How could I forget John Fielder?

So on Thursday when Jeremy and I were wandering around Breckenridge, Jeremy wanted to go into the bookstore. And lo and behold, we hit it just right that John Fielder was signing books. And in case you have no idea who John Fielder is, he's Colorado's premiere nature photographer and I'm a huge fan. Check out his work here.

I bought this book:





And also bought this book for the boys (which is also signed, I'm too lazy to scan it right now):



Needless to say, after $60 Jeremy was a bit bummed that he insisted on going in the bookstore.

Christmas Festivities Pictures

Our Christmas Festivities began early on December 16th with a fete at Sarah's house.

Here's Sarah's very first Christmas tree:



And maybe her first snow flake ornament:



Judy and Sarah made the 6' burrito for dinner:



And cousin Grant's dog pinkie:



And then fast forward to Christmas eve at Judy and Greg's abode.

Grammie's tree:



Christmas morning - while Adam slept Alex opened his presents:



Hooker, the dog that just wants to hold your hand (or Devon's hand):



Adam meets his new robot:



Alex WILL learn to play chess now, with some help from Pop-Pop:



Alex said of Adam's robot, "Is it ok if Adam and I share that one?" Sure, he's all for sharing when it's not his to begin with:



At least Greg didn't get Judy a gun this year:



Suckers for breakfast? Bring. It. On:



That's Sir Adam to you:



And our treasured moment family picture:



Later in the day, the Woods came over. Marianne showed us how to do the Jelly Bean:



Nothing cuter than a pug butt:



No, Jelly Bean's tongue doesn't go in. And yes, it gets dried out:



Thunder does not suffer from such embarrassing maladies:



Susie's pregnant!!!



Devon and Sarah:



The feasting table:



That's Elf Alex to you:



Just in case you missed the ears:



The Christmas bunch:



And the goofy picture:

Ski Trip Extravaganza Pictures

Jeremy and I were lucky enough to have some ski days sans kids this holiday vacation. We spent weekend #1 in Breckenridge with my SIL Sarah and her boyfriend Devon. Our best day was probably Saturday the 22nd, the snow was nice and there weren't any crowds to speak of at Breckenridge. We spent the day on Peaks 8 & 7.

On Sunday we ventured over to Keystone, mainly because we could with our passes and Devon didn't think he'd ever been. The snow wasn't as nice and it was more crowded and cold but we still got some good runs in.

We weren't sure about skiing on Monday but Sarah spent Sunday afternoon shopping for new ski boots and wanted to try them out so we did a quick day at Breck on Peak 10.

Here's a picture looking back down the lift.



My tough husband.



Sarah and our illegitimate step brother Kyle. Oh yeah, we skied all weekend with Kyle too:



Sarah's fancy new boots with special heaters:



Devon and Sarah apres ski at Breckenridge Brewery:



And Monday, as you might recall, was Christmas Eve. We stopped skiing around noon, had lunch and then headed down to Colorado Springs for Christmas Festivities. Much festivities were had, I'll have to make a separate post with those pictures.

Jeremy and I headed back up to Breck on Boxing Day. We skied on Thursday and it was COLD. On the way to the parking lot, our car said it was -4:



This is how I ride when it's -4 (and actually up to 20 degres), Jeremy calls it my ninja look. Not an inch of exposed skin anywhere. We had hand and feet warmers and it wasn't actually too bad, but the crowds were bigger than before Christmas.

And also in this picture, you can see my new stickers on my board. Don't I look sick? (I think that's a new word for awesome, but I may be 15 years too old to use it):



Jeremy says these are the ugliest sunglasses in the world, I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. Though perhaps my neck warmer on my head is a bit over the top.



And we returned Friday for yet another day on the slopes. On this day, it was WAY crowded and WAY cold and WAY crappy snow. On my second run Jeremy tried to take me on a tree/bump run and I did something stupid and fell on a little tree and really bruised my butt. And it's such a nice bruise that I wanted to share it with you, but not so much my butt. So here's my super cool bruise on a much hotter butt:



After falling, I decided the only thing that would make me feel better was peanut m&ms in the lodge. I overpaid ($1.72 for a regular pack ?!?!) and enjoyed. We were ready to go back and try a few more runs but the lift line had to be 20 minutes long so we called it a day.

And that is how I spent my winter break.

December 19, 2007

7:10 Drop off.

Blah blah blah breakfast of yogurt and oatmeal.

Now, I don't mean to brag but I wrapped up all my Christmas presents this morning. That means I'm DONE. Bring. It. On.

My present wrapping was interrupted by some squabbles from the kids. Adam and Alex decided that Ariel was the Rancor from Star Wars - you know the monster that Jabba the Hut tries to feed Luke to - and that led to some somewhat unfair attacks on Ariel.

10:00 Met Rachel and Liliana at the Boulder History museum. Their current exhibit was "100 Years of Play" featuring lots of old toys.

Alex like the current toys better.



Ariel and fractals. What could go wrong???



A baby positioner for photography. Where can I get one???



Upstairs we found a gold panning simulator involving a scoop and lots of plastic beads that had all 3 kids fighting (and moms picking up lots of plastic beads).

11:00 Left the museum and had a quick lunch at Einstein's. Alex was certain there would be no food for him since he only likes Moe's egg and cheese bagels but he managed to eat a fruit cup and plain (and I do mean plain) bagel. Ariel was not into her egg and cheese bagel that she split with me.

