Hot pots: It was Really windy

I wasn't going to say anything on this post. But I can't help it.
I had a bad day. Gary had spent it skiing with Uncle Eric and he gets on a high when he does fun stuff and he calls and says, "hey, lets go to the hot pots with Eric and Kendra."

My brain is thinking, "high winds, babies, getting wet in semi warm water... more high winds on wet bodies. Sounds like a blast. Gathering all the necessary swim wear, towels, diapers, jammies for after feeding kids dinner and meeting everyone there on time..." and some other things....
But all told, we went.
It was very windy. Only mildly cold outside.
But it's an adventure.
A memory.
So thanks for that.

And for the record: It was HOT water. Not warm. And once Zurich decided he liked it he was all over the place and loving it, no fear. Olea had no problem with it of course and Nev handled it like she does all new things, a little whimper and then just quiet fascination, at every change of hands.And the kids did pretty well changing into jammies after getting out. It wasn't as big a hassle as I thought. It was cool. I'm glad we went so thanks Kendra and Eric for sharing that with us, and helping us juggle the little ones.

No Weggies Here!

When teaching a young child to ski. There are a few things that come in handy. One is called an Edgy-wedgie.

Olea has used one on her skis since she started. It was good.
But she skis quite well now. So this time Gary convinced her to give it a go without the Edgy-wedgie.
She did awesome.

This time I stayed home and Tatted, did laundry, played with the kids and cleaned the kitchen to get ready to bottle some jam when Gary got back from skiing. So Gary took our little Lumix camera with him to get some pics.

One regret: Olea and Gary did their last run down in 6minutes becuase they were trying to get to the lift before it closed... they were in line everything was good. Gary had plans to ask someone to take some pics of him and Olea together.... but alas... The lift closed on their last run two seats before them because some fabulous people fell down. So that may have been their last run down of the season. At least Olea did awesome!
A lil video for your viewing pleasure... or at least for Grandparents' pleasure. She's got good control and can even stop (this is cool to me, who would have crashed into those people). Gary is of course skiing while he is taking the video, so there is some movement.



A good day skiing!

And finally after over 6 months. We finally got around to making jam out of those Apricots. Thank you freezer. Thank you Cyndi, Thank you Derolene, Thank you Pedroza's. Three batches of Apricot Jam. Beautiful is it not?!

Best part is we can reclaim the space the jars were taking up in the cupboard and the apricots in the freezer and we get to eat the yummy jam. If you were thanked you will probably get a jar too.

15 year old models

No.
not people.
You know, the models you put together when you are a 10 year old boy.
Gary had a bunch.
Many of them died in storage.
Some of them survived.
Gary's parents brought them down on one of their visits in the last few months.
Some of them I harvested things off of (like wheels and mini airplanes) I have plans for those.
Gary was going to let Zurich play with them all but I had an idea so I nixed that (besides Models aren't exactly safe toys, as evidenced by a nice scratch on Nev's face and a gnash in my own hand from catching one that dropped).

Zurich especially likes helicopters and there was a large one that was only partially finished. At the time we just put it back in the box with the ones I elected to save.

They were in a box in the storage area off of my studio so Zurich would get bored of "paintin'" and start whining for one of the objects in the box. It was really beginning to be a problem. So I was thrilled when Gary just brought up the box and decided to finish putting together the Apache helicopter that has been unfinished for at least 15 years. I got out my thread and some hooks that I had Gary pick up a few weeks ago. The kids used paintbrushes to dust off the old models while Gary put the last pieces on the Apache.

Gary joked while he put the Apache together that, "I don't have the patience to do this anymore. I'd rather mindlessly watch TV."

Then we hung them all up on the hooks I'd installed. It looks pretty cool... aside from the flying coyote. But Zurich likes his "dog" so it stays. His room, not mine. And for the record, all I did was make the bed for the picture. Zurich is a very careful boy with his beloved toys. They take turns in the place of honor on top of his bed. Zurich loves it and it's fun to watch them fly as the air moves them just enough.

Zurich is actually a very clean (so far) little boy and takes really good care of his toys.
But also for the record, Nev is not so clean. Here's what real life looks like.

Dear Calla Lily

Dear Calla Lily,
I love you. I mostly always have. You were there when I got engaged. You were there preserved in plastic while I waited to be married. You were there in silk when I got married. You were there these past seven years of marriage in all your glorious forms, potted, planted, vased, silk, plastic, prisma color, pencil, paint, foam even. A series of you hangs in my front room. I have loved you for your elegance, and simplicity. Your color and shape. I have loved you for the memories.
But I write to inform you that your standing is in jeopardy.
This is a serious threat.
Let me begin this way:
Gary bought me a bouquet of flowers of Orange one fine day. It was lovely.

I had begun a new relationship with orange. Every single Lily of orange in that bouquet bloomed, long after the other flowers had died. Even you.

