February Happenings

February has been just as uneventful as January... except for the ski lessons. The boys had last weekend off, due to the expected busy holiday weekend at the slopes, but will continue the next 3 Saturdays. 

Here are a few things that have taken place recently...

My grandmother turned the big 98!
This is an old picture from Easter 2012, but it was the best I could do!
What a milestone!! I hear she was surprised she was 98 years old...funny lady!

I got a pretty awesome Valentine's/Birthday gift... a day at the spa! Massage, facial, pedicure and manicure. Lovely!

This is random... Reece likes to watch TV while standing on his soccer ball. I wish I had his core strength and balance.

Back to Valentine's Day... I couldn't resist these adorable Jayhawk teddy bears! I love my mini Valentine's!!

We found out the Wednesday night before Valentine's Day (which was on Friday this year) that Reece needed to make a box! Nice notice... Reece came home telling me I should receive an email from his teacher...which never happened. I made it up to Target late that night and hit the art aisle, and found a couple clearance items. Poster sized letters and poster lights... Here are my manly men working on that box... and below is the final product! It made Reece very happy!! Turns out not many kids had boxes on Friday, but Reece had the BEST BOX!!

Funnies

The boys have to get up pretty early to catch their chaperoned bus ride their ski lessons...so I asked the boys to get all their gear in one spot to be ready to put it on and make for a smooth morning. Reece was very eager for ski lesson day #2 and this is how he got ready. What you see is the "outer layer", what you don't see is the "base layer" and the "mid layer." You also don't see his neck warmer tucked in under his helmet...I'm actually surprised that his socks aren't tucked partially in his ski boots with the other part in his pants. Silly kid. 

On that note, the boys are doing great as far as I can tell. They both got to ride the big lift this weekend and it took them about 3 miles up the mountain. They are in different groups, which is probably best. I'm sure they are at different levels (naturally, based on personalities) and it probably keeps it less competitive. Reece seems to open his big mouth easily, I don't think he means it to be hurtful, but as a kid who speaks what he is thinking, it doesn't always come out in a nice way. They come home tired but always say it was a good day.

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On Wednesday, I did something that is so out of character for me... I turned off my morning alarm and FELL BACK ASLEEP! What?? I never do that... thankfully it was only 20 minutes. When I did finally wake up and jump out of bed, I came out to find the boys watching cartoons, lounging around. They had assumed that since mom wasn't up, it was snow day. Oops! What a terrible way to start a Wednesday...thinking you had no school then finding out you need to rush to get ready so you don't miss the bus. 

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Lastly, the boys had ski lessons on both Saturday and Sunday this week, because next week they won't have any due to the busy holiday weekend...well, Jake happened to have the entire weekend off and we were struggling to figure out what we would do with so much "kid free" time. Believe me, it was a struggle...so strange being just the two of us. We decided it would be funny to tell the boys we went to "The Lego Movie" and maybe even take pictures of us eating pie...Riley's current obsession. Of course, we aren't really mean enough to do either, but it sounded like a fun prank. Riley was a little shocked at first (about the movie... to back track both boys have been wanting to see this movie since we first saw the preview last summer...and honestly so have I) but there was a part of him that didn't quite believe it. We fessed up immediately...no foul, no harm.

Reece didn't take it as gracefully, but tried to handle it well. His face turned red very quickly, then he turned away and I'm pretty sure it was because he didn't want to cry in front of us. Oops! He doesn't take to joking around very well... don't worry, we fessed up just a quickly with him and it was before a tear could form, although one was dangerously close to welling up. The good news about next weekend is we have no lessons, so the boys can look forward to finally seeing the movie, and I will have two very happy campers (maybe even 3 if I'm included in the mix). We might just have to eat some pie too!

Ski Lessons

February 1st brought the boys' first ski lessons with the Aspen Valley Ski Club in Buttermilk. Boy did we have some nerves all around... the boys were nervous, mom was nervous, but we didn't let them show too much. I signed the boys up to have a chaperoned bus ride up to Aspen, well a big snow storm hit us Thursday/Friday and they canceled the busses, so I had to take them up on the rough small highway to a place I had never been and get them set up on my own... well Ian Scruton came to my rescue, he lives up there on the weekends and wanted to snowboard, so he was my guide and I was his ride... Everything went smoothly. The boys got 5 hours of instruction and at the end of the day they were very happy. Reece didn't want to leave (that's a great sign to me that he enjoyed it) and although Riley said he fell a lot, he gave his day a 10! (Guess the stopping part was tough on him...he's new and he's 11, so I expected that.) I'm just relieved they enjoyed and next week they get to go on Saturday and Sunday. We might have a couple future skiers in our home!

Before the fun began... they were in the beginner group.

This is where the X-Games were... they were tearing it down all day. It was so hard to believe this was the same place we were last Sunday. It looked very different in the day light and without all the flashy lights.

One pro to having to take the boys up, I got to get some pics that I otherwise would not have gotten...I found Reece at the end of the day, but struggled finding Riley. Here's to another great 5 lessons ahead.

X-Games

I can't say I've ever been an "X-Games" fan... never watched it, never paid attention to it. However, when you live 40 minutes away from Aspen, it's a pretty big deal! They even conveniently have a "teacher work day" on the Friday of the big event to avoid the drama of kids skipping school to hang out at the games all day. Well, the pressure got to us and we broke down and took the boys last Sunday night. We made it in time for the final men's half pipe snow boarding event... we saw most of the warm up, but by the time the actual event started we were so cold that we only lasted half way through the competition.... which was fine, it was a school night, after all. (Note to self: go during the day next year to avoid the insane cold nighttime brings...and work on getting much warmer clothes before next year.) All in all, it was a great time, I can't say I'm eager to go back, but I can't say I won't ever go back either. We went for the experience, and an experience it was... the boys enjoyed it, until their little toes were froze, so home we went. I had a Facebook friend write to me, "You guys have the coolest adventures." Well, almost all of our adventures are FREE!! Nothing is cooler than a cool experience that is FREE!! I was in shock to find out the event was free, even parking and the shuttle that took you up to Buttermilk.   It was a great time, and with that being said, I never want my boys to get that brave on skis or snowboards... entertaining until you think of your own child doing unbelievable, risky stunts 60 feet in the sky...

My face is so cold... I look ridiculous! ;)

Abby, Celia, Nina, Reece and Riley... the first 3 are part of the peer pressure that we succumbed to.

I had to take advantage of another gorgeous shot of Sopris from our drive up...