Glen Alps

We met the usual crew for some sledding and adventuring at Glen Alps.

Solvej, Alise, Riley, Naomi and Elin

Van!

Elin and Esther

Esther, Alise, Solvej, Elin, Naomi and Riley.

Skiing Besch with Esther

Esther and I were out again today, she did the whole Besch loop. Way to go Esther!

I only videoed her going downhill, because we usually hold hands on the flats and I still help her with the uphills so she doesn't slip backwards.

Plus the downhills are her favorite.

395 months

I put this picture on Facebook with the caption,

Vanessa, 395 months old.

I am so funny.


By the way, that bear is super comfy. I wanted nap right there, but I was at Svea's house babysitting Esther, Van, Ethan, Finn, and Riley. So I had to stay alert.

Older sister jobs

Esther loves holding Jon. She's still not careful. But she is adorable.

The TV is on, which is distracting...

But they're even cute watching TV.

Jon's first roll over

I had a pretty exciting text this week from Andy, this picture and the words,

"Someone just rolled over all by himself"

Jon at 5 months

So. cute.

Mr Donaldson, my favorite Band teacher, and an exceptional human being, made this rattle for Esther. Jon thought it was great.

Jon napping next to my legs.

Skiing at Kincaid

I took Esther and Jon to Kincaid in white-out conditions. We meant to watch the winter triathlon but I had the times wrong. We also tried sledding, but the snow was too deep. So we did some skiing.

Jon's entertainment

Jon doesn't get bored often.

Van: "Finn, come here"
Finn: (dancing) "I can't I'm too busy!"

Sleepover

We had this crew over for a sleepover. Lots of Legos, we watched Wall-E, and ate pizza. The boys camped in the Toy room and the girls slept in the bunk bed.

I was so proud because I got everyone to sleep just after 9. Which is pretty good for a sleepover. BUT then the boys were up strong at 5:40 AM, so I don't know how well that worked.

 

And after everyone was asleep, I got to play with this little booger.

Esther's outfits

Esther's shirt and sweatshirt from Grandma Sandy.

A dress I had picked out for Esther for Christmas, but I saved it when I realized I had too many things (and dresses specifically) for Christmas. I gave it to her yesterday. So beautiful and she loves it.

Here she is doing a show in her new dress. This is a good one because she says a couple of her made-up names which are always funny.

Downhill Skiing at Hilltop

Yesterday I took Esther and Van downhill skiing. We had rented Van gear for the year, so he headed out while Esther and I waited for our rental gear.

Esther on the chairlift. She was nervous, but loved it.

This was her first time downhill skiing this year, she did awesome! That backpack helps so much for having them learn.

After our first run we caught up with Van

Unfortunately I had to stop when I got too cold. Luckily the kids stayed warm, but the copper jacket is not enough for chairlift sitting and kid level skiing. I took everyone home for dinner and Van and I came back to ski the evening part of our ticket.
Van loved doing jumps and going through the woods. We took turns picking routes and had a lot of fun together.

Van's last run. He took it all the way to the parking lot.

It was really fun to be able to spend 1 on 1 time with each of them. 

Peak 2

Svea took everyone up Peak 2 one day after school. These kids are tough!