Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

We took the kids to the mountains to sled yesterday. Overall, we had a really nice time, but it was kind of a long, wild day!

As soon as we paid our $15 entrance fee for the National Park, we needed to chain up. The roads leading up to the National Park entrance were bare/wet, but IMMEDIATELY upon entering the park, they were covered in ice. GORGEOUS drive, and the van with chains did FANTASTICALLY!!


We got about 2/3 of the way there and came across a temporary road closure because they were plowing (WHY OH WHY didn't I think to take a picture!?! LOL). When we rounded the corner and saw the gate closed with flashing lights all over it, my heart sunk and I thought our sledding attempts had been foiled for the second year in a row, but then we saw a sign saying it was for road clearing and I was happy. Everyone lined up in a long line, and when the line got too long, the ranger had us all pull up into the parking lot of the Inn nearby, and when the parking lot got full, cars started lining up again. We waited for about an hour and a half, after already being in the car for almost two hours. We'd packed lunch and snacks and drinks, so entertained ourselves with food and a DVD (thank goodness for DVD players built into vehicles, that's all I have to say!!)

Here's the boys waiting while Daddy's off checking to see if the road was truly opening at noon or not.


And here's Emily and Uncle Corey (and Connor!) waiting


And here are some of the MILLIONS of ice cicles hanging off the Inn we were parked near. Being as we live in a place where it really doesn't get snowy, or even very icy, I was really impressed with how PRETTY all those ice cicles looked!


After the road opened, it took about another hour of driving before we got up to the sledding area. It was just starting to REALLY be snowy and windy as we were unloading from the car and getting all bundled up. Jared walked right over and climbed up a snow drift off to the side, and then sunk down up to his thighs. LOL


This is what Connor thought of the snow being blown into his face (felt more like hail than snow, but WASN'T hail...weirdest snow I've ever seen, though I haven't seen much, truthfully!)


We knew we were "in trouble" as soon as we walked across the parking lot and saw what the sledding area looked like. First, you had to climb up about a four foot high SLIGHTLY sloped "cliff" to get up to the more main area (no stairs, no rope railing to help pull yourself along with). So immediately we were struggling to get the three kids UP. THEN, we saw there were only two sled runs and the lines were getting longer by the second. We were about 2/3 through the line when I took this picture


Dan's blocking the whipping winds and snow from Connor's face while they wait in line, so he's temporarily not screaming his head off


Uncle Corey and Jared standing in line to sled


Emily and I both squinting to keep our eyes from being sandblasted by snow (snowblasted?) and wind


Uncle Corey took Jared down, then Emily and I went down, and then Dan and Connor came down, so I only have a pic of Dan and Connor


The snow got even thicker and the windy was really circling around (so you couldn't turn your back to it because it was kind of just coming from everywhere). Low clouds rolled through and it got really dark and hazy




Dan opted not to stand in line again with Connor, and Jared decided to stay with Dan, so Corey and Emily and I went to stand in line one more time. Emily and I went down together again and Corey came down after us.

Dan informed me that Connor had been screaming the entire time we'd been in line the second time (probably about 20 minutes), and there was NO soothing him (if anyone can soothe Connor, it's Dan!). I thought maybe he was mad because his hat was down over his eyes, but when I pulled it up a bit, he reached right up and yanked it back down again!


I said I'd take him to the car and hang out with him there. I took off all our snow clothes, moved Jared's carseat out of the way, and Connor and I sat there watching a DVD and eating a snack and having a drink. Dan brought Jared to us about 15 minutes later, so the boys and I hung out in the car while Dan and Corey played with Emily in the snow (they didn't bother with the sledding lines again). They all came to the car about a half hour later, we tossed all the wet stuff in the back of the van and headed for home.

Emily and Jared did FANTASTICALLY the entire time. Connor hated the blowing snow in his face, but did really really well on the drive. They had a great time snacking and watching movies, and the older two enjoyed the amount of snow time they got between two and three hours, depending on which kid we're talking about). It was an experience!

Next year (or later on this winter), we'll try to plan for a day where it's not supposed to be snowing, and we'd leave even earlier in the morning (we left at 8:45am this year), and I'd potentially leave Connor behind next time (if we go again this year), but we'll see.

Christmas Cookies!

Emily invited a few friends over yesterday to decorate Christmas cookies with her. I had visions of little girls sitting nicely at the table decorating cookies (with sprinkles all over the table and the floor and whatnot!), then working on the activity packets I put together of Christmas themed mazes, connect the dots, coloring pages, word searches, and word finds while I prepared lunch. What I did NOT envision was a pack of screaming wild maniacs tearing through my house at top volume and top speed, leaving a trail of dress-up clothes in their wake, all the while bickering over who had what dress-up dress, who had which dress-up shoes, who was "allowed" to wear gloves and who wasn't, etc etc etc. They were loud, rude (to each other), yet overall worked out their own problems and jumped quickly from one issue to the other with very little drama in the end. I hid in the corner and sucked my thumb. ha ha. Not really, but I did keep clear for the most part as they were working things out on their own and having a great time. No one was asking to go home, no one was tattling, no one was being left out... Em's already asking when she can have another cookie party. I think maybe she can have another cookie party after I have a little Vodka party! ha ha ha! Just kidding. It was really really loud and chaotic,but the girls, overall, had a fantastic time and they all put up a fuss about leaving, so that made me feel good! Em hardly stopped talking about it alllll day!