11:30 Picked up the Adamnator yada yada.

11:50 Got home, Ariel went down for a nap.

1:45 Ariel woke up. I read books to her and Adam and Ariel does not approve of The Pokey Little Puppy.

2:30 Left to pick up Alex.

Ariel got her boots and tights a bit wet this afternoon...



For full effect, see video (only multiply by 40 because she did this for 20 straight minutes):



And on the parenting front, I'm doing a fine job. Alex just asked for a cookie and I told him he could have one after dinner. Then he said, "I'm going to punch you if you don't give me what I want." And THEN he proceeded to count to 3. He's resting in his room now pondering the wisdom of that threat (and no, he didn't punch me).

4:00 Early pick up!

Well, this is the last post before the winter holiday so I hope everyone has a great break. I plan on chilling and snowboarding and not being sick :)

December 18, 2007

7:10 Drop off. Breakfast - yogurt but not much oatmeal.

8:00 Jeremy took Adam to school and reported back that he filled out the re-enrollment form and Adam is not longer kicked out of school. Yay!

9:00 Went to stroller class. Ariel decided that she needed her snow boots and pack-pack today:



The kids playing during class. Did you know it costs $7 to rent one of these buggies? But it's free if you don't take the buggy anywhere :)



10:30 After class we got a slice of pizza and split it 3 ways. It was Ariel's main lunch and a supplement to Alex's packed lunch. I ran a few holiday errands while they ate in the stroller.

11:10 Left the mall.

11:50 Got home, transfered sleeping Ariel to bed.

12:30 Dad showed up with Hannah for her nine month pictures. Dad-isms of the day: "How do you know which way to put on this dress, which is the front?" And to me, "You really need to stop making piles." Uh, Dad, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, where do you think I got this horrible habit from???

1:15 Ariel woke up. Apparently my freaky sisters coordinate their daughter's outfits on days they will be seen together:



1:30 Dad and Hannah went home.

Ariel had some chocolate milk and more cheese.

2:20 Early pick up. Yay!

December 17, 2007

Oh yes, I did. Muhahahaha!



7:10 Drop off. I was in the shower, which is slightly better than not showering at all.

Breakfast - you guessed it, yogurt and oatmeal.

9:30 Riveting trip to the grocery store. Alex convinced me to get a donut instead of a cookie "because of Hanukkah" and after the trip to Michaels this weekend when he asked, "Why isn't there anything Hanukkah here?" I gave into the donut. But I made him share with Ariel.

10:30 Home - Enthralling grocery putting-awaying.

11:30 Got Adam, took Alex to school.

12:00 Ariel went down for a nap. While she slept, I worked on stimulating task #3 - going through my piles. Today I realized that piles is another word for hemorrhoids and that's what my counter piles are - a big pain in the butt. I didn't find any late credit card bills but I did find a preschool newsletter that said that Adam's re-enrollment form was due on December 12th. Or was it the 14th? And I didn't find the actual form. But I did call the school and it's not too late to get it in. Sounds like a project for Jeremy tomorrow.

Other things of interest in my pile - 3 reminders to renew my AAA membership. I think it's been at least a month since I went through it. But the nice thing is, when it's been that long most things are expired or over so all those pesky pieces of paper go in the recycling.

2:30 Woke Ariel up to pick up Alex.

2:50 The snow is not nearly as deep so we made the trip in under a half an hour.

The rest of the afternoon the kids spent torturing each other and at some point had hot chocolate. Oh, and Ariel had cheese and graham crackers.

4:30 Pick up.

December 14, 2007

7:20 Drop off. I was still in bed, wanted to stay there permanently. My cold had a resurgence this week and I feel like crap. Again. Or Still.

Ariel breakfast - bogart and hot cereal

8:45 Went to our Stroller Class holiday party. It was a lot of babies. There was also a secret santa gift exchange for the babies and a cookie exchange for the mommies. I knit two hats for the exchange and Alex got a transformer in return and Ariel an travel aquadoodle. And for the cookie exchange I made mom's gingerbread cookies. Oh, yeah, there was also a nice potluck brunch for which I brought cheddar bunnies and pretzel goldfish (hey, those cookies are a lot of work!).

11:10 Left the party.

11:30 Got to Adam's school. It was snowing again, albeit lightly, and his teachers we walking the kids out to the first car and waiting for that car to move before they brought out another kid. After 10 minutes I marched up to the school and grabbed Adam even though that's not the protocol. And his teacher said something to me but I said I had to get going to get Alex to school.

11:48 Got to Alex's school late and had to park in another fire lane while I ran Alex in. Bah.

11:55 Got home. Ariel had been asleep for quite a while transfered to her bed.

While Ariel napped I installed my brand new Photoshop CS3. I be jammin' now.

1:30 Ariel woke up, too early in my opinion. She joined Adam in watching Ice Age. Again.

2:30 Walked to get Alex.

3:00 Got home with Alex. It's truly an event now to trudge all the way over to the school. So we had some hot chocolate to warm up.

4:00 Pick up.

I realized I couldn't have two days of no photos, so here's some pictures of my front yard winter wasteland wonderland.



People actually pay money for fake icicles like ours.











It's not even officially winter yet and Jeremy and I are DONE. If we are ever done being sick, a day of skiing should help our attitude.