Christmas

This post is just a little late...  I just got the photos off my camera today.  That is so not like me...  We got back from the ski trip, and I just proceeded to vegetate.  

On Christmas Eve we let each of the kids open a present, and one of the ladies at work had give me little gifts for them, so that seemed perfect.  There was a crystal making kit and a couple of excavation kits.  After we got the crystals set up we started digging for the dinosaur.  Anna worked on it for hours.  Haha!  It was the perfect Christmas Eve present.  

She tried to get Wallace to help her, but he is more into heavy machinery.  He was having fun with all of the dust she was creating.

Poor Meredith.  She had a cold...  She fell asleep at like 7:00...

Wallace was the first one up on Christmas morning this year.  :)

Anna was a zombie...  Ha.  I didn't realize just how tired she must have been until I went back through these photos.  

Meredith wasn't thrilled to be woken up either.  Oh, and she'd written all over her legs the day before.  "/

She might kill me for keeping pictures like this someday.  I feel like she's the baby equivalent of Cousin Eddie in this picture.  :)

She finally got one of her own.  :)  Actually 2!  Granny and Santa had the same idea for this little girl.

I never get quite as many pictures on Christmas morning as I intend to.  Oh well.  We all had fun.  :)

Family Ski Trip

We made it on Josh's family ski trip this year!  I think I was pregnant with Wallace the last time we managed to go on this annual trip, so...it's been a while.  Josh had a work trip scheduled right in the middle of it, so I actually ended up taking my Mom with me this time.  Anna and Wallace rode up ahead of us in the RV with Josh's Mom, Joe-Joe, Sarah Faye and all of her kids.  That ride sounded like it was quite the adventure.  

You know what's even more of an adventure.....?  Meredith...on air planes....

Our flight out of San Antonio ended up getting all screwed up due to something like the pilots needing sleep...  Anyway, it messed up our connection in Denver.  So we were in that airport for about 3 hours.  It was only 3 hours because we managed to make it on the earlier flight as stand-by.  I've never been so worried about making a flight.  It would have been another 3 hours until the next flight out!  Meredith was horrible on the flight from San Antonio to Denver.  Hor-ri-ble....  I felt so sorry for everyone within 3 rows of us.  She really liked the Denver airport though.  All the moving sidewalks and escalators.  And I took Jen's advice and rode the train between the terminals with her some too.  Got her all worn out, and she slept on the flight from Denver to Jackson Hole!  It was magical.

The Jackson Hole airport is so tiny.  They warn you when your flight takes off to keep your jacket handy because you get off the plane and have to walk up to the airport!  Of all cities to have an airport like that...  Their weather is ridiculous!  It was about 10 degrees when we landed.  Needless to say, that woke Meredith up.  "/  It took a while to get the rental car...and then I drove like a granny over the icy pass.  So we didn't get to the house where we were all staying until around 9:00 or so.  

The kids had been in ski school the day we were travelling, and since this was her first time skiing, I decided to keep Anna in ski school the next day as well.  It was predicted to snow that day, so I didn't really want to attempt to snowboard in it.  The last time I tried to snowboard when it was snowing I remember not liking it very much.  It was supposed to be super nice the following day anyway, so I just took my camera up the mountain to take pictures of Anna in her class all day.  

She ended up getting two different coaches, but this first one cracked me up.  He pretty much sounded exactly like what you'd imagine he'd sound like from this picture.  

She never made it off the magic carpet those first two days.  

Ha!  This guy all nonchalantly gives them a nudge when they get off the magic carpet.  

Although she was in good spirits, I heard some familiar phrases from her.  "When is lunch?  When do we take a break?" etc.  She's so funny.

While she was at lunch, I got some pictures of Bodie and Tanner skiing.  :)

After lunch I went back to watch Anna some more, but it was snowing pretty heavily, so I couldn't really take any photos.  The snow would melt as soon as it hit the camera, and it was getting wet fast.  

I was amazed at the tremendous improvement she'd made though.  Her coach thought she'd be ready for the real lift with just a little more practice the next morning.  

I'd planned to put her in lessons for half a day just so she could make it up the lift with someone who was used to taking beginners up the lift for the first time, but she flat out refused.  So we stayed on the magic carpet for an hour or so, and then we decided she was ready.  

Her first trip up the lift wasn't too bad.  She managed to fall trying to get up to the pick-up spot, which ended up being a good thing because it slowed the lift down.  And we got off without falling!  I was bummed to see that even though we were on a green run, the first 50 feet or so were pretty damn steep.  

