Look Mom, No Training Wheels!

For the past few months we have been talking about how we needed to take the training wheels off Avery's bike and teach her to ride it without them.  Well, sometime in December Scott read something on the internet about a specific method for teaching kids how to ride without training wheels, so he tried it out with Avery.  Instead of running behind her and holding onto the seat, this method was to take the pedals off and let the child find their balance by gliding on the bike and then putting their feet down when needed.  I guess it worked pretty good because after a few sessions of doing that, Avery tried it with the pedals and took off on her own!  She still needs to work on turning and gaining more confidence, but I'm sure that will come with the warmer weather and more chances to practice. Way to go Avery!

Avery taking off down street

Kendall was inspired to do a little bike riding as well. 

Christmas Morning in the Mountains

As I said in my previous post, we spent Christmas this year with my family in Red River, NM.  It was a little different spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day away from home, but it was so nice to be together in such a beautiful place with the snow and fun things to do.  The kids got up early on Christmas morning- especially since they were still running on Central Time- and after putting them off until about 7:00 we finally let them go upstairs and see what Santa had left for them.  Santa brought Avery a Nintendo DS, Kendall a LeapsterGS, and Judson some tools to go with the toolbench that he left under the tree at our house.  After the kids opened their Santa gifts, stockings, and presents from Scott and I, my Mom couldn't stand it any longer and had to go ahead and give them one present each.  The girls each got an American Girl Doll, and Judson got a talking "Chuck" truck.  After breakfast they opened the rest of the gifts from my parents and from Amy and Chris, and then the adults opened gifts from each other as well.  Here are some of the other things that the kids received:
Avery- pet, clothes, and hair accessories for her American Girl doll, DS games, fuzzy posters, markers, Shimmer tattoo kit, Stompeez slippers
Kendall- pet, clothes, and hair accessories for her American Girl doll, Leapster games, Merida doll, Knot Genie brush, Stompeez slippers
Judson- dinosaur set, hot wheels set, Mickey Mouse stuffed animal, Little people airplane
There were probably others, but I think those were the major ones.  As usual, they raked it in and Scott and I were left with the fun task of figuring out how to transport it all back home!

I always love the surprised faces and reactions when they see what Santa left.

Kendall was really proud of her Knot Genie brush since she complains every morning and getting her hair brushed.  Too bad it doesn't work as well as promised!

Scott and I gave Kendall some color wonder books.  She loves to color these during church.

Avery and Kendall with their American Girl dolls.  Avery's is a historical character named Caroline and Kendall created her own and named her Snowflake.

Judson was super excited about the new pacis Santa put in his stocking. He couldn't decide which one to put in his mouth.

Scott and I gave Avery a big pack of fuzzy posters to color.  Amy and Chris also gave her a big book of these and some markers.

Judson with his Mickey and his airplane. He and my Mom pretended that the people in it were Avery, Kendall, and Judson going on a trip to visit her.  He is still calling them by these names.

The pets for Avery and Kendall's American girl dolls. The black kitten is "Inkpot" and the yellow puppy is "Honey".

Who exactly were the American Girl dolls for?

Avery and her doll Caroline.

Super Mario Brothers! She plays this a lot, but I think Scott might play it even more than she does.

Judson with his hot wheels.

Judson's tools that go to his Black and Decker toolbench.  Santa left it back in Ft Worth since it was so big.

Red River Christmas

This year we spent Christmas in Red River, NM with my family.  We got there a few days before Christmas and stayed close to a full week in a nice 3 bedroom house right around the corner from the ski area.  We originally planned to ski half a day on Christmas Eve, but Scott was recovering from being sick and I was adjusting to my altitude medication, so we ended up doing a little shopping in the morning and then relaxing around the house most of the the day.  My Dad and brother-in-law went and got us a Christmas tree and we hung up the ornaments we had all picked out at a shop in town that morning. The one thing we did do was take the kids tubing at the ski area at 5:00 that evening.  It was getting dark and was pretty chilly, but it was a lot of fun and everyone really enjoyed it. It started snowing later that night, which made sprinkling food for Santa's reindeer on the lawn even more exciting (but quick) for the kids.  After reading the story of Jesus' birth, the kids snuggled down for a good nights' sleep.  Christmas morning the kids were up bright and early- especially with being on mountain time- and they opened their gifts and stockings from Santa and their presents from Scott and I.  After breakfast they opened up the rest of their presents from Mimi and Poppi and Aunt Amy and Uncle Chris, and then the adults opened our presents from each other as well.  After a delicious Christmas lunch/dinner and naps, we took the kids sledding.  Wednesday and Thursday the girls spent the day in ski school, my parents watched Judson, and Scott and I enjoyed skiing together.  In the evenings, we took turns cooking dinner, sat by the fire, and played some games like Apples to Apples and Bingo with gift cards for prizes.  It snowed again on Wednesday night and also Thursday, so that made the skiing pretty good for December.  On Wednesday it seemed like we had the mountain almost to ourselves, and there were hardly any kids in ski school.  Avery only had one other boy in her group and Kendall was the only one with her instructor.  They really benefited from the one-on-one instruction and moved up several levels by Thursday afternoon.  Avery spent all day Thursday going up the lift with her class and practicing making wide turns all the way down.  Kendall did great as well and her instructors said she was about ready to go up the lift too by Thursday afternoon.  Thursday night we went to a steakhouse just across the street called "Timbers" and enjoyed a break from cooking.  All too soon, Friday morning rolled around and we had to pack up and leave. It was such a fun, relaxing trip and we had a great time hanging out with family and enjoying God's beautiful creation.