Here's the table I set up. The activity packets are set out underneath their plates of cookies and there are fresh packs of crayons and colored pencils, and plenty of snacks, and they ALL have their own little cups of frosting so they could lick knives and fingers to their hearts content and I didn't have to worry about the spreading of germs... Am I good, or what? ha!


Here's the pack of screaming wild maniacs (minus Lilly, she hadn't arrived yet)


Here's the cookie decorators! Top: Emily, Jared, Lilly Bottom: Rachel, Sydney, Taylor


Here's the finished cookies (same order as the above pictures)


They were all dressed up, pretending to be the dancing girls in the Nutcracker, dancing around the Christmas tree (the little one Emily and Jared still need to decorate!!)


Lilly and Taylor: (I couldn't get anyone to stand still long enough so I don't have many dress-up pictures)


Emily and Sydney:


And Jared refused to be left out of the fun, and got on his pirate costume. And after the fiasco over who got which dress-up shoes, Jared figured it must be a pretty big to-do to have some on, so when he found a discarded pair, he helped himself!! (can we say "blackmail picture?!?!")


Rachel's grandma and Uncle Lenny came to witness the fun, and the little girls decided at some point that Uncle Lenny's attire was a little too bland


He's such a good sport


And Grandma got right into the fun as well!

The Kinders Sing!

Emily Grace's Elementary School put on a holiday assembly yesterday afternoon. Each grade performed two songs together, and then the fifth graders did some short skits and whatnot during the transition from one grade on stage to the next grade on stage. I wasn't able to videotape the first song the Kindergartners sang because of this really NICE gentleman three rows up who felt it was okay to let his two-ish year old son stand up on his lap and block everyone behind him... It's also his arm you can see in the left of the video I DID get of the second song. I don't think they gave the Kinders enough credit in their ability to learn songs as the first song was SHORT, and the second song has the whole middle portion cut out! But it's totally adorable, and you can just see Em's face (the two girls behind her are her good friends, Rachel, and Taylor). You can see Emily scanning the crowd after the song ends, looking for me!

The Hills are Alive With the Sound of Music

Okay, so maybe not the hills, but the room upstairs in the music store where Jared's preschool class had a field trip sure was! The kids had a blast getting some hands-on time with some different instruments, and they got to see how one might repair the bell of a trombone, etc. It was pretty neat to see their enthusiasm!

Max, Jared, and Allison got to test out the recorders:


Here's Jared (and Teacher Terrie!) testing out a clarinet. I don't think he was ever able to get it to make any sound:


Jared had WAY too much fun playing the little violin. He was going crazy with it!


Here's a little bit of the repair shop demonstration. Jared was VERY interested.


Look at his little face all scrunched up in concentration while he listens/watches!


When the guy finished what he was doing (soldering on a metal piece), Jared's face lit right up and was very impressed. It was pretty funny!

At the end, the kids all got Kazoo's to play and they put on a little show of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (at least, that's what it was SUPPOSED to sound like! ha ha!) Here's Katin, Jared, Amanda, and Cooper:

Enchanted

I took Emily to see the movie Enchanted yesterday. It was pretty cute! Dan would have ripped his ears off watching it if we'd taken him. There were several singing numbers in the movie... Emily was riveted. There were some odd parts as far as MY opinion goes, but Emily gives it a HUGE double thumbs up, and she's the one the movie's aimed for, so there ya go! I giggled out loud several times and enjoyed the romantic stuff, and it was a nice afternoon, just Emily and I.

Little Miss wanted to be dressed up, so this is what she wore:


Did you notice the pink camouflage tights? And the hand-me-down boots from her friend Rachel (which she wears with EVERYTHING lately...gotta love hand-me-downs!!)? And the gray sweatshirt because it was cold out, but her pretty Tinkerbell coat was too big and would cover up her dress (her words!)? I wish I was as confident to just wear whatever the heck I wanted like that!!

I REALLY enjoyed my afternoon out with Emily. It's not very often I get to just focus on her, and we had a lot of fun giggling and talking, and watching the movie.

Creepy Crawlies

More Science Center fun!

This picture makes me think of that movie, "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." LOL


If I saw a bug this big that was ALIVE, I think I would have a heart attack and die. And if I survived the experience, I don't think I'd ever be the same again...


Emily, the brave girl, saw a worker letting people hold the giant cockroaches and she wanted to do it, too. She didn't freak out holding it (despite the look on her face!), but was really afraid she'd drop it, so held completely still; wouldn't even smile. LOL




There was a display case of examples of meals people in other countries eat REGULARLY. Eggs and honeybee larvae, anyone?


Oh, the things you can see and do at your local Science Center!!!

(on a random sidenote, for some Thanksgiving laughs, check out Valerie's list of jokes here)

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall...

Who's the craziest family of all?

OURS IS!

Emily and I had WAY too much fun with mirrors yesterday... I didn't even realize I took so many pictures, but I'm sharing them all anyway because they represent just how much fun we were having and how SILLY and CRAZY we are. I was laughing so hard taking these pictures I had tears running down my face!!!!























Connor's turn!




Jared refused to let me take his picture. PUNK!

My turn!
First, I gained 100lbs


And then I lost 150lbs


And then I lost my body


Hurray for mirrors! LOL