It was starting to look hopeless.  She was panicking and crying and refusing to go down it.  She ended up attempting it and falling, but not catastrophically.  Nothing like the first fall that I took on skis.  But she looked about as scared as I did that day.  "/  I felt horrible.  I should have forced her to go to ski school again.  She slowly slid to the bottom of that steep hill, and then got up.  Understandably, the edges of the run had her totally freaked out.  I remember thinking that same thing... "Oh my gosh!  You could totally ski right off the side of this thing and die!"  The first half of the run was awful.  She was crying and totally losing it.  So I was losing it too and threatening to put her in ski school as soon as we made it to the end of the run.  She'd protest "No!  No!  No ski school!"  Like it was torture or something.  We ended up getting into a huge fight right at about the half-way point because there was a small stretch that was slightly uphill.  If you were going by at a normal pace it would be no big deal, but she'd come to a complete stop.  So she was going backwards every time she stood up, and she wanted me to get behind her and push her through it.  This is no easy task on a snowboard, and I was exhausted from having to basically leap frog back up the mountain every time she fell/sat down and needed help getting up.  I laid there on my stomach hollering at her to take off her skis and walk through it, and she was crying and hollering back.  I'm sure everyone on the lift above us could hear everything.  It was awesome.  She finally walked through it, we got her skis back on, and then she made it the rest of the way down without hardly falling at all!  So, I talked her into going back up one more time.  She slid down the big hill on her butt, but did great the rest of the way down.  And on the 3rd run, she made it down the big hill without sliding down on her butt!  I was so proud of her!  And then we did the run probably 6 or 7 more times before she was finally exhausted.  By the end of the day she was going about as fast as I wanted to go.  Not quite as sure footed, but a pretty good match for me.  So, probably next year she'll be leaving me in the dust wanting to do blue runs.  Guess she and Josh will get to do those together.  No thanks.  

The following day (our last full day) we stayed at the house.  I took the kids out to play in the snow thinking we'd get to build a snowman, but the snow was too dry I guess.  It wouldn't hold together at all.  :(  

Wallace made like 5 snow angels.  :)

And Meredith ate her weight in snow.  

Wallace tends to treat the snow the same way he does dirt.  

And Meredith threw it at him...just like she does with sand...

Anna was all about eating icecicles.  

I walked them down the road thinking that we might be able to make a snowman out of the snow that receives more sun...nope.  But they were all relatively close to each other, so I thought I'd try to get one of those elusive pictures of all three of them together.  

Ha.  In their defense it was ridiculously bright.  And Meredith and Wallace were more interested in eating snow than looking at me.

That night was the cookie decorating contest.  Josh's family does this every year.  

They decorate away.

Wallace didn't really get the point, but he loves his icing.  He's not all that competitive anyway.  ;)

All lined up and ready for the judging.  And oh my gosh... I'm loving Sadie's hair attack.  Even though she bascially scalped herself right up in front, it really doesn't look too bad!  She's lucky her hair bends over at such a short point.

Granny was the judge this year!  You can see Anna in the back ground.  She was apparently a little nervous about how this was going to turn out.  

There were quite a few categories of winners, and she was getting a bit discouraged after the first few categories came and went...

It's a little hard to tell here, but this was when her cookie was announced as a winner.  :)  She's so far out of the frame because she'd moped off all dejected after about the fifth category was announced.  "/

Meredith ended up with a late entry.  I call it the googely-eye cookie.  :)

The next day we flew back.  Nearly missed our flight out of Jackson Hole because the airport is just not really set up to handle the volume of holiday travelers they had that morning.  They had a woman in the airport singing Christmas carols and playing the guitar, and I totally see why.  Right as I was about to have a meltdown in the security line she'd start singing a new carol, and I'd force myself to calm down because it's Christmas dammit!  

Meredith slept on the flight to Denver, so that was fantastic.  And we literally got off our plane, sat in the airport for 30 minutes, and then reboarded the same plane.  Meredith was pissed that we didn't get to ride on the moving sidewalks and pitched a shoe-throwing fit.  My Mom told me people were taking pictures of her.  "/  Seriously, this girl's fits are epic.  

She and Wallace were both super stir crazy on the last flight.  We were in the very back row, so I let them get up and move about as much as I could, we played with play dough, we played with the tablets, we tickled...Meredith threw fits...At one point Wallace had managed to get behind our row of seats...  I don't even know how he was able to Gumby himself back there.  It was a long flight...  

I was so happy to get back to Texas, where there is no ice on the road.  :)  

The travel getting to and from Wyoming was challenging, but the time spent with family was well worth it.  :)  Plus, I think that someday my kids will be awesome little skiers or snowboarders since they are getting such an early start!  

Thanks for bringing us all together Big Momma!  Can't wait until next year!  

Family Photos

Well...I didn't really get it done in time for Christmas cards, but I managed to get my family together for our annual photo!  And I even talked Josh into carrying the bench out to the trail this year.  Last year he flatly refused.  It's so heavy, but it's very pretty!  At first we were trying to carry it together, and I guess he got annoyed with my pace because when we stopped to open a gate he just hoisted the whole thing up on his shoulder.  He got a bit irritated with me for making him walk it a hundred yards down the trail, but that's where the trees get pretty and form their arch over the trail.

I noticed a couple of things that made this year's family photo experience different from last year's: (1) the kids were much more well-behaved and so there weren't really any outtakes...  No Meredith fits or anything and (2) Josh actually smiled in a few of the photos!

Wallace says "cheeeeeese" the whole time.  

I like this one too, but Meredith has a slightly confused look on her face.

I love pictures where the kids are looking at each other.  

