Matching babies

Jamie is off skiing with friends and the two at home are enjoying a rainy day of dancing video games and yummy snacks. :)

Caves

Frolicking around the hill!

Tubbs hill

The Boy

The little man does like to be dapper.

Princess

What little girl doesn't need a purple tutu?

Dresses

Ok sun, she is ready for you :)

Boots

Ok so we gambled a bit on how much the feet will grow over the summer but .... Such a deal :)

Flip flops

New beach shoes!

Spring Break

Day one: all is perfect.

It is snowing outside, we are reading/sleeping/eating breakfast trying to muster up the energy to go through clothes and shoes (the kids refuse to quit growing?!?)

Quite looking forward to our three weeks at home together!!

This is a bad pic but I wanted to show Jamie's curls. She slept in pin curls again and forwent playing in the new snow to keep them pretty.

No seriously.

Spring

Dear Spring,

You are welcome to visit North Idaho any time now.
We are ready for you.

Mountain View

Meet the very proud, future mt. View Elementary student.

9

Jamie went ahead and turned 9.

We celebrated the actual day with a dinner out and gifts.

Jillian's Plan

Jillian is having a sleepover at grandma and grandpa's Saturday night.

Here is her plan for their time together.

Making Cookies

Miss Jamie will be turning 9 on Tuesday.

Nine.

Rather than deal with that amazing time speed phenomenon I'll tell you about making cookies.

She gets to bring a treat to school to celebrate. I asked her what she would like to bring.

Cake?

Cupcakes?

Brownies?

Muffins?

No.

Seaweed.

Yes, seaweed.

It makes more sense when you know the whole story about how every time I pack snack packs of roasted seaweed in their lunch the other kids are curious. And given the very wise rule of not allowing lunch sharing at school Jamie came up with the idea to bring the famous snack on her birthday, the one day sharing is encouraged!

She did relent and say she would also bring something treaty, "but not something covered in frosting and food coloring!"

I don't make this stuff up, I just record it.

Magpie

A magpie on the tippy top of a tree outside our window.

Happy Weekend

Well we've been threatening to do this for a while now but we finally pulled it off.

We had a lazy, work around the property, hang out weekend.

I know, I know, it's not like we run around that much but it always seems like we've been busier than we want to be.

Not this weekend.

We raked, we cleaned out the old garden, we moved rocks around, we did a jigsaw puzzle, we took a walk and tried to find the property lines, some of us rode bikes, hung "art" in "the burrow" (the kids nailed some old license plates on the wall in their club house,) we protected some trees that may or may not grow this spring, we did some clipping, we daydreamed about where we would be putting the trampoline, the garlic grove, and the wildflower field. We napped, we cooked, and we just hung out.

It was magical.

Apre Ski

Ok, I'll admit it.

Bobby beat me.

I tried to catch up with him.

I couldn't.

The boy is fast.

I think we'll switch him to snowboarding next year to give me a fighting chance.

It has been such a fantastic ski season, neither Robb nor I have ever skied so consistently or so often.

Everybody is doing amazingly well.

Jamie's form is picture perfect.
Jillian is comfortable on quite a few green runs and is getting her turns down.
And the boy 'really likes the fast runs.'

Even Robb and I have improved measurably, thanks to Grandpa and his generous willingness to ski with Jillian and give us some treasured time on our own!

But keeping up with Grandpa can tucker a girl out.



Unfortunately, we haven't figured out how to tucker these two out.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner after skiing and the kids spent the entire time playing in the snow mounds in the alley.



These are not the best pictures but they each have their own mound with beds, slides, sculptures, and seats. Jamie even built Jillian a mini version when she joined them after her nap.

New Threads

That sounds hip right?


The kids showing off their new vest and fleece. (And Jillian, who did get a new dress but was not ready to get dressed yet.)

Spring may be just around the corner but we still have some cold days in our future!