Arctic Blast '08

We have been having some winter fun today. Here are some pics...

All my snow peeps

Totally lovin' the sled

Right before a crash

Warming up inside with Poppy
and Grammy!

Snow Day!!!

After the entire Metropolitan area except us getting covered in snow for the last 3 days we finally got some that was worth going out to see. Aiden loved being out in the snow. I was teaching him to catch snowflakes on his tongue and when he finally caught one he looked at me and said, "hey mommy, water!". We made snowballs, tasted snow, and did some serious snow smashing with our feet. I think he would have stayed out for 4 hours if I had let him :)

"Cheese"

Catching snowflakes with his tongue
Licking a snowball

Cameron taught him to blow out so he could see his breath and now he does it every time we step outside

A ride on The Polar Express

On Monday we took a trip up to Hood River to take a ride on The Polar Express. The ride up was a little sketchy, but we made it safely (thanks for driving, Poppy). It was super cold that day, but we all had a great time. They tried to make it as much like the movie as possible and that was really fun for the kids. We had hot chocolate, sang Christmas carols, and got a visit from Santa and his elves. On the drive home we asked the kids what their favorite part was...Katie's was the singing carols, Emma's was the hot chocolate, and Aiden said he "loves the choo choo train train"! We were all curious how Aiden would react to sitting on Santa's lap, and he LOVED him. From the moment he walked into our train car Aiden kept waving and saying, "hello santa caus". When it was his turn to sit on his lap he hoped right on. They had a great conversation...this is how it went...
Santa: "Hi there, what is your name little boy"
Aiden: "I Aiden"
Santa: "Have you been a good boy this year?"
Aiden: "Yah"
Santa: "What do you want for Christmas"
Aiden: "Motocycle" (of course I intrepreted this as tricycle and told that to Santa)
Santa: "Do you want a red one"
Aiden: "No...blue"
It was so stinkin' cute to watch my little guy sitting on Santa's lap having a full conversation with him. I guess because I am with him all day sometimes I don't realize how much he is growing up. It is moments like these that the realization smacks me...and yes, I totally teared up while he was talking with Santa. He is such a big boy and so amazing! Today he looked at me and said, "Hey mommy...Happy Holidays"!!! He cracks me up! Anyway, The Polar Express was a great experience and Aiden brings up seeing Santa about once every hour!

Waiting to board the trian

Aiden looking out the window...very serious

The conductor came around and punched the tickets like they do in the movie. He punches really fast and lets the pieces fall on the kids...of course he doesn't actually spell anything out, but it was still neat!

Aiden peeking through the holes in his ticket

The kids holding the bells they got from Santa

Putting up the Christmas tree

We got our Christmas tree this today (finally). Okay, well actually, Cam and the girls got the tree because it was like 26 degrees out and snowing. They got a good one, but it was a little bigger once they got it home :). Oh well, Cam fixed that with some prunning sheers and it all turned out great. We had a great time decorating it. Now the challenge will be keeping Aiden from taking all the ornaments back off...I'll keep you posted.

"Little full...lotta sap!"

The cutting back begins...
Aiden using his saw like Daddy

Decorating

Aiden was a big helper

Being Goofy

Me and my girls

Katie's Winter Formal Dance

Katie attended her winter formal dance this Saturday night. She looked absolutely beautiful and I had so much fun helping her get ready. She had her hair done and everyone in the salon decided she looked just like a princess...I (of course) agreed!!!

Check out that princess hair!

Emma helped her sister get in to her dress...it was so cute!

Little beauties

Aiden said, "Tatie, you look petty"!

Katie and Grammy

The proud Dad

A picture with 2 of my 3 girls :)