Squaw Valley 2010

The day after Emma's birthday, we headed up to Lake Tahoe for some skiing. Every year, Dan's work group goes for team building and we tagged along so Emma could have some fun at ski school. Squaw Valley has a great preschool program that includes skiing and playing to introduce young ones to skiing. Emma wet for two mornings and was doing a great job by the end of the second day. Here are a few pictures of the trip

Emma, ready to ski!

An action sequence....Emma at the top

Skiing to her teacher

She has got really good balance

Making her "pizza" with her skis

She made it!
And now the video (sorry for the poor quality)

Meanwhile, I got to hang out with this smiley one!

He had a lot of fun playing outside

We had snack on this bench

Emma wanted to pose with the big chair

Emma and Ian

A good one!
Then we headed out to play in the snow...

Emma checks the conditions

We made a snowman!

Emma found another snowman and added to it

You can just imagine the stories she is telling

Emma decided she wanted to pose with our snowman, too.
We had an awesome time in the mountains. Both children slept and played really well with few meltdowns. It gave us hope for more fun family vacations in the future!

Emma's birthday party

Emma had a really fun Fairy themed birthday party this year. Five of her friends were able to come over to play, eat, and have fun. We did not get many pictures of the party, but here are the few that we got.

The living room decorations

Preparing to make fairy wands

Fairy costumes prepared

Making wands

Playing in "the fairy house"

How many fairies can you fit in a butterfly tent?

Cake time

Blowing out the candles

Still blowing

I'll just fan them with my plate!

Our fairy picnic

Opening presents

Emma's Cake is Done!

We can have a party now....Emma's chosen cake is done!

FOUR!

Four Years ago, our lives changed forever when this little girl entered our lives....

Happy Birthday Emma Grace! We love you more than you know

I like to move it move it

With all our time spent indoors this month, Ian has learned a new skill. Our days of immobility are fading away
Ian...

is...

Crawling!!!


He is still a little slow and cautious, but everyday gets a little quicker and more daring. His favorite things to crawl for are remote controls, cheerios, and any toy Emma leaves within his reach.....Her princesses better watch out!

Bring on the Creativity

We have been trying some new creative endeavours in our family this month, too. As a Christmas Gift, I received a gift card for Cake Decorating classes. (Thanks Scott and Tricia!). The classes were a lot of fun and I feel confident enough to attempt Emma's choice in birthday cakes later this month. Here are a few of my finished assignments.

This is my first cake, practicing stars and writing

Here is my last cake...

For some reason, I was intimidated about doing the roses, I got more confident as I did more and that started looking better

Emma wanted to pose with the cake... She loved that I used purple
Speaking of Emma, she has been getting her craft on, too

In cooking class she made this chocolate snowman
She has also really gotten into making Valentines this month. It amazing what she can do with a few hearts and some glitter glue...
Here are the Valentines she chose to make for her class party

We got the idea from the website www.familyfun.com. I think they turned out well and Emma is excited to share with her class. It is really fun to do crafts with Emma. Sometimes the finished product does not turn out like I want it to, but Emma is always excited that she created something on her own

What to do on a rainy day

It's been a while since I posted because not much has been going on. We had about 2 weeks straight of rain in January (not complaining, I love a good rainy day) but that meant we had to be a little creative about doing things inside.

We had a few all day pajama days

Ian enjoyed jumping (with accessories from Emma)

We love Daddy's pancakes!

Nana came to give us some love

Emma got creative with her princesses
We also had play dates a the local kids gym and McDonalds, too...
I really feel for our snowed in Northern Virginia friends... (I am a little jealous too! I miss a good snow storm)