SNOW!!!

We've talked about going up to the mountains every winter for several years but it just never worked out before. During the last two weeks 6 feet of snow fell in the local mountains, and we just couldn't resist a weekend trip.

We found a little cabin to rent and left early on a Friday to beat the traffic. The kids were so excited as we wound our way up the mountain and the snow got deeper and deeper. They've never played in the snow before and they talked about it all week. Emmy counted down the days every morning when she woke up.

This is the view out the back door of the cabin, and what is supposed to be the patio! Gage has always hated the cold and wet, so we were a bit worried that he would be miserable. But Blake spent the week hunting for bargains on good winter clothes and found some great stuff for them all.

Gage looked like the stay puff marshmallow man, but he played for hours without getting cold in his new warm clothes.






Hadley enjoyed the snow too.





Hadley at just past 2 is still a little small to play very long in the snow with all the layers on, so she spent a good bit of time "tuddling" (cuddling) with mom and dad.

Emmy of course had a great time. She played for hours with Gage digging tunnels and caves in the huge piles of snow. They made some snow angels and snowballs, and I don't think they fought once!!!






Emmy did a little sledding with Mom and Dad.



And she helped build our first family snowman and decorated it with her own hat and scarf.


The kids were so tired after playing in the snow all day long. Tired but happy. What a great trip.

First Day of Kindy Garden!

Emmy's first day of kindergarten! She has been so excited all summer long for her "real" school to start. She loved her two years of preschool and two days a week wasn't enough anymore. Emmy always loves being with friends and learning new things so she has a hard time in the summer with no school. She was ready to go back and have her own life away from home.

The other kids were sad to see her go and sad to be left behind. They look up to Emmy and rely on her for make believe time and to create games to play at home. Her school adds a lot of energy to family time too because she is so excited to share her stories with us at dinner.

She told us a funny story the first day about "her friend" that opened her lunch box and was so sad because she didn't get the snack she wanted. Then she laughed and said "but it wasn't her lunch box! It was the same as my other friend's!"

Of course, daddy had to get her in trouble the first day. I thought she would be excited to have a small handful of chocolate covered raisins in a baggy for a treat on her first day.

Apparently momma had signed a sheet saying they weren't allowed to bring treats or chocolate.... That's why momma packs the lunches!

On their first day they read the Ginger Bread Man" and played a game of can't catch the gingerbread man around the school to learn where the library and other rooms were. The teacher said most kids are pretty shy for the first two weeks, but on the first day Emmy was already hugging the teacher with a smile and talking about her friends over dinner. We're so happy to see Emmy enjoying school so much. It's a good thing too! She'll be there a few years!

Emmy's First Day of School

For weeks Emmy has been asking, "Momma, how many days until school?"

She could hardly stand the wait, especially when most of the neighborhood elementary school kids started the week before her. She finally got to meet her teacher last Tuesday and starting getting really excited, but still had to put up with her friends talking about recess and lessons and teachers. Finally, last Thursday, it was her day, and man did she let everyone know! She literally came flying out of her room at 6 AM and screamed (not uncommon for her!) as she ran though the house, "IT'S MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL TODAY!!!!". We managed somehow to get her dressed and through breakfast without her falling to pieces with anticipation.

When she was ready, she stood by the door very impatiently, waiting for the rest of us to get ready to go. No one seemed to understand what a hurry we needed to be in!!! I did get her to hold still for the required first-day-of-school picture.


Waiting for the gates to open at 9 AM.


Since this is the second year of preschool, Emmy gets to sign in by herself! She usually writes just "EMMY" so writing "Emerson" was a bit of a challenge, especially when it was so hard to concentrate on the first day! She sort of got the bottom half of the "s" backward, and maybe an extra leg on the "n" !!! We loved it, but we're still not sure what an Emercow is? HA!

Miss Three Tooth

Hadley decided at 10 months that she was tired of watching everyone else walk around on two feet so she pulled herself up and took a few steps!!! She copies everything Emmy and Gage do, so we aren't really surprised that she was interested in walking too.


Her first few attempts! Did I say 10 MONTHS??? Yikes!


She not only has started walking, but decided she likes to climb up on things and stand up there too!


She recently sprouted her third tooth, so I've been calling her "Old Three Tooth" lately! It is super cute and we're not looking forward to our last baby getting all her teeth and not looking like a baby anymore. We're trying to enjoy them every day just as they are. She was in the bath for the first shot.



One of her new habits is to crawl into Gage's dump truck and take a seat. The problem is, she can't get out on her own very well so she hollers at us every 20 seconds or so to help her out. Of course, then she climbs right back in again!!!


Hadley is getting pretty good at feeding herself now. And by "pretty good at" I mean, she can satisfy her hunger. A good bit of the food still doesn't exactly make it into her mouth.


Another of her new daily routines is pulling the tupperware out of the cabinet and investigating!!!


Of course, being a baby, she still takes a couple naps every day. She's waiting for the cell phone to ring. She loves it when it lights up and makes noise and can never seem to predict when its going to happen so she'll hold on to it for hours.


Just so this post isn't all about Hadley, here is a picture of all the kids from the end of August: