Night Skiing

As I've mentioned before, we have activities every night. Reagan and Cole get home from school and immediately plan to go to the next activity (sometimes we don't even get to come home first). Well, when our piano teacher cancelled lessons because she was sick, we suddenly had a night off and we figured it was a great opportunity to introduce Reagan and Cole to night skiing at Brighton. It was super fun. It was cold, but not too bad. We actually got in eight runs before it was pitch dark. Of course, we had the lights on the runs, but unless you are right under the light, you can be hard to see. Add to this that Cole is in mostly black and I was worried he would get run over because a snowboarder didn't see him until he was on top of him.

We couldn't stay until closing time (9pm) as we had homework to do and needed to get Reagan and Cole into bed, but we still had a great time. Yep, we'll be back - we like night skiing!!!!

Reagan's Science Fair

Next up was Reagan's class for the science fair. Their experiment looked at the water cycle and, specifically, condensation from plants in different environments. They had two main groups and they struggled to get results until they determined that they needed to put their plants in a non-heated room during the night. Then, they had measurable results.

They each spoke about a different part of their experiment and they had great posters and visual aids to show their experiment and their results.



After the science fair was over, Reagan showed us their posters and her experiment notes and introduced us to some friends. We also saw the poster I made for the class with pics from the Valentine's Day party.



Way to go Reagan - we are proud of you!!!

Cole's Science Fair

Reagan and Cole's school had science fairs this week. Cole's class was up first. In Kindergarten, they all do the science fair as a class. In first grade, they split into two groups and do their science fair and in second grade, each child has an assignment in the science fair.



Cole's class looked at the acidity of various beverages. They tested root beer, water, coffee, Capri Sun, milk and orange juice. They wanted to know the effect these beverages had on their teeth. They used eggs to simulate their teeth and soaked them in these beverages. I anticipated that the orange juice would be the most acidic. Boy, was I wrong. Capri Sun (the beverage that this mother of the year gives her precious children for lunch each day) was the most acidic of all the beverages tasted and could really hurt the children's teeth over time if they weren't diligent brushers. Wow! We are now sending juice for lunches instead of Capri Sun.



Cole had two parts to say in the class presentation. He did great! Then, he took us around the classroom and showed us projects that he had done that were on the wall. He showed us the composition he had written, the little boy he had drawn/colored for Small World Days and the Experiment Notes he had taken for their Science Fair. He made sure to explain the experiment to us and to let us know that they had used the Scientific Method in their experiment :)

Way to go Cole!!!! You taught mom something with this experiment.

Still More Skiing!!!!!

Remember how I said we were bad parents for not starting Reagan and Cole skiing before this year? Well, we were determined to make up for lost time. We have skied every week since starting in January. After those first two classes, we found an instructor we love - Madeline (Mad). They've had three lessons with her in three weeks and they have gotten much, much better. For those three weeks, Reagan and Cole would spend their mornings with Mad and then we would break for lunch and then they would ski in the afternoons with us. Since Steve and I hadn't skied in over six years, it was great for us to get back into the swing of skiing while Reagan and Cole were in their lessons. I was surprised how easily it came back. Mad said that Reagan was the speed demon and would just go straight down the mountain while Cole would try to do the snake turns that she was teaching them, but he loves to go fast as well. They also love the tree trails - go figure.

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When we came back from Rachel's house on Valentine's weekend, that Monday was Presidents' Day, so, Reagan and Cole were off from school. We headed up the mountain and Shannon met us to see Reagan and Cole ski. Reagan and Cole were so excited to see her. They immediately ditched Steve and me and wanted to ride the lift with Shannon. She snowboards so they wanted to be with the cool kids. Cole talked her up quite a bit, telling her how good he was :)




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Cole thinks he is so good that he can go on jumps now. There was a little jump in the middle of one run. He went at it again and again, trying to jump and keep on his feet. He'll get it sooner or later. Meanwhile, it scares me a bit to think that he is trying jumps after only 4 or 5 lessons. Uggh - what will he be doing next year?

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Well, we'll keep practicing. Like I said, we go every weekend. Hopefully Reagan and Cole will focus a bit more on learning their parallel turns, rather than just going straight down the mountain. Stay tuned - we get better each time we go :)

(Sorry that the pic of Shannon, Steve & the kids is a different color - I had some weird setting on my phone and didn't realize until later.)

