::the girls dec 2014::

And just for fun we got a few photos of just us girls--with our coordinated outfits.  I worked hard to find something dark blue and gold so I could look at cute as Lucy.

We're good buddies, I love this little stinker.

::all of us dec 2014::

And here are even more people added to the mix.  Even less of a chance of getting everybody looking cute/appropriate/awake/etc.

But it so doesn't matter.  It's real and it's us.  And though us drives us nuts sometimes, us is great.

::the kiddos dec 2014::

Here are the kiddos in their Christmas church outfits. Since we were gone to Tuba Christmas the sunday before the actual holiday, we had to get all fancy for the Sunday after.

The best way I can sum up this series of photos is this:

Poor Lucy

Silly me for thinking it would be possible to get everybody looking cute/normal/acceptable/in focus/well-behaved at the same time.

Looks like the best was last.  Aren't these kids cute?  Goofy sure, but also dang cute.

::luke skywalker::

After church Sandy got dressed in his PJs and then he needed to turn into Luke Skywalker.  He really wanted Kris to find the skiing ninja hood, but I guess all Kris could find was the helmet and goggles.  So then Sandy was Luke with the blast shield down.



He felt awesome and wore the helmet for hours while humming his Star Wars theme music.  And wearing his super Sandy cape of course.

Yes, he's hilarious.

::skiing::

Kris finally succeeded in dragging me up the mountain for my first lesson.

But first I told him all my complaints and concerns from the one other time I went and he addressed all of them.  I wasn't cold, hungry or pushed beyond my comfort zone at any time.  And my feet didn't hurt.  So that was nice!

Here I am going up the "magic carpet" to the top of the bunny hill.


I was pretty scared to get started, and all the time that we spent learning to clip in and out of the skiis and duck walking up tiny slopes only made me more apprehensive.  When I got on the little hill suddenly I felt like the skis were something I could control and it was fun!

I did a good enough job that the teacher left the class and took me and another girl up the lift onto the real ski run.  It was a little scary, but I figured out the turns and I was good to go.  I didn't fall down getting on or off the lift, which was amazing because really last time I went skiing it seemed like all I did was fall down.  All the time.

So all in all it was a positive experience for me.





That's the teacher.  He wanted to pose for a photo-op.

While I was learning, Kris took the kids on a snowy adventure.



Lucy is SO adorable in that hat.  She was very patient.



"Dad I found a snowball!!"



Sandy loves to make snow angels, he sometimes even makes them on the kitchen floor, so this was extra fun.



Max came up to me after my lesson and I couldn't even recognize him in that getup.



So there you go, and to give myself some credit I wasn't too prideful to admit I had a good time.  We'll see how I do next time.  I was pretty proud of myself.

::cute babies are just cute::

That's all there is to it. Cute babies are just cute and nobody can say any different.

On Friday I had to go into work because we were missing a few people.  Lucy was pretty good, though when she's there she does not want to waste time sleeping.  There are too many fun people to play with and too many interesting new places to explore.

She was very pleased to be sitting with Dad for a while.

Later, or was it another day? She helped me get the tree put away. She thought the pictures of all of us were pretty fun and got really serious about trying to get some of them down to look at (look at is code for eat of course.)

 

She was having more fun than her face says. She's just a serious girl.



And so so cute of course!

::new years::

Happy New Year!!

First of all, Kris got his hair cut.  I think it looks really cute but we're still trying to figure out how to style it right.  The guy who cut his hair made it look so easy--it's not so easy in real life!





On New Year's we took it pretty easy.  We did some exercise (Kris hike/ski, Ginna treadmill), some household tasks and a little relaxing.  I'm trying to get our bedroom and closet all cleaned out and organized better, so I worked on that for a while.  Not a quick process though.  Sandy had a bath in the big tub which is one of his very most favorite things to do.

We went out for burgers in the late afternoon and it was a pretty pleasant meal. I think we had only one spilled drink and a little bit of crying.  Sandy actually ate a bunch of his burger too. I couldn't get the boys to really look at me, but that's normal.



It's always nice when Kris has a day off and the office is closed so nobody can get any work done.  We like to hang out together.

Glad we get to do it a lot in 2015.

::new years eve::

At least somebody partied on New Year's Eve.  Max's friend Eli came over to recreate the rocking overnighter that they had last year.  Sandy (sadly) went to bed a little after 7.  Kris and I were tired and went to bed at about 10.  The boys played games until about 10 and then went and hung out in Max's room until midnight.  They claim to have seen the clock change, celebrated and then slept.

The new years comes with or without us awake we've found.  And little ones get up at the same ridiculously early hour no matter when mom & dad go to bed.  So we're either getting older or smarter--not sure which, but either way we went to bed.

::::

The Santa letter from Max.  I love so much about it.  It's just adorable.  And please note the "quotation marks."