Sundays We Chill

After a busy weekend of house projects (trimming out the pink bedroom and kitchen cabinets, cabinet painting and MORE wallpaper peeling), we spent Sunday hanging out and attending church and hosting friends for dinner.  Okay, it doesn't sound super chill, but it was way more relaxing than our normal days.  It was also the perfect time to capture capture a few shots of our cute girls doing their thing.  

January

First of all, my New Year's Resolution was to learn my new camera.  You know, the one I bought 7 months ago, but left in storage because it was different than my tired old camera and "too nice to take anywhere."  Well, I am happy to report that I sat down with You Tube and figured that thing out.  Also, a little disappointed in myself for waiting this long, but can't change that now.  So, there's been some more photo-taking around here and I officially love my new camera!

Indie always asks for cereal, but really only loves the milk.  This trick right here helped her learn how to drink out of an open cup so I'll take it, even if she's a bit messy (with cereal and cups!) 

The face Indie made when Baby Shark came on Google!  She constantly tries to boss Google around, but she's going to need a little more articulation to pull it off. 

Surprised the girls with an after school trip to the Botanic Gardens then made them stand in pretty light while I figured out my new camera settings.  What can I say, they're pretty lucky kids.  

Indie is giving kisses with her tongue IN her mouth now.  Not to brag, but I also get running hugs and neck squeezes at preschool pick up.  

Cora requested a sombrero from Mexico and looks quite smashing!  

This month we have been working on the basement (removing wallpaper, patching holes, painting all the trim and doors) and Cora has been using her tiny fingers to peel wallpaper.  When we were chatting about working on things and being proud of our accomplishments, she told me that she already feels proud of the entryway when she walks in.  There are lots of times when I worry we made a bad decision with another fixer upper, but conversations like this make me hopeful that this experience will help the girls develop a strong work ethic and bring our family closer together.

Indie learned to jump as soon as we bought a mini trampoline for her birthday.  She worked hard to learn that and still feels proud of herself every time.  Falling onto the bed is just as much fun, and less work for her.  Milan's a champ for lifting her up there over and over and o.v.e.r. 

 I managed to untangle some necklaces from our jewelry mass and Indie was a fan.  

When I told Indie to put her tongue in her mouth.....

Tubing

We enjoyed the perfect tubing day with cousins; the warmish weather and magic carpet ride to the top was just icing on the cake.  Indie even loved it for a while, giggling on the way down and waving "bye" to everyone in line. When she and Eden got cold they got to head back to the toasty car with Dave.  Milan, Cora, and I closed that place down, taking advantage of empty lines and fast trips down the hill.  It was so much fun!

Christmas in Ontario

Dave had a week and a half off of work for the holidays so we made a last minute decision to get the heck out of dodge (and avoid all of our looming projects) and head for the Torlands.  We broke out our semi-annual Kindles and the kids did really well for the 12 hour drive.  The Torlands are used to our phenomenal planning skills and welcomed us into their warm and cozy home.  Marie made us some delicious meals and showed us a good time with the YMCA pool, snow tubing, Boise Aquarium, and Kiwi Loco frozen yogurt, and the Carl's Junior Play Place.  The rest of the time, the girls loved playing with cousins and Dave even got to go duck hunting with Scott.  

Despite all our fun Christmas toys, the Torland's Nerf Gun Stash were some of our favorites.  We have since bought ball guns for our house and have some epic battles.  I kinda love them because now we almost have a fighting chance to beat Dave!

 These dogs had a love/hate relationship with Indie.  They definitely loved her food throwing habit and this time she wasn't even shy about grabbing a box of crackers of Wheat Thins from the pantry just to feed the dogs.  However, the price was that Indie loved to chase these poor dogs around the house, hug their faces, poke out their eyes, disrupt their eating time, and shake their booties.  

 Poor sick Garrett.  He and Scott both had strep, which was later shared between Milan and Indie.  Indie even took it a step further by adding Scarlett Fever to her recipe, but oh well, a small price for valuable family time and memories.  

 Here's Cora sporting a couple of her favorite gifts, a real "toleda" and Bubble Wubble.  After months of requesting a real Koala, Panda, larger driveway, ice skating rink, phone, and real Ruby, I was glad when she settled on a Bubble Wubble instead and she has sure loved that thing!

 See that car track in the foreground?  I thought Indie would love it.  She doesn't.  But she sure loves her time with all her favorite people.  

 Milan loves baking and cooking and I don't so it seems to be the perfect fit.  

 The jury's still out on this Little People Farm Gift.  Indie seems to like it some of the time and I saw saw it out in the playroom today so I'm counting that as a victory.

Hangin' Around

I have been trying to find the light in this house, which can be a bit challenging with busy lives and early sunsets, but I did manage to capture some cute shots.  While looking through these photos, I remembered that my living room was almost finished for .3 seconds, but then I shopped it to finish off my guest bedroom.  I am now a little too obsessed with finding the perfect antique Persian rug to fill the space.  Stay tuned as the eBay saga continues....

O' Christmas Tree

We had a sweet artificial spinning tree for almost a decade, but it was dying a slow death so we left it in Omaha when we moved.  This year, we drove up the Snowies, purchased a $10 tree tag and cut down the perfect Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.  The girls had a blast playing in the snow with the Redd girls, Dave got to bust out his sawing skills (just look at that happy face), we all got to enjoy some beautiful nature, and there was even hot chocolate (thanks to the Redds, who are apparently way more prepared than us.)  I hope this becomes a new tradition and we have 30 more years of family tree hunting pictures. 

Nope, we did not get a new puppy, but the we let the girls pretend with this cute little guy.

 It is against the rules to cut a tree without an extra permit, but these girls loved their cute little trees so much we just let them roll with it.  Plus, what can you really do once it's already been cut???