This is about the closest we got to an outtake.  I'm slightly bummed.  ;)

And this is one of the ones where Josh smiled!!  It was quite momentous.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we got 2 Thanksgivings again!  One with the Larson's at Eric's ranch, and one with the Bell's up in Blanco.  Josh's Mom came down early with all the cousins, so Anna went to hang out with them for a few days in Blanco.  And for some reason when we only have two kids, they get along like peas and carrots.  

What's up with that?  When we have all 3 of them there are always at least 2 that are fighting over something...and they definitely never share an iPad.

I only got photos at Thursday's Thanksgiving.  Josh took my Mom, sister, all of the kids, and I on a tour of the ranch.  The main house has a really pretty overlook, so I decided to try to get some pictures of all the kids.  It always ends up being way more difficult than what I imagine in my head.  I was just going to let it happen naturally.  A few of them sat on the wall...

Then another joined in...

Then when she switched seats Wallace got a little miffed.  "/  I didn't realize he had been so rude until I was going back through the photos...

Not too worry.  She can defend herself!

Sarah's girls.

We tried distracting them with some guitars thinking maybe it would stop some of the fighting...

It seemed to work.

Then Meredith got pissed....as usual.  I think it was because she didn't immediately get to hold a guitar.  Her fits around Josh are a little more subdued.  She tends to just silently, but dramatically, fall to the ground.  When he isn't there it's accompanied by crying.

Josh dusted her off and put her on the bench with the rest of them.

Ha!  And look at that.  Zero children smiling for the camera.  :)

It's kind of amazing.  Not 1 out of 7...

This was the best one.  Anna was dunzo.  

Or maybe she just wanted to hold a guitar....

So, Anna decided she wanted us to adopt a scout elf this year...

Guess who came today!  :)  I wish I'd of taken the camera to the mail box.  She and Wallace were sooooo excited when they saw the box.  

I have a feeling the no touching thing will be difficult for Wallace and Meredith.  Sheila (Anna named her) will need to select only very high places to perch on this year.  

Tonight she's getting caught up on her college football.  :)

Halloween!

I was working on a blanket for Wallace all week and just now got a chance to go through the photos on my camera.  So...a little belated with the Halloween post...  

I really need to learn how to make costumes for the kids.  Maybe next year I'll start a little early and buy patterns.  This year we got suckered into that stupid Chasing Fireflies catalog again... The costumes are really nice, but they are just just stupid expensive.  Seriously...I've got to find a cheaper way next year.  These things only really get worn once!  

Anna wanted to put on her costume on Sunday...and since we paid so much for it I let her.  May as well get some miles on it.  She wanted her picture taken, but she just kept giving me this fierce face.  Out of like 200 photos, I only kept about 5.  "/  Instead of coming across as fierce, she looked more like I was forcing her to stay out there and take photos, when quite the opposite was true for once.  ;)

I only kept the ones where she was at least sort of smiling.

She was a mermaid princess with magical powers (because it came with a wand).  She had a cape. It was pretty much awesome.  

For Halloween we always trick or treat in our old neighborhood where my Mom still lives.  It's small and contained and the houses are fairly close together.  It's just perfect for them.  And it always starts with a community hot dog roast.  This was the first year where all three of them knew what was going on.  Last year Meredith was so confused by everything.  At one point she snuck past a guy who was handing out candy and got into his house!  He had no idea she was even in there.  It was a little awkward trying to explain to him that my kid was loose in his house.  "/

Ugh.  Anna.  What is up with this face?  This was the face she was giving me in all of the photos on Sunday!

This one's better.  

Wallace was a skeletal knight, except I didn't buy him the mask.  I figured he might hate wearing it, and it was a $25 add-on item.  Good grief Chasing Fireflies.  Really?  All of the accessories are sold separately!  I ended up getting his sword and shield much cheaper on Amazon.

Meredith's little witch costume was so adorable.  And she LOVED it!

Here we are all done up.  She wanted big girl make-up.  I did the best I could.  I'm not really all that great at putting on my own make-up so her expectations really shouldn't have been very high.  She seemed happy with it though.  She smiled...sort of...

The thing I was most surprised with was how Anna and Wallace stayed in character.  Anna was putting spells on everyone, and herself, so she could walk to trick or treat since she was a mermaid and all.  

We ended up only walking through about half of my Mom's neighborhood before their buckets were full.  Meredith could hardly walk toward the end of it.  She insisted on carrying her own bucket the whole time.  It just kept getting heavier and heavier, but every time Josh and I tried to grab for it to help her she'd flip out and suddenly have a death grip on it.  I finally just carried her while she held her bucket.  

But the costume fun doesn't end there.  We are fortunate to get lots of hand-me-downs for Wallace, and sometimes we even get costumes!  Meredith spotted her favorite man hanging in his closet about a month ago and she insists on wearing this one every now and then.

Guess she's shooting some web here.  She actually ended up sleeping in this that night.  I couldn't get it off her.  I dropped her off at my Mom's the next morning in it.  I get her there very early on my way into work, so I just put her in the crib she has there every morning and she falls back to sleep.  My Mom wakes her when it's time to get ready for school.  Ha!  I'd imagine it was quite the thrill to see her when she woke up.  :)