Enjoying some hot chocolate with pajama pants on their heads (don't even know how that got started!)

Kendall working hard in ski school.

Kendall was a cute little skier.

Avery and Kendall had fun one day drawing on Scott's face while he snoozed.  What a nice Daddy!

These blocks were in a basket at the house where we stayed and Judson had so much fun with them.

Avery showing off her plow and turns.

Avery in complete concentration at ski school.

We all had fun picking out ornaments at a store in town and hanging them on our Christmas tree.

Avery also got this little fox as a souvenir.  She had it all bundled up in a blanket and was rocking it.  She is such a nurturer.

Kendall picked out a unicorn in a purse for her souvenir and named it "Dreams".

Scott pushing Judson down the hill when we went sledding.  We were calling him "runaway Juddy" because we had a hard time catching him to stop his sled!

We all enjoyed relaxing on this windows seat upstairs.

Getting ready to go tubing at the ski area.

 Judson and I at the ski area.  He looked so cute all bundled up.

Family pic before our dinner at Timbers steakhouse.

Our 3 snow cuties. . .

and our 3 snow angels!

Kendall's Christmas Program

Kendall the red-nosed reindeer

 Every year at YCW (the kids' preschool), the three year old and four year old classes get to go caroling and then do a small performance for the parents.  It was too cold this year for the kids to walk across the street to carol at the retirement home, but they still got to carol around the church and then did their performance for the parents in the chapel.  All the kids wore little reindeer hats and and had their noses painted red.  Kendall's hat was a little too big, so she kept messing with it and pushing it up during the songs, but she still sang and did all the motions.  It was a cute little program and all the kids did a great job!

Kendall's class before the program

all lined up and ready to perform

the pre-K kids sang several songs and did a really good job

Avery's class Christmas party

 Avery had a really fun Christmas party at school this year that I was able to attend and help with.  As part of the party, the kids had pizza for lunch and then did lots of fun activities.  They got to listen to two Christmas books, make a magnetic snowman frame, and decorate sugar cookies.  They also played a silly game where they put a paper plate on their heads and had to draw a snowman according the directions read to them.  The kids voted on the best snowman drawing and the silliest.  Avery's was in the top 3 in the silliest category.  The kids finished up the party by making Christmas cards to send to service men and women.   And instead of doing a gift exchange, they donated $5 to Operation Uplink which provides money for soldiers to call home over the holidays.  It was a fun party and a special time that I spent with my precious oldest daughter!

enjoying her pizza

listening to a Christmas book

Avery's snowman frame

decorating her sugar cookie

Decorating and eating.  Most of the kids had a whole plate of candy leftover that they could just enjoy:)

Judson- 18 months

Our sweet, fun Judson is 18 months old!

A few days after Thanksgving, Judson turned 18 months old.  Of course, now that I have waited so long to post this and he is 19 months, I am having a hard time remembering what has changed with him in the past month and a half.  If I remember correctly, his vocabulary was just beginning to really pick up around 18 months- I think I told the doctor he was saying close to 100 words and just starting to combine 2 words.  But since then it has really begun to explode and he is using lots of 2 and some 3 word phrases.  Right around 18 months he also switched from doing this funny, growly sort of "Yeah" to actually saying "uh-huh" or "yes".  He loves to eat: pancakes and sausage, biscuits, applesauce and baby food pouches, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, sandwiches, green beans, bananas, berries, grapes, and of course treats like suckers, popsicles, ice cream, and his favorite- cookies.  He actually started saying his /k/ sound because he wanted a cookie!  It is not uncommon for me to find him in the pantry, standing on the dog food container, helping himself to a snack.  Sometimes he will even get a bowl out of the cabinet and put his snack in there!  He loves to play with balls, cars, his tools and toolbench, the play kitchen, blocks, anything with music, and sometimes babies.  He loves playing outside in the sand table, reading books, riding in his car, being pushed on Avery & Kendall's bikes, pretending to drive the van, and wrestling or playing rough games with his Daddy.  He loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (even more than Barney), and football.  When he watches a game, he'll say "go, go, go. . . aww" and "OU bu-ball (football)." In fact, when we were in Red River over Christmas, he woke us up one morning saying these same two things!  He continues to be a great sleeper at night and usually doesn't put up a fight about taking a nap.  Between 15 and 18 months he switched from two naps to one and usually sleeps 1.5-2 hours.  Although it seems like at least once or twice a week he'll only sleep 30 min- 1 hour and then needs to go to bed at 7:30 instead of 8:00/8:30.  He adores his pacis and if it were up to him, he would have one is his mouth and one in each hand at all times.  We are trying to crack down on that though and let him only have his pacis when he sleeps and sometimes in the car.  He is such a fun, happy, sweet little boy that keeps us on our toes, full of hugs and kisses, and laughing.  We love you Judson!

playing with his ball popper

reading a book

He tries to ride on this remote control car he got for Christmas.  He also got the nerf football beside him and he carries it around constantly.

He loves to play around in the van.  After I let him do this and I get back in to drive it, the blinkers are usually on and the windshield wipers are going.

I am rarely surprised anymore by the things he climbs in and on.  He also climbed in a rolling cooler out in the garage one day.  The girls thought we should take him on our Red River trip in that:)