A Trip to St. George

We arrived in St. George late on Valentine's Day and Reagan and Cole were so excited to see Annie and Stockton. We played and talked and just hung out that night. The next morning, Rachel took us to Snow Canyon. We've never been before and - wow! It is beautiful. The red rock is so gorgeous and the weather was nice. We climbed on huge rock formations and the kids had a great time just being with each other. Reagan insisted on being the "tour guide", so, she took the brochure and map they gave us at the entrance and she was instructing us where to go and what to do :)



After leaving Snow Canyon, we went to Dixie Rock. It is right off a main road in St. George, but when you climb up, you can see the whole city. There are caves, rock formations, and a cutout or cave where someone used to live in pioneer times maybe??? You can see where their fire pit was and where the entrance was. That was Cole's favorite place.



After climbing for a while, we had lunch and then hit the new Lego Movie. The kids were ecstatic!! They had all waited to see it until they could see it together. It was pretty cute. Then, we headed back to Rachel's house and had some more games and fun.



Sunday, we went to church and then had dinner and had to head home. We'll see them in a couple of weeks when they come to Salt Lake for Stockton's birthday. Thanks guys for a fun weekend. xoxoxo

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

Our Valentine's Day was rough! Seriously - rough! The day before, Reagan woke up with an earache - really bad! She wouldn't eat or drink anything for breakfast because it made her ears hurt worse. Of course, our pediatrician wasn't in that day, so, we had to try to see another doctor at his clinic and they couldn't get us in until noon. Thinking that earaches or ear infections are not really contagious, I went ahead and sent her to school. I picked her up and drove her to the appointment, trying to get her to eat some of her lunch on the way - no deal. The doctor confirmed that there was fluid behind her ear drum, but said it was clear, so, no ear infection. The doctor suggested giving her an antihistamine and letting that work. Feeling dumb, I mentioned that I might have overreacted since she was in such pain and since I had received a "Notice of Exposure to Strep" from her school the day before - a sibling of one of her classmates had been diagnosed with strep. The doctor said she would test her for strep, just to be safe, but was pretty sure it wasn't that. I bought some antihistamine at the doctor's office, gave her a dose and took her back to school.

I left the school and went to meet our photographer to pick up our Valentine pictures. I was in Millcreek when the school called and said that Reagan had thrown up - uggh! I determined it must have been a result of giving her the antihistamine on a completely empty stomach. I turned around and headed back to the school. I picked her up and she threw up in the parking lot and in the car on the way home. While trying to get her home as soon as possible, the doctor's office called to tell us she had strep - ugggh again!

Reagan's biggest worry was that she couldn't go to school the next day and that she would miss the Valentine's party (which I had volunteered to help with). I checked with the doctor, the pharmacist and the school and all were in agreement that she would not be contagious after being on the antibiotic for 24 hours. So, we made sure to get a dose in her before 2, so that she would be "non-contagious" in time for the party.



On Valentine's Day, we had heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. I took Cole to school while Steve stayed with Reagan and I went into Reagan's class with some Valentine "props". I took pics of each of her classmates holding a heart or a sign or a flower. They were super cute! Then, I went to have the pics printed. After that, I returned to help take care of Reagan. She didn't throw up at all that day and by the time we left for the party, she was feeling much better and .... NOT CONTAGIOUS!!!!!



We went back to the school for her class Valentine's party - she was the only one not wearing a uniform :) The students decorated frames which we put their pictures in. We also had some treats and played some games. It was so fun and Reagan was so happy to be able to join in. I also went down the hall to Cole's class and took a few pics of them having their treats.



After school was over, we left to drive to St. George to see Rachel and her kiddos. We saw a beautiful sunset on our way down.

Whew - what a day this has been. We always seem to have some sort of drama, sickness or event on Valentine's Day. We are glad that Reagan is feeling better and that both Reagan and Cole had a great time with their class parties. I was SO glad to be able to help out in Reagan's class and to see Cole's class as well.

Steve and I had planned to go out to lunch to celebrate Valentine's Day together. Instead, we ate lunch in our living room while Reagan slept on the couch :)  I wouldn't have it any other way - we love Reagan and Cole more than anything in the world!!!!! Maybe next year we'll have a romantic date ..... maybe :)

Cute Valentines

Our photographer (English Photo) always creates custom Valentines for her children. We have admired them for years .. seriously! Well, this year, she offered to create them for some of her clients. We were thrilled at the idea and immediately set our sitting time. Cole had just started skiing and was super excited to incorporate that into his Valentine. Reagan - not so much. She didn't want to do skiing, she didn't want to do karate, etc. She just wanted hearts, love and Valentines - such a girl.

