Breckenridge

For the long weekend, we spent the time up in Breckenridge with my family at a friend’s cabin.  (We left Johnny here, he had to work.  Boo.)  Myla was so excited to go to the mountains, she almost wanted to go on Friday.  On the way up, we stopped at the ice castles.  It was really cool to see the different structures and Myla had a blast going in the different tunnels and around the different castles.

Kinsley was all bundled up in her new ski parka but has the cold that Myla had at the beginning of the week, so she wasn’t quite as excited about the ice castles.

When we got up to the cabin, Myla spent the rest of the afternoon up and down the stairs, playing on the bunk-beds.  She played outside in the snow for a little bit, but it was up to her waist and hard to walk in.  She kept saying, “I’m trapped!”  And then the next day, after some hard work by my mom and Uncle Scott and Holly, we got to go sledding on our own private hill.

Myla thought it was awesome.  She laughed all the way down the hill and went with everyone.  The first time, she got snow in her face, but it just added to the fun.  Kinsley even got in a few runs, but she wasn’t exactly sure what it was all about.  We sledded for an hour before Myla’s little hands got cold and we went inside.

That night, we went for a sleigh ride up the mountain.  Myla loved watching the horses go and spent time looking for the fox that the drivers said might be out.  Kinsley couldn’t move because of her snowsuit and jacket, but she did really well while it was going.

We had a great time and made some really great memories.  Thanks mom and dad for taking us!

Finally!

Finally, after almost five months (!?) Kinsley has two more teeth popping through on the top.  She gets along just fine with the two on the bottom, loves to crunch into apples and cheerios.  She also loves to suck in her top lip, which is going to be a lot harder to do with the top ones in.  We do not expect it to make her stop screaming though - a new sound that she's discovered works really well when you're not paying enough attention to her.  Maybe she's singing really high and loud...?

Myla is fighting another cough this week.  I've heard that school is just a petri-dish for the little ones, but this is crazy!  She's still pretty active though, most recently her favorite game is to be pretend kitty-cats.  So we are mommy-cat, daddy-cat, Kinsley-cat and Haley-dog-cat.  She's also learning to whistle, which is pretty quiet and you have to listen carefully, but she's getting it.  There isn't much this girl won't try and learn, and sometimes when she can't get it, she puts this little pout on and says "I can't do it."  (She's just like her daddy in that, except he says "Next time, we're hiring a professional.")  But she tries again and usually nails it.  She's pretty amazing. Both of them are.

Falling and Jumping

Just some more fun from our snow day.  Have I told you how funny these girls are?

Surprise!

When we woke up this morning, we were all very excited to find lots and lots of “deep, deep snow” to play in.  (Well, except for Johnny who had to drive home from work in it and then in again tonight.)  We had a great snow day, a little unexpected time off to have some fun.  So, in between the time we shoveled, played with Haley dog outside, shoveled again, watched a movie, and shoveled one more time, we did this…

Kinsley worked on her new found legs.  She’s all of a sudden decided that these get-away sticks (as Johnny calls them) are actually pretty cool.  She pushed that baby doll stroller across the basement a lot tonight.

Myla worked on her hula hoop skills in between taking her turn with the stroller, running around like a crazy girl and tackling her daddy.  She’s actually got the technique down, maybe with a smaller hoop she might actually do it.

Sock Show

On Friday, we heard a commercial for the stock show on the radio, and Myla said “mommy, we haven’t been to the sock show yet today!”  And so yesterday, we went with my mom to see the stock show.  (Its funny, my parents didn’t take us growing up, but Myla’s been two years in a row!)  We saw all the stock show animals you could see – horses up close and even in the shower, cows getting a blow dry, sheep, buffalo, yak – even a fuzzy foot chicken.  Kinsley hung out in the backpack, but did focus in on the horses doing the agility track.  Myla went into the petting zoo part and feed the animals grass.  I think that was her favorite part.  She had a really great time and I’m sure it will become a tradition.

Kinsley passed 11 months old today.  Its crazy how fast this (almost) year has flown.  I swear to you, yesterday the light bulb went off and she can pull herself up to standing just about anywhere – even Myla’s sleeve.  She even will get her feet moving around enough to walk around the furniture.  She’s pointing at things and babbling away.  Still only those two little teeth on the bottom, but my guess is we are on the verge of some more.  I switched out her clothes today to 12 month clothes.  Kinsley helped so much by throwing around the too small clothes all over from my separated piles. She’s so much fun and yesterday she was having such a great time with her little feet just kicking away. 

Today, Myla was so excited to get out “valentimes” day stuff and put it up around the house, chattering away about each thing.  And Kinsley scooted around after her saying “ba ba ba.”  It was the best soundtrack to the day.

On the Move!

She’s figured it out – Kinsley is mobile!  She decided that you didn’t need to put your feet behind you to crawl, how else do you get back on your bum when you want to sit?  No, no, this is the way.

 She's pretty fast too.  When I came home the other day, she peeked around the corner and said, "eee!" (which I translated to "mommy!") and she came scooting around the corner to me.  It was very sweet.

 For Christmas, my brother and sister got us a family pass to the zoo.  So on Saturday, because it was 60 and we could, we packed up the wagon and went to see half of the zoo.  (Because we can come back anytime to see the other half.)  Myla had a lot of fun splashing in the puddles and every time we would see an animal, she would say, "okay mom, lets go find some more animals."  She really wanted to see the elephants, but they have moved them to a new spot on the zoo and it isn't open yet.  But we had a great time visiting the other animals - except the lion, which was pacing in front of the window and scared the girls.

Tonight we have a fire going and have enjoyed the day off to be together.  And here comes my scooter to see me. 

Only here

Christmas Day was everything we hoped it would be.  Myla couldn’t wait for us to come downstairs, and came herself.  She climbed up on the chair arm and glanced in her stocking.  Her eyes got wide and she said “Santa did come!”  Both the girls got bean bag chairs, which in the past few days have been everything from a train to a boat.  They got all sorts of wonderful toys that they haven’t stopped playing with.  In fact, I bet you didn’t know, Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem on Santa’s train.  Well, they traveled to the kitchen tonight anyway.

Today, I got off work early so that I could spend some more time with the girls while Johnny slept.  Last Thursday, we got, oh, eight inches of snow.  And today, we did this.

The park was still pretty covered in snow on the ground, but the slide, swings and climbing places were clear and dry.  And since it was almost 60 outside, we took full advantage before the wind drove us inside.  It was a nice change of scenery, and – I don’t know if you can tell from the pictures – a pretty good time.