Snow Bunnies

While I could live without the inversion and could live with some better snow in our mountains, we are still enjoying the snow when we get the chance.  Chris and I got to take an afternoon off the other day to hit the slopes and it was the best date we've had in a while.  It was a much needed little break for us. Love him.  

Then we had some family snow time at the sledding hill just down the road from us at Eagle Island. While the snow on the ground has melted in Boise, the temperatures are low enough to make snow for this fun little treat.  We were not sure how our 1 year old would handle the whole flying down a hill on a tube thing, but were pleasantly surprised when we made it to the bottom and he shouted "Funnnnnnnnnnnn, More, Funnnnnnnnnnnnn!"  He was all smiles and giggles and so were we.  He was the littlest guy on the little hill and probably the happiest too.

Life is just better with hats with pom poms.

Party Animals

Ringing in the new year with a table of kiddos, letting a separate table of kiddos totally ransack our house, dinner parties sure are not what they used to be.  I do miss being able to enjoy a drink without looking though the bottom of my glass to make sure that Grady is not causing problems, but I'd take these dinner parties any day. I absolutely love them.  Life is messy and so are kids, and I'm learning to appreciate life's wonderful little messes.

(and I was feeling so organized with my New Year's project!

New Year's Eve at the Whitfields, a full table of cuties. 

 followed by crazy town. . . 

Christmas Magic

We spent Christmas week in Spokane this year and it was a magical, fantastic, memory-filled week. Grandma and Papa's house looks like what Christmas dreams are made of.  There was a whole room of Santas, a snow village complete with moving pieces, three Christmas trees, freshly baked cookies and candy galore, continuously playing Christmas music, and very official looking reindeer bells on the door.  I feel like Grady's little brain was in a Christmas explosion in the most wonderful way.  The best part of the week was spending a full week with the Whitfields and Grandma and Papa just being together.  Thank you Grandma and Papa for hosting us, feeding us three enormous feasts and everything in between, and for making Christmas so special for all of us.

Grady was fascinated with this nutcracker, it was the cutest thing in the world to hear him try to say "Nuhgragger".

The rule was everytime you walked by Santa you had to say "Hi Santa".  Grady would alternate between "ho ho ho", "Hi Tanta" and "wheel wheel wheel" (because Santa had a sleigh with a wheel).

These pictures were before Grandma and Papa's tour de lights around the neighborhood where the parents were not allowed.  I forsee hot chocolates and lots of singing in the car in future years.  This time around will be marked by the two boys' hats falling over their eyes and Grady screaming "mama mama mama" as the tour came to an end.  What a wonderful magical memory for the kids.

We have a pretty cute niece and nephew.

Spending Christmas with two one year olds and a four year old is about as good as it gets.  It was SO fun to watch these three have 5 full days together. 

I will never get over how adorable these two are together.  They kill me in their little jeans, I just could squeeze them both all day long.

 

Grady and his papa. So sweet.

Chris and I got out to enjoy two lunch dates thanks to Grandma and Papa.  Spokane and Coeur d'Alene  at Christmas are cold, but beautiful.

"Tanta" came and brought Grady all sorts of goodies!

The magic snow village is not really Grady friendly, but so cool.  Every now and then Grady would come to me to proudly display a miniature snow-covered tree.  It became a game for me to find the right place where he'd previously plucked such tree.

 

Grady and papa played "papa boo" for what seemed like two days straight.   Grady would crawl on the floor and papa would crawl over the top of him and say boo.  Two weeks later, when we say the word papa, Grady says one of two things, "Papa boo" or "Papa choo choo".

"Papa choo choo"

Grandma got to experience Grady's famous open mouth kiss.  I am sure it was one of those memorable kinds of kisses.

The third floor is like a paradise for children with books, cars, a complete train town, and lots of babies (one of Grady's favorite things ever, hey no gender discrimination in this family, Grady's dada is a great dada and I am sure Grady will be one day too).

A slinky = huge hit!

Lots of tunnel fun to be had over Christmas..... I love how the adults got in on it as well.  Let me tell you, it is not easy to make your way through the little tunnel.

Merry Christmas.  Hope it made you this happy!

You can see more of our Christmas shananigans over on the Whitfield blog.

Before leaving for Spokane my mom came over for a little early Christmas gift exchange.  Grady got this awesome tunnel that he just loves.   The tunnel made the trip with us to Spokane as you can see above.  I think that made Grandma and Grady pretty happy.