Sledding

We took the kids sledding for the first time on New Years Day. A big group of families from Ross' firehouse were going sledding and were then having a get together at his former Captain's cabin and so we decided to go. We had such a blast and I can't wait until we go sledding again.

The event took place in Cle Elm, which is about 40 minutes east of North Bend, and the sledding meeting place was at a local golf course that was now buried by a few feet of snow. Once we got there it took us another 40 minutes to get everyone into their snow gear before we hit the bunny slopes.

We found a little hill to get the kids started on and Wyatt loved it. Sam wasn't so sure at first and watched big brother do it a couple of times before he gave it a go. He smiled after his first run but didn't want to go again and was content watching Wyatt or being held by Ross or I.







At some point I took my eyes off of Wyatt and he decided he wanted to try the man-size slope and jumped on the back of one of Ross' co-workers and they went hurling down a HUGE hill. I though for sure Wyatt was going to fly off and hurt himself or at the least be in tears at the bottom of the hill. I was wrong. HE LOVED IT! He did the big slope a couple of more times, including on Ross' back and it only confirmed the notion that the kid is fearless. Something tells me our first cast is right around the corner.

Christmas

Christmas morning was so much fun this year! The kids were finally old enough to be excited about Santa leaving presents under the tree and they were old enough to open their gifts on their own and appreciate most of them.









For the second year in a row we could have just given the kids their Christmas stockings and called it a day. They wanted to immediately play with each new toy they saw and had to be coaxed into opening another gift. We ended up pacing ourselves and opening a few presents here and there for the next couple of days, inlcuding a Skype session with Grandpa and Nana.

Wyatt's 2 most favorite toys happened to be gifts we gave Sam- a Chick Hicks hauler from the movie CARS, and a wooden car carrier truck- but luckily for us Sam had so many other toys to play with that he either didn't notice or didn't care that Wyatt played with them all day.

Christmas evening we had Ross' family over for an amazing Prime Rib dinner that Ross cooked up in the slow cooker and then another round of presents.










It wasn't until a day or two after Christmas that we even got around to setting up the train set we bought for the boys to go around the tree. Do I have to even say what a big hit that was? They loved it. I mean really, really loved it. The set came with a remote control that let Wyatt move the train forward or backward, and say "All Aboard" and make chuga-chuga-choo-choo noises.

Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve a day earlier than most since Ross worked on Christmas so Wyatt and I made Santa Claus some homemade cookies, while Ross and Sammy did some last minute shopping.

When I asked Wyatt if he'd like to make Santa cookies he said "Yes but not chocolate chip." I asked why not chocolate chip and he said "Because the chocolate chips will get his gloves all messey and I don't want to do that." Hmm, I guess I hadn't thought of that. We talked about a possible solution and decided to leave a fork with the cookies so Santa could keep those gloves looking nice and clean.

We made Cowboy Cookies- a recipe of my grandmother's that always reminds me of the holidays.





While the cookies baked we let the boys each open one Christmas present and they received new stuffed animals to sleep with. Wyatt received a monkey and Sammy received an elephant and both boys were thrilled.










After the cookies were baked we left the cookies, and fork, and a glass a milk out along with this note that Wyatt had me write for him:

Dear Santa,

Merry Christmas! The fork is to eat your cookies so your gloves don't get messy. Or you can take your gloves off and eat the cookies with your hands. The milk is here because you will get thirsty.

Love, Wyatt

Gingerbread House

Wyatt and I made our first gingerbread house this afternoon. I was smart and opted for the premade house so we just had to put the frosting and candies on. Wyatt loved this and liked being able to combine his artistic side with his sweet tooth side.



Look at that look of pride.

He couldn't wait for Ross to come home to show him what he had made.


Wyatt even showed Ross how to properly lick one's gingerbread house.