Snowshoe Tahoe

Last Fall we bought a spiffy hiking backpack with Calvin. We have used it a handful of times, and we both absolutely LOVE it. We decided it was about time that we pulled it out again. Over Valentines/PResident's day weekend both Robert and I had an extra long weekend so we took advantage of our time off and snowshoed up to Incline Peak. At the peak you could see the whole of Lake Tahoe- absolutely breathtaking. It was about 6 miles round trip and Calvin did great. He even slept half the way down, and thought it was the greatest when we would run down the hill. I loved hearing his little giggles from Robert's back. 

Winter Girls Night Gift Exchange

This Christmas, my party planning parter (and life partner, ha!) and I planned a fun winter girls night. We had a hot chocolate bar, and a gift exchange (kind of like a classy white elephant). It is always nice to have a nice get together with friends, and I've got some fabulous ones!!

Christmas 2015

Yes, I am fully aware this is 3 months over due; but, better late than ever, yeah?

Heading on our loooonnng drive to Pine Valley.

This year we spent the holiday with Robert's family at a cabin in Pine Valley, Utah. It was a fun filled time with lots of snow, food, reading, and snow play.

 Calvin loved bonding with his uncle Richard.

Nativity wise men.

Cookie decorating.

Christmas morning! It really was magical watching this little elf wake up. I love Christmas magic.

Pre-Christmas Festivities

The two weeks After Thanksgiving, leading up to Robert's Christmas break were packed full of Christmas partying. Calvin and I just had a blast packing in so much Joy and Merry-ness before Christmas! 

Calvin built his first snow man, and his favorite part was taking off the nose and eating the carrot. Silly boy. He definitely came to learn to LOVE the snow. 

One Saturday afternoon Calvin and I met our friends to ride the Santa Express down in Carson City at the Nevada Railroad museum. It was absolutely darling and Calvin loved meeting Santa, and REALLY loved getting a "nany cane" from "Sana!".

 Later that day we went down to our local park to go to a Brass Christmas ensemble. It was SO much fun and Calvin wouldn't stop dancing. He loves music and it was perfect.

 Alisa and I hosted a Christmas Story time (that I ended up not being able to go to due to a sick little Calvin), and I was in charge of the sugar cookie station. While the kids were sleeping I finished cutting out and baking the cookies. They woke up while Alisa and I were chatting and they got eerily quiet. I noticed the silence after about 5 minutes and we walked into the two yay hoos hitting the gold mine of cookies. They are good.

 There were a few snow days before break and Calvin and I got to run snow day errands together.

 Our local library had a big North Pole day when Santa came to visit. They had coloring and games and a little story time set up in one of the rooms while you waited to see Santa. It was darling and perfect. Calvin was a little bit suspicious of Santa and I didn't want to set a screaming child on Santa's lap; he decided that getting the candy cane from Santa was more than enough bonding.

Alisa and I also hosted a fun Winter Girls night gift swap, which I'll post about later!

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving with my parents, 5 sisters their respective spouses, and 5 nieces/nephews. Originally Robert wasn't going to come because of an exam schedule the Monday right after Thanksgiving, but they changed the schedule last minutes (much to his chagrin), and he was able to make it down to Vegas for my favorite holiday!

Calvin and I flew down the Monday before to spend some time with my sisters and their kids who came down from Idaho. I hadn't met my niece Eliza yet, so I was glad we got to have some bonding time. Calvin hadn't flown since the end of July, and his new favorite noun is "air plane". He gets so excited whenever he sees an airplane, so I was hoping he'd be a trooper for this flight, and he was! His favorite part was waiting to board and watching all the airplanes.

We got to my house by about 7 that night and after dinner Calvin was wondering around from room to room and found Eliza's travel bassinet..... I walked into the room and found him like this. My heart melted. After I took the picture he turned to me (I thought he was asleep), and said "nigh nigh mama".

We went to the Bellagio, the Children's Museum, and ran around like mad women trying to prepare for the Thanksgiving festivities. The children also bonded, pushing Emerson around :)

Our Thanksgiving day always starts off with a 5K run. This year I broke my PR (23:40) and took 2nd place for my age group. It was a great feeling! Calvin loved the race, and ran some of the way. Once he got to the finish line he heard the music and wouldn't stop dancing; it was a classic Calvin.

The Thanksgiving Feast:

Since we weren't going to be together for Christmas this year, we had our "Express Christmas" evening. We opened up our Pajamas from mom, had our white elephant gift exchange, and then went to Ethel M's christmas lights. 

 This is about the best you can do with 2 3 year olds, a 1 year old, a 2 month old and a 13 and 11 year old.

It was a fabulous Thanksgiving and I was incredibly grateful that this husband of mine sacrificed a lot of study time to spend the holidays with us!