Jonas did the second time. That was sure a special and exciting thing for them to each do. They were really excited and proud about it.

There she goes! Vroooom.

Fun, fun, fun.

Happy Spring

a little of this (winter) and a little of that (spring):

Miles' 2009-10 school pictures

Helmets - Good for Anywhere and Everywhere

So Ben got some helmets for the 2 boys - ski helmets. Jonas is in love. He wore his for 2 days - at weird and various times. Ben found his old helmet again and fell in love with it again. And apparently fell in love with placing it upon me at weird and various times.

Check it out:

Making cookies on Sunday (thank-you cookies for our neighbor/ski-instructor for the boys).

Bedtime.

Storytime.

Dinner.

Jonas also wore his walking Miles to school, playing the backyard, etc. Miles wore his, too - just not as much.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Skiing!

We went skiing yesterday at the perfect little family-oriented resort in Silverton. Perfect place. Oh so much better than Telluride! There were tons of families there with little, little kids - including even babies. We even saw our neighbors up there. It was great.

There is one ski-lift and about 4 or so runs to come down - short runs, mind you. But perfect for novice skiers.

We had a bit of a rough start with Miles. Okay, a bit is an understatement. By the time Miles came down the mountain on his first run with Ben he (Miles) was done. As Ben took off to take Jonas up the mountain, I tried to help/talk to Miles. Then I was done - with him. I couldn't talk to him because he was being such a. . . brat.

Ben took Jonas down a couple of times and he did okay. Then we breaked for lunch. A total of 3 runs before lunch (The resort doesn't open until 11).

After lunch Ben took Emmy down; she absolutely loved it! Of course Ben just stuck her between his legs and held on to her and then skied down - going on jumps and all sorts of fun stuff. The last little bit Emmy got to do on her "own." She really had a great time.

Luckily our neighbors were there. They saved the day! First of all they gave us some gear to help the kids out - some little straps to go on the tips to keep the skis together. As well as a harness. The harness was absolutely key for Miles. As well as Greg (the dad) - he was key, too. Greg helped out our kids tremendously. By the time he had gotten down the mountain with Jonas, Jonas was totally skiing on his own (Jonas used the harness thing once with Ben). It was awesome! Jonas would do the jump and all sorts of fun and scary things for his mom to watch. The first time Jonas attempted the jump he went up it. . . then back down the slope. He didn't have quite the momentum to get all the way up and over. It was hilarious. (The jump was a long, big one.)

Miles went up with Greg many times. Miles used the harness each and every time. He wanted to. I'm not sure how he would have done without it. Probably okay. And probably very slow and cautious. Because Miles is Miles and is always so true to himself. Ben told me that every time they got on the chairlift Miles had to 1. Pull down the bar as soon as possible and 2. Find out the number of the lift they were on.

So after lunch we made probably a little more than a dozen runs - not each kid, but Ben and a kid. Greg took up the boys many times, too. Greg was also great in relaying to Ben that it was actually another neighbor/friend that was successful in teaching his kid to ski. So someday it will be Ben's turn to help another child learn to ski. :)

And what was I doing for the 4 hours the kids were skiing? Well, only 1 (or 2 when Greg helped out) kid could go up at a time with Ben. So I was pushing the other kids around, pulling them up little hills to push them down on their skis, or even carrying them up a small hill to practice/play. Basically just trying to keep them entertained while waiting for their turn.

So a rough start but a great finish.

(side-note on pictures: it was so bright out there I couldn't see in my viewfinder what I was taking. At all. So I didn't get many great action shots on the slopes or jumps. Only after did Ben remind me I could have looked through the eye-hole thing. You know that thing you used in the olden days? Duh.)

Looking good and still happy - this was before his first run.

After lunch. Feeling the confidence with his harness.

Jonas looking pretty great (as well as his sis in the background).

There is Jonas and Greg. Not the best of pictures, but it does show Jonas on his own, shows helpful Greg, and shows the jump behind them.

Such a cutie.

I don't know why, but Ben really wanted me to put this picture in too. He said Emmy would just talk the entire time when they were skiing down the mountain. She'd look up at him and just chat. Oh we love her.

Ha, I just love how Emmy is skiing! All chilled and leaning back. Too funny.

Going on the jump with dad!

Skiing brothers.

The end of the day. They were all a little bummed after their last run. But it was sweetened by some stranger who gave us the last of their birthday-party cake. The kids were in heaven. The perfect ending to a good day on the slopes - when you are 6, 4 or 2 years old.