You were beautiful though, I admit.
We bought plants for our flower bed. I bought these hoping they would be as fragrant as their pink sister. I almost did, but did not, in the end, buy you.

Then another bouquet. This time you were absent.

Lily was not. This time she was a ravishing pink purple and white.

And she SMELLED! She was intoxicating and filled the room with her fragrance. I found myself aimlessly entering the room just to get another sniff. And again every single lily opened and shared it's fragrance.
Again flowers, and after last time Gary was sure to get Lilies.

The ones open when the bouquet arrived we not in the best of shape. But here we stand two and a half weeks later as the last flower finally fades. There were so many lilies un-opened, but they all made their appearance and shared their fragrance. Every single one of them.

I'm not sure you would do the same Calla, I'm just not sure.

So this year when I had to pick a new flower for the flower bed.
I chose this.

Sorry Calla.
I hope you understand the draw of cutting them and bringing them indoors to sniff was too over powering. If it helps, I did try and convince my 5 year old to pick you, but she wanted the one named "little princess" over you.
Love,

Kids Scrabble

Gary and I were playing scrabble with my sister and her hubby and we had sorted out the extra letters from a second set and let the kids have their own game with them. I wonder what the rules were for their game.

St. Patrick's Day

Kids and I wearing our St. Patrick's Day shirts.

Shamrocks and shirts

This year Zurich fit Olea's St. Patrick's Day shirt. So we made her a new one that she fit better and girly-fied it. While we were at it we used Zurich's onezie from last year for Nev and Girly-fied it for her and added such to mine as well. Give them new life and sparkle this year.
Olea before: (Nev's and mine were just sparkle-less shamrock designs)

Waiting for the iron on transfers to cool.

Taking the plastic off the rhinestones.

The three finished shirts.

We also did the backs. The backs were shown on this post.

I also came up with a shamrock Tattie for Nev and Olea to wear with their shirts. You can see them here.

Raining Elephants

Today Olea and I were reading one of her books for school. It had a blank spot for what a baby elephant was called. I didn't know so I asked her if she wanted to know. We both made a guess. And Olea, who is all about patterns must have picked up on the book's pattern because she guessed right. A baby elephant is called a calf. Now you know.

It rained today and Olea has been begging me to go play in the rain. We've done it a few times and well it's just fun. If you haven't done it with your kids, DO. Obviously, choose a rain storm minus lightening. Today I hurried the kids to get pants changed and down stairs ASAP. Olea kept asking "Why?" "are we going somewhere?" and quite frankly, she doesn't always have to know what is going on. She needs to just be obedient. After all her questions and slow movement, we missed the rain. So over lunch she prayed that it would rain again so she could go play in it. So 3 hours later when it started to rain/sleet I rushed them out before it stopped.
Can't let an answered prayer go unappreciated.



They really enjoyed how wild the slide was (that's why they needed pants they could throw in the laundry when they were done).

Skiing

I don't claim to ski. But Gary does. He loves it. We first took Olea skiing when she was 2.5years of age. She loved it.

I also skied at that time. Since then I have not. I do not thrill in hurling myself down a hill in a semi-uncontrolled manner. However, I am not one to take away the fun for someone else. As you saw, I indulged Gary as he bought ski equipment for the kidlets. It's cute, I admit and I love that my daughter and her father have something that they share. They've gone most Saturdays (Thanks to Alta's Ski Free after 3pm) Olea is really improving quickly and loving it. The highlight of the season I think was when her dad made her ski poles and she got to ski with them the first time.

I've wanted to go for the sake of documentation and pictures. However the idea of litterally chilling at the bottom of the hill with Zurich and Nev does NOT thrill me. But it'd been a bad week. ... does that go together?... anyway so I let Gary convince me to come with him and Olea this last Saturday. I did get some pictures. But lets just say keeping two little ones happy and warm and entertained at the bottom of a ski hill for 2.5 hours is not easy. And having a baby strapped to my chest did make it a bit hard to get pictures when she kept batting at my arm and the camera but here's some of what made the cut.
Gary hauling both kids with the rope tow.

It took Z and I a half an hour to walk from where we dropped of Olea and Gary at the lift to where we sat on the chairs to wait for them. It couldn't have been more than 100 meters but... Zurich is slow and I wasn't going to carry him so we went at his stop and go and whine pace.


swapping out skis so Zurich can give it his first shot. He's two and 3 months. In the picture also is Gary's friend from work who skied with them a bit.

He didn't get the idea of leaning forward at all... but when he was done with his one little run I asked him if it was fun and he emphatically said, "Ya, fun!" Olea did awesome and is improving so much this year. She loves it and looks forward to going all week.

After we ate at Chuck-a-Rama with coupons the kids had earned from Summer reading.


Was it worth it? Always. It's the best to see my family doing what they love and being able to spend time together.