Colorado and the North Pole

Santa left lots of nice gifts for D and M this Christmas. Here they are playing with them the morning after he came (he came early since we are going to be in CO for Christmas).



We arrived in CO on Sunday and we all went to the dentist there on Monday. This was M's first real visit where he sat in the chair by himself and got his teeth cleaned by Aunt Becky. He did a really good job!





On Tuesday, we went to the North Pole. First stop--Santa! D has been asking every day if she can sit on Santa's lap, and she willingly did when we got there. Cat had her tongue, though, and she wouldn't talk to him or tell them all the things she said she was going to say. She just sat on his lap all happy and smiling. M, on the other hand, was having no part of Santa and had to sit on my lap next to him.





The North Pole is also an amusement park with lots of rides and some animals (reindeer and such) to see. D absolutely loved the rides. M's face was expressionless on all of them, but he was a good sport and went on them all.





D's in the shark-mobile, Daddy and M are behind her.



Papa and M on the firetruck ride.



Riding the Candy Cane 'Coaster.



In the first car!









Here are some videos from our time at the North Pole. Santa's visit first.



Our first ride was the Merry-Go-Round. D had to have Rudolph, and M looks like he's hanging on for dear life.



They had so much fun on this ride (especially D!).




We always make a trip to Fargo's for pizza when in Colorado Springs, and D and M entertained us all while enjoying the player piano.

Police Loppy Lop

What in the world is police loppy lop you ask? D's (mis)interpretation of "Feliz Navidad". She loves to sing along to songs on the radio, and when I heard her say this, I repeated the correct lyrics, but she insists that I have it wrong. I'm sure it's partially due to her hearing loss, but it was always very difficult for me to hear the correct lyrics, too. On a related side note, we found out today that she will need to have tubes in her ears--the procedure will be scheduled in January.

Here is a picture of M being swallowed up by his froggy toy bin. Here are some pictures of us celebrating Police Loppy Lop with my parents and sister's family last weekend as we will be in Colorado over the holidays this year.

The tree with tons-o-gifts. D in her Christmas dress. All the cousins together. M looks ready for bed. Playing with the A-Z zoo set from Grandma and Papa the next day. D's favorite, a sleepy bear cub, along with a new dress and watch from Grandma and Papa. D and I tried out her new Easy Bake Oven from Tia, Dan and her cousins. She had lots of fun making her first cake. The finished product--delicious!

Here is a preview of D's dance class recital performance. They will be dressed as Raggedy Ann's and will dance with the dolls. Today for fun they danced with their favorite stuffed animal. She chose the dolphin that the stranger at the State Fair gave her in September. She loves that animal and sleeps with it every night.

Fun at the Cabin

D and M love the Mega Blocks M got for his birthday.





Here are some more pictures of the cabin.

The kitchen.





The living room.





On Saturday, my sister and her family came up to the cabin for Christmas at the Fort at Forts Folle Avione in Danbury. They had horse drawn wagon rides, storytelling in a teepee, a campfire, time to visit Santa, food, and other activities. We had lots of fun.

Horsedrawn wagon ride.



M in front of the teepee and fort grounds.



A Christmas miracle! Both kids together getting their picture taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus. M had his picture taken with Santa last year, but D has never gotten this close to him before (notice she is sitting on Mrs. Claus' lap, NOT Santa's!). She kept asking why Santa's mom was there. The concept of a Mrs. Claus was new to her.



Getting Rudolph facepainted on.



Warming up by the campfire.





Inside the teepee.



The kids love the Little Drummer Boy movie and like to act it out.



D loves doing stickers now. She can easily entertain herself for 20 plus minutes by herself (by toddler standards, that's a long time to do anything totally by yourself).



We had D's homeschool preschool yesterday and made gingerbread houses with graham crackers and TONS of candy. We had a lot of fun and ate way too much. WAY WAY too much. Okay, maybe just I ate way too much. It was yummy and the kids had a blast.



The finished product.



Sadly, this is what it looked like a couple of hours later (see what I mean by WAY WAY too much!). D was so anxious to eat it and I didn't see any reason to just let perfectly good candy just sit there and get stale!

M's 2nd Birthday

Here is D with her B letter drawings. She is really starting to catch on and recognize the letters we are learning. Okay, we're only on C, but she literally points out every A, B, and C she sees on signs everywhere. M is starting to catch on, too, and he calls all letters (and numbers) "A". It's very cute. Unless you are by a lot of signs.



I have no pictures on the blog yet of our cabin, which is also part of the reason that there haven't been many blog entries lately. We have spent every weekend there since we closed doing projects and relaxing. Here is a before picture of the living room. I painted it the same color as our living room at home, kind of a sandy tan color. It really warms the room up.



Daddy took the kids out for a walk on our property during deer hunting opener in WI, so everyone got to wear bright orange.



D loves working out with me in the evening. She even grabbed some balls from the ball pit to use as weights.



D with her C's.



D and M playing with the Mega Blocks M got for his birthday from Grandma and Grandpa S. They are definitely a hit. D likes making towers as tall as she possibly can and M loves the firetruck.

Thanksgiving Day and M's 2nd Birthday!

Here are some pictures of him opening his gifts.

What a handsome birthday boy!



Playing catch with Papa.



M and his firetruck--this toy was a big hit.



The Elmo shape sorter--another favorite toy.



M and Papa with his firetruck birthday cookie.



Not quite sure about the whole blowing the candle thing yet.



The traditional family picture we used to take at Christmas every year.



The new family picture with Grandma and Papa E and all the grandkids/cousins.



We drove up to the cabin after celebrating Thanksgiving and spent the weekend there. Here are Steve and the kids working on putting the log bed together.



Ahhh...finished! Now we just need a bed (that's a blow up mattress we have in there just to try it out).



Breakfast at the cabin. More pictures to come later.