January 2013

Just like that January flies by and I never posted anything to the blog. Here is what we did.

1. Family went skiing up at Bogus.
2. I was out of town for two days in Spokane and began working more (its my busy season for the next few months). I can definitely tell at first that the kids were affected by this (acting out etc.). Now that they are used to it they seem to be doing better.
3. Kids started going to school 4 days a week. We thought Piper was going to move up to the big kid classes in January but she is still having issues staying dry at naptime at school. She doesn't seem to have this problem at home but she does at school. I think by March she will be in a new class. Pennington continued to have a few accidents at school. Seems to be getting better now. I talked to Miss Emily about how Pennington is doing in school. I think he is having issues listening and focusing on tasks. Miss Emily said she has also noticed that but it isn't anything to worry about since he is still really young. Over the last week or so it is getting better. Miss Emily said having him there 4 days in a row will definitely help. Consistency with kids is key.
4. Pennington adores this little girl name Vivienne who is in his class. I would say it is his first crush. He has known her for more than a year now since she was at Montessori Home with him. Vivienne is a Amerasian as well (White Dad and Asian Mom). He is really excited to give her a Valentine.
5. Piper is obsessed with Disney Princesses. Her favorite is Tangled. For a good month now they only stories she wants to read are the Princess ones. I know Johnny is really enjoying that.
6. Kids had a dentist appointment. Teeth look good.
7. Kids are still going to K'tanim. Shabbat dinner is becoming a big thing at our house. The kids love helping make dinner and saying the blessings. I have had a few proud parent moments when the kids can say the blessings and answer questions about Shabbat to the Rabbi.
8. Johnny took the kids to a BSU basketball game.

I think that is it for now. I promise to start posting more soon. Pictures included. :)

New Years Eve 2012

Our family spent New Years Eve 2012 at the cabin.  I have to say while Johnny and I did wish we could have been with friends in Sun Valley it was pretty fun rocking out with the kiddos. Enjoy.

 

Skiing at Brundage

The moment we have been waiting for all season. Our first trip to the ski hill. We decided to rent used skis from Greenwoods for Pennington for the whole season. Pennington was really excited to go get sized and pick up his new skis and boats. Pennington also got a Lucky Bums backpack. Basically it is a backpack with a handle to help parents pick their kids up from off the ground and two ropes to help guide them when skiing. He also got what we call an edgee wedgee. Basically it helps to attach the tips of the skis together so they can make a good wedge. Obviously this makes 100% sense to someone who skis and probably no sense to someone who doesn't.

Sidenote: Pennington has been having some issues remembering to use the bathroom so we have been using skiing as a reward for good behavior.

We went skiing at Brundage on Sunday as a family. Poppy came along as well. We decided last minute to put Piper on skis. She actually did better than Pennington did last year. She lasted longer, had better balance, and didn't really cry.

Pennington did AWESOME... the lucky bums and edgee wedgee are key. So helpful and really made all the difference. We only skied the bunny hill but Pennington went on the chair 10 times and I think Piper went 7 times. Below are some pictures of the kids skiing.

Hanukkah Havurah Party 2012

On Wednesday we had our 2nd annual Havurah Hanukkah Party. A Havurah is a group of Jewish families that get together. Our group has several families with young children. This year the turn out with about 3 times as big as last year. Lets just say it was minor chaos but the kids loved it. I think we had 13 kids and 10 adults over. We had dinner, lit the candles, had a gelt treasure hunt, and played Hanukkah Pictionary. Below are are few pictures of some of the kiddos eating dinner and playing pictionary at our party.

Hanukkah at the Cabin

We decided to spend the last night of Hanukkah up at the cabin. This Hanukkah has been a lot of fun this year. Most of the gifts our children got were either things they needed like skis, coats, socks, underwear, etc. or educational toys like a cash register, puzzles, Melissa and Doug toys that are education but I have no idea what they are called, arts/crafts, etc. As expected the kids loved opening there gifts. I just love watching my kids problem solving how to put puzzles together.

One thing I love about spending Hanukkah at the cabin is getting to light the my favorite menorah, the Moose Menorah. Below is a picture of our beautiful menorah.

Ice Skating

What does Dad do with a 2 and 3 year old when Mom is out of town? Go ice skating.

Hanukkah - Pennington's Class

Last Thursday myself and another mother (Rebecca) who has a daughter (Lucy) in Pennington's class went to talk to Room 5 about Hanukkah. Our goal was to talk more about the symbols of Hanukkah rather than religion. We talked about what the candles symbolize, how we play driedel, and what hebrew letters look like. I was really impressed about how much the 3 to 5 year olds already knew about Hanukkah. I realize some of them could have been making things up but a handful of them already knew what a Shamash was and said they had there own driedel at home. Weird right? Half of you probably don't even know what a Shamash is. In case you were wondering it is the "helper candle" that we use to light the other candles. Overall, I think it went really well. I think Pennington enjoyed having us come into his class. Sorry I don't have any pictures to share. I was focused on trying to