Smush Talking

We're having so much fun with our our little talker!

Skiing

Micah and I got to go skiing yesterday!  Even though the conditions were pretty icy, he had really good control using the snowplow technique.  We warmed up on the bunny slope for a while (and I do mean "warm"!  I was sweating!)  Then we went to the chair lift for the first time!

                                                                                        Bunny slope:

On the chair lift!

 Here he is on the next biggest hill.  It was really icy, but he went down it several times without falling.

His favorite part was where it flattened out at the bottom so he could coast back to the chair lift.

too tired to move

Snow Time

We finally went and found Brimfield's sledding hill today.  We were the only ones there, but it was obvious that it has been well-used since the last snowfall.  The snow was packed down and icy.  It made for a great ride going down, but a tricky climb back to the top.

Yesterday we went outside at home after school.  I haven't had much success with Matthew in the snow, and I think the biggest problem was mobility.  This time instead of his bulky, stiff (adorable) boots, I did make-shift "boots".  Two pairs of socks and a plastic bag inside his sneakers kept his feet dry but still let him get around.

He screamed when I tried to put him in the sled, but was very happy when Micah gave him rides.

And these are from a few days ago when Hannah and Jackson went out by themselves.  They industriously spent almost an hour packing the slide with snow, then sliding down it.

Post-Christmas

Taking down Christmas decorations means eating the gingerbread house.  I'll never understand the things these kids will and won't eat.

We've been having a lot of fun with the Shrinky Dinks that Aunt Julie bought Hannah for Christmas.

Smush has been experimenting with some natural hair products - spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, applesauce....I believe this particular look was created with yogurt.

Happy New Year!

We decided to try First Night in Akron this year.  Despite the frigid temps (and having to turn back because I forgot our pins - oops!), we had a great time!  We saw a terrible "magician", played with exhibits from the Akron Children's Museum, got face painting, and just had a lot of family fun together.  Two of the kids' favorite parts were actually a "happy accident".  We parked a little farther away than we intended, so we got to take a trolley ride back to the garage.  There were also fireworks at 9:00 that we had not planned to stay for, but just as we arrived at the parking garage we had a good view of them!
Happy New Year!