When I was a kid...

We spent a wonderful week visiting the Reimer family for Christmas. A week at Grandpa's house is full of fun and exciting things to do. Garrett and Avery collapsed into bed every night. As I was tucking Garrett into bed one night, he was studying a poster on the wall of Vernal Falls in Yosemite. When I was 18, my family hiked to the top of this waterfall. I told Garrett the story beginning with, "when I was 18..." He had a story of his own to contribute. He said, "When I was 16..8..9 point 2, I climbed to the back of that waterfall."

The Terrible Two's??

Avery seems to have suddenly entered the world of "the terrible two's." I'm puzzled because she's not two yet, but it sure seems that way. I can't help but wonder what turned my sweet, darling, easy to please little girl into a mad hatter almost overnight. She screams "no," points her finger at me, runs in place, stomps her feet, and throws herself on the floor. Yep, sounds like tantrums. BIG ones. It makes me realize how much my Garrett has grown up. Now he is the reasonable and rationale one. That makes me proud.

I do have to share my favorite thing that Avery says. She says "w" for "l" (here goes the speech pathologist in me...) and she says, "wook at dat, mommy!" (look at that, mommy!) She shows me things all day long. This is especially cute when we are driving in the evenings and she is watching the Christmas lights!

Eat Your Broccoli

I've tried to introduce my kids to a large variety of vegetables. This is pretty easy, considering that I like most vegetables myself. Greg on Garrett on the other hand, well that's a different story. As I sat the broccoli on the table at suppertime on Wednesday night, Garrett says, "I don't eat broccoli for you." I said, "Oh...do you eat broccoli for Lynette?" (our daycare lady). He replied, "Yeah. Yum."
Oh well, at least he eats broccoli for someone.

Snow Days!

We LOVE snow days! With somewhere between 8-12 inches of snow, we've had three snow days in a row. That doesn't happen often. Poor Avery hasn't been outside since Sunday! Yikes. She doesn't want to go outside in the snow. Garrett on the other hand could stay outside all day. I'm always ready to come in before him! With the strong wind, we have BIG drifts in the backyard and most of the yard is covered in snow that is almost knee deep! Casey is pretty cute bouncing through the snow. Sometimes it takes a little snow to get us to really slow down and enjoy what is important. No running around, no shopping, no eating out, just sitting down and enjoying the day with my kids!

Thankful Thursday

I intended to post this last Thursday on Thanksgiving, but we were visiting the Stohs family so I was away from my computer. Here is a list of the things I am thankful for this holiday season:

1) my incredibly supportive husband who puts up with my wild mood swings and crazy ideas
2) my darling little people - Garrett & Avery - they can always bring a smile to my face and never cease to amaze me
3) our loving extended family - we wish we lived closer to you so we could hang out all the time!
4) warm winter weather
5) snuggling by the fireplace in the evenings
6) Christmas lights and the look on the kids' faces when they see them
7) hot chocolate and apple cider
What are you thankful for?