Happy Groundhog's Day

Happy Groundhog's Day. I always remember this holiday because it is my dad's birthday. And it's just a really fun one to celebrate with kids.

We watched an animal planet clip to help educate us on the animals. I didn't realize it was a marmot. We saw marmots all over Brianhead, Utah this summer.

Then we made our groundhog's day craft. A toilet paper roll covered in green paper. The ground hog is on a popscicle stick (or in our case, a strip of cardboard we cut out of something else). Then he can pop up and down out of his hole. The kids really loved popping them in and out. Samuel would add "peekaboo" when he did it.They are very easy to make. Just take strips of green paper, cut across the one side, not all the way through. The glue to the toilet roll. Start at the top so you can layer the paper but have the blades nice and bushy. Then glue the groundhog to the stick. So easy, Adele could do it after I explained it to her. We were only going to make one (Samuel was napping) but she insisted on making another one just for Samuel. Unfortunately, she kept saying about the one I made for Samuel, "Mommy, that totally looks like a pig." Well, I am crafty, not artistic.

Perfect Powder

The fresh snow made perfect powder. Aaron has a little less experience with snow, so when I told him that powder is much better to ski in than packed icy snow, he didn't quite understand. I think he thought you would just sink into the powder. But today he realized how great it was to go sledding in it. We found a cross country/snow shoe path and hiked with the kids. Aaron pulled them on the sled. When we found a nice area, we took them sledding.Aaron and Adele on the sled

Her face plowed the snow

Samuel strapped to Aaron's back
Samuel's loving it (if you click on the pic, you can see a big smile).
It is not a very steep hill, though the picture makes it look even flater.
Aaron hauling them back uphill to the car.

Aaron's birthday bike ride

For Aaron's birthday he wanted to go bike riding. Yeah, in the winter. So we drove up to Joseph Stewart State park, loaded up the bikes and trailers, and went on the bike path that goes around Lost Creek Lake (it's actually a resevoir). It used to be part of the Rogue River until they dammed it up. We thought the trail would just go around the water, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that it went through a heavily wooded area. It was really beautiful.

We are all bundled up for a cold ride

After the bike ride - stop at the Fish Hatchery to feed fish.

Samuel would stick his hands down as close to the water as he could with the fish food. We thought the fish would bite his fingers, they would jump out and grab the food and he'd let go at the last second.

For Aaron's birthday, Adele had it totally set in her mind what kind of cake we would make for him. I knew I wanted to make carrot cake, though. So I made him a big, fancy carrot cake with pineapple, coconuts, raisins and all sorts of stuff in it. Adele made him a three tiered cake with a candy cane on the top and candles all around. With sprinkles. Yes, that is how specific she wanted to make it.Everyone helps Daddy blow out the candles

Aaron's birthday gift - air popper.

He'd been wanting one of these for a really long time. They are actually pretty cheap, make the popcorn a very healthy treat, and it's really fun for the kids. They giggle and get so excited. Samuel started eating the popcorn as soon as it hit the bowl.

Samuel's bad hair day.
He slept in wet hair. It's been sticking up for 3 days.

Christmas in California

Little Larry, Grandpa Larry and Samuel.
These two boys always wanted Papa.

Sunset Beach

Adele, Dawna and Hannah

Couldn't keep Samuel out of the water.
It was cold.
Throwing rocks. Always a favorite activity.

Enough was enough. This boy got cold.
I love how cuddly he was.

mini blind cords

Being renters, we get to enjoy having mini blinds all over our house. Those super long cords are something that Samuel loves to grab when he gets the chance. We tried to put them up high, but sometimes they fall down. I came across this website when reading about the Roman blinds recall. They will actually send you a FREE retrofitting kit! So I ordered something called cord stops, I don't know what they are, but I will let you know when I get them. Hopefully something to make the cords a little safer.

Half of the cords in our house had a knot tying the two cords into a loop, so I went around today untying the knot, so they would be two free cords rather than a loop. I read that the loop was part of what was so dangerous about the cords. But the cords are so LONG that I could see them getting tangled into a knot, should my toddler decided to dance in them. (Sounds weird unless you see how much this guy dances and likes to get into curtains). I actually cut the cord in one room 4 feet shorter because it was so long I was having trouble tucking them. I think I might cut all the cords even shorter, because I can't see why they have to hang all the way to the bottom when the blinds are closed (When open, they hang even further down!).

Now if I could find a free "dust my miniblinds for me" kit.

Lower Table Rock

We hiked to the top of Lower Table Rock.
This was a nice hike - only 8 miles away from our house.
It started out with a white oak savannah.

Then became a mixed forest.When we finally got to the top, we were in the fog,
so there was no view. Maybe 50 feet of visibility.

Samuel just wanted to throw rocks in the water puddles.

From rocks he progressed to putting his feet in them.

My good, happy little hikers.

Winter fun

Adele loves to build temples with blocks
This one is complete with three angel Moroni's
(It's actually baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph)

We love the shadow room at the museum. Samuel used to cry in there - scary, I guess, because it's dark and then all of a sudden a bright light flashes. When he finally discovered the point of the room - that our shadows stick on the wall after the flash, then he thought it was cool to do whatever we did. In this one, he is lifting his foot in the air like me. Can you see? (And Adele happens to be copying Aaron).

We went to the Great Meadow near fish lake and lake of the woods. It's a HUGE meadow that we went to last winter. Even in the middle of week, they have snowboarders with parachutes that snowboard out there on that big flat area. (We saw them last time we were there, as you can see a picture on our blog post from back then). The nice thing is that no motorized vehicles are allowed out there.

The snow was much deeper than we expected. Thank goodness we have snow clothes this year! (Last year we were just really cold and wet. Samuel looks cute with the boots tucked around his snow suit, but you can't even see them with the snow this high. His feet stayed dry!

There was this massive snowball, so we built on top of it. Aaron was so excited about building snowballs, that he just kept piling them on. So our snowman looks a bit deformed. Or maybe it's a tall, white hat. He's got pine cone eyes and nose and a stick mouth.

We couldn't get the eye to stay in. Aaron continued to build an igloo around us, which didn't quite get finished. It was a good wind block. It was pretty cold. We had a picnic out on the snow.

Samuel is totally relaxing on Daddy's lap. Just lying there. In heaven, because he has warm cocoa in his sippy cup.