Parks and Planes

We have a tradition of playing on the elementary school playgrounds close to grandparents' homes. This one happens to be at the same elementary school where daddy went when he was a kid -- he used to walk there, a block and a half from his house. 

Note: I finished making myself that new hat right before we got to Boise. It is a Spring Beret Pattern by Natalie Larson.  It  took me forever to get it started right. I kept messing up the pattern.

Both M and A had to get the hang of ice skating again for about the first hour. After that they, especially A, felt confident and was speeding around again.

Headed homeward...

Christmas Day - Baby L's First Christmas

The bigs tried to help her get into the spirit of ripping presents open, but she preferred to observe quietly, per her usual.

Brother M got some toys that were made for assembling and taking apart complete with drill. Grandpa and the kids put it together as a team the first time around.

Daddy bought a drone for Grandpa to play with. Of course, he had to figure out how it worked first.

The drone spied on children eating french toast for breakfast.

 The kids got several kiwi crates (art & science kits) to play with while we were with the grandparents.

Boise

Grandma Susie collects nativities. The kiddos put together (and took apart) her Little People one several times. 

Baby L followed in the grand tradition of her older siblings and practiced sitting in boxes.

We hung out with more longtime friends of daddy's and they had REAL homemade Russian honeycake that their Russian neighbors had made for them!  I was so excited to taste it. It was just like I remembered it. Of course I told them that they needed to invite us to drink tea with it in order have the real authentic Russian experience. They kindly obliged.

 Christmas eve the kiddos each opened a present and Grandma Susie lit her German spinning nativity for us.

Birthdays

Brother M and sister A both had their birthdays while we were in Utah.  We celebrated several times, with friends, with daddy, and then with grandparents.

With our Utah buddies, the kiddos helped me make and decorate a box mix cake.  We wanted to celebrate with them before they left for their family reunion.

We had brownies with ice cream after daddy arrived, but I don't seem to have any pictures of that party... probably due in part to how fast they were eaten up. 

Grandma Susie made a white cake with chocolate frosting (daddy thinks all birthday cakes should follow that design too). It was yummy. They each blew out one word worth of candles.

Sightseeing in Utah - Temple Square

 We visited some buddies from daddy's childhood and had fun night with them and their 3 kiddos.

  

She had this great magnetic chore chart that she made. I loved it and want to try one like it.

Monday night we met up with my college roommate Tiffany and her family at Temple Square.

 Sweet friend!

 Statue of the Christus inside the Visitors Center.

Sightseeing in Utah - Gardener Village

We heard that their are usually fun holiday adventures at Gardener's Village. We went there the afternoon before hubby flew in from DC. 

 They had a big outdoor tent thing set-up like Santa's Workshop.  It included snowman buildng:

Delivering gifts to Santa's sleigh:

A 3d sleigh ride video ride thing.  And then meeting the man himself at the North Pole. Brother S was too scared to sit in his lap.

The best part was Mrs Claus with her hot cocoa and snickerdoodle cookies.

We stopped in this great bakery/cafe for dinner and then drove to the airport (got lost and had to ask for directions twice!) and finally picked up daddy.

Zeke

We had a lot of snow during our trip to Utah. The kiddos loved playing in it.  They also fell in love with Zeke. He is a large hound-lab mix.

Baby L was gleeful with Zeke. He would lick her whole face and she loved it!  She learned to say her first word, "doggie".  It sounds more like "dohee", but close enough.

Almost every morning he came in to wake up the kiddos or hang out in the bed with us. He has become their ideal pet. I told them about how our buddies "rescued" Zeke from the pound. Now of course, they want to do something like that. "We want a dog just like Zeke mom."  Sure thing. We just need a new house first!