Best moment of my day...

...yesterday, Will brought me a book and wanted to read it to me.  He sat down on my lap, opened it and said, "once upon a time....."  Love it!  Of course, these wonderful moments are always tempered by the two-year-old moments that are not so wonderful.  Yesterday's?  I went to pick the kids up from the Kid's Club at the gym and Will threw an enormous tantrum, yelling, "I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE.  I DON'T WANT TO GO HOME!!  I ONLY LOVE MISS DEBBIE!"  Good thing I know most everyone there or else they'd think his home life is not so great!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

And, boy, was it a white one!!  Snow, snow, everywhere--not fantastic for our drive to Yreka, but absolutely WONDERFUL for everything else.  We have a ton in Sisters (and not likely to go anywhere soon, with highs in the teens!) and there was even snow in usually dry Yreka.  Mt. Shasta got feet and feet of snow just in time for arrival, which meant we got to go skate skiing and even took the kids for their first cross country outing.  Best of all, though, was seeing ALL of Ryan's family.  What a big, fun, happy bunch.  Kate and Will (but especially Kate!) were in heaven, getting attention of love from aunts, uncles, cousins and,  of course, grandma and grandpas.  At the big Christmas party, Kate got in on the guys' traditional poker game (by "helping" Ryan) and has now developed a new obsession.  She is showing all the signs of a compulsive gambler ("I'm sure I'll win the next one!") and now refuses to call a "two" anything but a "deuce."  While being an artist is still on her list of what she wants to be when she grows up, she has now added cross country skier and poker player.  We'll see!  Will discovered the joys of grandpa's shop, spending many hours "doing work" which was mainly sorting screws, nuts and bolts.  He joined all the men who gathered in the shop (by grandpa's fire) on Christmas--while they drank beer, he did some sort of "work," coming inside covered in grease!  It was definitely our most fun Christmas yet with the kids, since they're old enough now to be excited about in and in awe of Santa--watching their joy is the best present we could get!

Spreading food for Santa's reindeer!

Santa came!

Kate on her cross country skis--she claims to like it more than downhill.

Just because it's winter doesn't mean Grandpa gets a break from giving the kids tractor rides!!

Microphone fun....

We've been playing with Kate's microphone set-up all day....honestly, I'm pretty sure Ryan likes it as much as the kids.  While I write this, the kids are taking turns doing tricks while Ryan talks into the microphone like a WWF wrestling announcer--he's dubbed Will "Will the Thrill" which sounds quite good when said in his fake deep announcer voice.  Here's some videos of the kids.  They get super serious when trying to sing with songs because they're concentrating so hard on finding the words they know.  And Kate is going to need a wireless mic, apparently, because she feels limited "since I can't dance enough with it attached."  

Early Christmas!

We've finally had enough snow to build a snowman (Ryan gets all the credit for this effort!)

Since Grandma Connie and Grandpa Bill are leaving for Christmas, we had an early Christmas this morning.  The kids have been enjoying their new gifts all day--thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!

Kate's first dance recital

In my opinion, spending a Saturday night watching Kate and a whole bunch of other kids do hip hop (and ballet and jazz and....) is time well spent.  Kate did great--no stage fright or anything.  Her class got some big cheers since they are such tiny people attempting to do hip hop.  Their teacher is an amazing woman--luckily, she danced on stage with them but how she gets kids this age to perform is pretty much a miracle in my opinion.  After Kate performed, we watched the rest of the kids (LOTS of them!) and I think Kate loved that she recognized so many of them.  It was a pretty packed house and it was really nice to be around so many friends supporting something in our community.  Well done, Kate!

Kate striking a hip hop pose pre-performance

Oh yes, they're looking tough!

It's really hard to see since it was hard to get video in the dark but, as you look at it, Kate's on the far left.  You can tell from the laughs and cheers that they were doing a great job (although they probably would have got the same love just standing there since they were all so cute!)

It snowed before and during the performance and, when Ryan left with Will at intermission, Will apparently got very excited about the snow.  When they got home, Will refused to come inside and was still outside "shoveling snow" when Kate, Grandma Connie and I got home after 8 o'clock!  They both woke up this morning asking to "ski and sled right now!!"

Add it to the list....

....of things that will one day embarrass Will (AKA "the perils of having an older sister").  Will is walking around, putting around chapstick and just came up to me to ask, "Mommy, how do I look?  Like a princess?"  Oh, buddy.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Happy birthday to the best daddy (and husband) around!!  The kids and I are now eagerly waiting for him to arrive home from work so we can have the "cake" this kids chose (doughnuts, which, honestly, he'll probably like way better than cake!)  And, thanks to Grandma Connie, Ryan and I get to go celebrate on Saturday night and stay the night in Bend.  Can't wait!!