Bebe gros...

Friends of ours have a yearly 'Bebe Gros' party ('Fat Baby'), their version of Mardi Gras with kids. On the day of the party, of course it was pouring rain outside. So they brought the baby frat party inside. They had a bunch of toys out, loads of guests, beads, food and drinks. There were activities for the kids, little babies in the baked into the cupcakes and people standing or sitting in every corner of their house. There were even feathers for the hats they painted! Ben and Hannah had so much fun, that they have been talking about how much fun it was at Connor and Aidan's house for the past week. They wear their hats almost every day and the beads...well we have tons of beads to go around. Here is a pic of them with their 'Bebe Gros' attire on.

Snow fun...

We went to the Laguna Mountains today and had a blast! There was snow...earlier in the week but there was enough for lots of fun. The kids didn't really care that they were sledding in mud either. GranDad drove the 'bus' up and it served as the hub for the cold ones. Marissa brought a friend who had never been to the snow before, she froze within a few minutes and had to go in. The rest of the kids (mostly Ben and Marissa) were diving onto the sleds, in the snow and flying down the hill. They had so much fun. They didn't care that they were all wet either. And they were hot and shedding their coats long before they went in.

We can't wait for it to rain...well snow again! We are all going up again!

Corey and Ben landing after the jump.

Noah....not impressed with snow

Hannah

Shoes...

It rained like cats and dogs last night. It began around 7:45pm and lasted through the night. We had planned on going on a hike today near the Sweetwater River with some friends from a walking group. When we got up this morning it wasn't raining as hard anymore and eventually stopped. A quick look at the weather to see that it would be clear and that set the morning in motion. We brought extra clothes (just in case it the weatherman was wrong) to change into afterwards as well as extra shoes and socks.

When we got to the trailhead we found a friend, Michael and her son, Daniel waiting to see if we would show up. We giggled as the raindrops started pelting our heads as we geared up to go. We waited for Hannah to get her rubber boots on, that way she could walk in those puddles without too much worry about getting her feet wet. And boy was she happy that she had them on! Ben didn't want to wear his shoes and opted for his sandals, why not? It isn't freezing cold and we were only going to walk for a little while.

As soon as we started down the trail, the rain stopped and he clouds cleared out, leaving lots of fresh little puddles and slippery mud for us to dodge...or walk right through! We had a nice hike exploring the flora and fauna of the area. We spotted a red tailed hawk circling the area and wondered if we would see it catch his prey, we didn't. We followed fresh dog tracks and wondered if we would catch up with it, we didn't.

Then the grey clouds began to loom overhead and we decided to head back to the car. Just in time because just as we got to the car, it was pouring again. What luck!

Our shoes

Mama Says Om theme for the week: shoes.

Beans in his ears...

Maybe this is why he can't hear us sometimes!

Going flying...

Noah got this little Pooh Bear airplane for Christmas and absolutely loves it! The other day he was playing around with Hannah's swim goggles and managed to get them on his head. He walked around this way and that, strutting his stuff a bit like a duck, thinking he was so cool (which he was). He did it all by himself! Then he got on the Pooh Bear airplane and rode it around the house until the goggles slipped off. He put them on again and it began a new game of putting the goggles on and off by himself but sometimes he needed help and I helped. He would bump his belly up and down when he got the goggles on again.

So I took a few pictures of him with the goggles on and then when he got on the airplane. Then I looked closer... Pooh Bear has goggles on too! They match!! Too cute!

Christmas presents...

For Christmas, Ben, Hannah and I got stepping stones to decorate. A few weeks ago we did them and now they are in the garden for anyone who visits to enjoy.

Wildlife...

Corey was taking the trash out last night and was surprised to see this cute little racoon run by him and up to the top of the nearest tree. I don't think I've ever seen any kind of wildlife in our back yard other than the occasional possum or squirrel. Oh we did see a bunny in the back yard once but that is about it. We can smell skunks frequently but never have spotted one in real life (in our back yard). We just bugged this little racoon with about 20 pictures and then went inside.

And some more pictures...of our wildlife during the day ;-)

Here are the kids playing together this morning. The pillow was a fire engine and Noah's hat was just tossed to the side.

Ben and Noah trying to find the traffic cone in Ben's newest I Spy-like book. Working together, awww cute!

Some pics...

Noah carrying his cupcake on a plate. Balancing it so well...up the step and...

yum! He takes a bite!

Walking at Mast Park. We didn't make it far...

they couldn't wait until they could play!

Builder...

Ben loves to build. We find him in different spots of the house building something every day. He loves his Tinkertoys, blocks, legos, train track set, pillows, blankets, wood...anything really. He can be involved in building something for hours or minutes. He just gets busy and creates, it's a wonderful process to watch as the end product is revealed.

We were at my parents house last weekend and there was a small bucket of blocks near the couch. Ben found them and got busy building. He announced when he was finished and I snapped a picture of him (below). My parents had been gone and when they returned they asked Corey if he had been building with the blocks. When he said "no" they were quite surprised that it was Ben's creation. It was perfectly symmetrical and it only took him about 5 minutes to put together.

Soccer...

Noah is quite the soccer player. Here's a clip of him playing in the kitchen.

Helper...

Noah loves to help out with everything around the house. When we clean up he throws (with a good arm) the toys around and sometimes even makes it into the container it should go in. I guess that is what it looks like to him. He likes to be in the middle of it all, it must make him feel like one of the big kids. Here he is helping Daddy empty the dishwasher.