Bath Time

Caedon likes to snorkel in the bath and he is actually quite good at it. After seeing Caedon with his mask, Maddy decided she would borrow his goggles. She thought they fit her quite nicely. Big gaps don't matter if you don't put your head in the water. I can't wait to take Caedon on a vacation where he can snorkel and see something other than the bottom of the tub or the pool.

Pictures that make me laugh

What would I do without the laughter my children bring me?

What's new

We just had the interior of our house painted. I should have taken before and after pictures, but everything was uprooted to move furniture for the painters. Martin took a trip to Mammoth and thus I was a single mom for the week of the painting. I was very thankful to have my family and Martin's family around to help me with my children while I was at work. I will take  pictures and share them later. Maddy waited until Martin returned to take her first consecutive steps.  She has been slow to embrace the art of walking, but more and more she is taking a few steps on her own between furniture or people. Of course, I captured her first steps....unfortunately, the video will not load for the blog, so I will have to share the still shots.

Shasta

Our beloved bulldog, Shasta, died this week. In honor of her, I thought I would post some of my favorite pictures. Unfortunately, her puppy pictures were taken on film, I may have to scan some in later if I have time. I found only one from the Presidio (when we lived in SF) on a CD of Shasta playing in a water bucket with her friend Duke. The rest are of her with us in San Diego and Reno. We will miss her, but she will live in our hearts forever.  She will be remembered for her devotion to our family, frisbies, socks, the beach and biscuits. The last photos are of Shasta teaching Maddy how to get her biscuits out of the pantry.

Park City

We decided to take a ski vacation and visit our friends who live in Park City.  We have not visited them since they moved there. Our friends took us to both Park City and Deer Valley ski resorts.  On the last day we found a baby sitter for Maddy so that we could all ski together.  Cole is an impressive skier for a 5 year old and Caedon really improved while skiing with him. Ana, who is 3, played really well with Maddy and shared all her girly toys with Maddy. We had so much fun that we forgot to take pictures. Here are a few we did manage to take.

Caedon and Cole

Ana and Maddy

New Years Resolutions

Today we skied with some friends of ours. We all had a great time. It was supposed to be Elvis Day at Mt Rose, but they cancelled it this year. Martin is very bitter as he bought an Elvis costume (see Halloween section) in October which he wanted to double as his Halloween / Elvis Day costume. Caedon was also very disappointed, as he remembers all the skiing Elvises from last year. I thought Martin should start a campaign on facebook titled "Bring Elvis Day Back!"

Last weekend Martin went to the Rose bowl, so I was home with the kids. I was taking the ornaments off the Christmas tree and Caedon wanted to know why I had to take down all the decorations. I explained to him that Christmas was over and now that we had celebrated the New Year it was time to put everything away until next year. He replied, "You didn't tell me Christmas was over!"  (He was really mad) How do you respond to that??

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve. We spent the morning enjoying another beautiful day of skiing. Caedon skied the top of North West making great turns. In fact he was doing so well, we did not think we could get him off the mountain. We arrived home just in time for a quick break before cleaning up for Christmas Eve Dinner at my parents house. My mom put together a wonderful meal. Yes, it was choas at the kids table, but the adults had a pleasent meal in the dining room. The cousins opened their gifts from eachother. Each child took a turn so we could enjoy their faces as they opened the gifts. I am so happy we opened that gift on Christmas Eve as it made it more memorable. Christmas Day can be overwhelming, so opening the cousin gift on Christmas Eve made the gift special. I don't know how my mom has the energy to create a wonderful meal and cleanup, but she always does it with a smile!

A ski day with Caedon

I had the day off from work today. I was very excited to be able to ski with "the boys." It was truly beautiful with the snow glistening in the birght sunshine. Each time we go, Caedon shows progress. He is going up on the detachable chairlift and slowly graduating from Ponderosa and Galena to ski more challenging runs. We are so proud of him.

Madeline Grace's First Birthday

Maddy had a wonderful birthday
with her cousins, aunts, uncles
and grandparents, yesterday.

Maddy loved being in the middle
of her cousins opening her
great presents. What a lucky girl

A  room full of unconditional love -
the best birthday present ever.

Someday Jenna will be driving Madeline to school;
they are getting the practice in early.

Happy Birthday Madeline Grace!!!