We took our pictures and then we chose the shots we loved the most. Then, Allison created these for Reagan and Cole (each pic was on one side of the Valentine). We LOVE them!!!! We definitely had the best Valentines around.



This one has to be my favorite. I love the two of them together, holding the hearts. Thanks English Photo for the cutest Valentines ever!!!!!

Second Lost Tooth!

Well, it was bound to happen - Cole lost his second tooth. It was loose for SO long. He really waited and waited for it to come out. Then, one night, while he was eating a popsicle, it just came out, leaving him with a green tongue and an empty space :) Once again, he left a note for the Tooth Fairy, requesting that she leave the tooth with him. Yep - we are a tooth-loosing family now.

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More Skiing!!!

You'll remember that we had our first ski school lesson with six students and four instructors. Well, we were thrilled with that and signed them up for Level two the next Saturday. When it came time for their lesson the next week, our ski school had six students and one instructor. It was not great. Reagan and Cole were the two best students in the class, so, they spent a good deal of the class sitting, waiting, while the instructor helped the other students to get up, to get their skis back on and to start down the mountain again. I think that they took two or three runs in a two and a half hour lesson. We were pretty disappointed. They still learned, though, and they still had fun.



We spoke with one of the snowboarding instructors and asked who was the best ski instructor for children who were beginners. He told us about Mad (Madelline). We signed Reagan and Cole up for private lessons with Mad for the next three weeks in a row. We will see how that goes. So, stay tuned ....... there's more to come.

Skiing!!!!!

We are fired as parents! Seriously - we only introduced Reagan and Cole to skiing this year. I know, I know, living within 30 minutes of four of the best ski resorts in the country and within an hour of five more, it is a crime not to have our children skiing from the first moment they could walk, right? Plus, we are ... or were ... avid skiers ourselves. We used to take Steve's girls skiing almost every weekend. We have always loved to ski. Why then, did we wait so long to get Reagan and Cole on the slopes? Perhaps it is because we have had little ones, because we travel in the winter, because we are so crazy busy or because we love our relaxing Saturdays. Whatever the reason, we have remedied the situation now :)



We headed up to Brighton and enrolled Reagan and Cole in ski school. They had six students and one instructor who had three assistant instructors - it was awesome! We checked them into the ski school and they met their class and their instructors. Next, they started out on the learner's hill and rode up the "Magic Carpet" lift. Then, they learned how to put on their skis and how to make an "A" with their skis. Then, they came down the learner's hill.





They started out slow, but they were soon riding the magic carpet by themselves, putting on their own skis and heading down the hill. Next, it was time to hit the lift. They got on and off ok, they flew down the hill and they loved it!!!!!! I was really surprised that even when they fell, they just got back up, put on their skis and continued down the mountain. At the end of their lesson, their instructor said "You are in trouble because they are REALLY fast!!" Cole said that the instructor told him she saw flames coming out of the back of his skis :)

We had a great day, saw some friends and learned A LOT! We'll be back for another lesson next week, but - for now - we are "official" skiers!!!!!!!

Good Deeds

After Christmas, our friend Jennifer and I were talking about how materialistic Christmas had been and how it seemed the world was so much more into the commercialism of Christmas than celebrating Christ and serving others, etc. We talked together about how we wanted our children to focus on others more and to help them to have gratitude. We started out to find service opportunities for them. Jennifer called the Food Bank and learned that they deliver boxes of food to seniors and disabled persons. They have children decorate the boxes that the food goes into. We talked about how our children have never known hunger or had any concern about where their next meal would come from. We thought we would "enlighten" them :)   Jennifer went and picked up 25 boxes and each of the children decorated boxes, front and back, for the disabled and the seniors.



I talked with Reagan and Cole about hunger and how it would feel to not have any food to eat. We talked about people that are disabled and may be housebound or those who are elderly and may not be able to get to the grocery store, to carry groceries, to have the funds for food, etc. I hope they understood and that they felt empathy for those people. There were rules from the Food Bank that you can not use any stickers that protrude from the box, you can not use glitter, etc. So, we ended up painting the boxes, putting encouraging sayings on the box and using flat, basic stickers. I think that they understood because Cole was writing "Hope you have food again tomorrow." and "Enjoy your food." I talked with them about putting just encouraging words on there. So, we wrote "Peace", "Love", "Be Happy", " Smile", etc.



It took some time to paint each side of the boxes and then to put on the stickers on, but all in all, we had a good experience. I am glad that we did this and Jennifer and I have committed to continue to find other opportunities for our children to think of others and to understand (and be grateful for) the blessings that we have.