February Love

Happy Valentine's Day! This year Hayley was able to write all the cards we sent out. We were so proud of her writing skills, she sat at the table determined for at least two hours writing in 12 or so cards. We made sugar cookies and gave them into Skyler's work. 

He got me beautiful flowers :)

These kid's are too funny. 

Reading time in the hallway.

She was pretty excited to find a pair of Skyler's goggles in the bath tub.

This is the box from a pillow....it had a small half circle cut out so you could touch the pillow, apparently Hobbes thought the box looked big enough to crawl into....and the whole looked big enough to crawl out of. He was wrong, and not too happy about it. But I had to get a picture, and of course big sister Hayley was yelling at me "Why are you taking a picture?! He needs your help Mommy!! HELP HIM!!" hehehe

He's such a sweetie, always so loving and gentle, I don't think he's going to be ruff and tumble. But who knows. In the meantime, he loves unloading my baking cupboard, one at a time, slowly stacking the canisters and boxes.

This girl.

(at the bottom of an indoor slide)

She has her mind made up and knows what she wants, but she can also be very sweet to "Hobbsy."

Movie night with friends!

Hobbes is also very curious about Hayley's hair bows and accessories. Multiple times a week he'll have them all spread out in the bathroom.

Hanging out in a fort.

Sibling love.

Happy New Year...

Hayley is all girl, loves nail polish and glosses, twirly skirts and pretty cardigans. She also has a very imaginative side, notice the vehicles "riding" in her shoe and she wasn't playing dress up carrying around the polish in her new purse, the polish, the red ball and green block were also characters in that day's play. It's very entertaining. 

A couple leftover pics from Christmas vacation- 

Brenna and I made the Archibald traditional carmel corn in the sink, the girl's were quite enthralled.

(yes, we bleached it out first) 

At our Stake's Nativity Activity, you can dress up! 

I guess he still has red hair :)

There was one blessed week this month when the temperature was above 43 for like 4-5 days. We went on a nice long walk everyday, and on the last day, I even got my bike out and pulled them around town. We stopped at Ferdinand's for a scoop with Skyler and his co-workers, it really felt like summer, except when it was time to ride home and the sun went behind the hill....it was dang cold. 

Last week Skyler fell during his fitness class. His leg got tucked under him awkwardly....and well he's injured. They can't tell if his meniscus is alright at this point but all the ligaments look good. There's been a TON of swelling and a hematoma. Dr. says we need to wait a month to see if the hematoma will get re-absorbed (probably not the way Dr. described it, but just doing my best) Then we'll go from there.

As a gift from my parents we will be going on our first vacation since our honeymoon. For Christmas they gifted us a few nights in a hotel, our choice on destination and they would take the kids. So we decided to get out of this freezing cold winter and go to California in March. We're so excited! (thanks mom + dad!!!)

Christmas 2013

1st Christmas, we celebrated as a family a couple days before leaving on our trip to Kent and Seaside.

In stark contrast to last year, Hayley was quite excited about Santa coming and eager to leave out cookies and milk by Grandma's tree. 

Christmas Eve, Grandma Forbes was able to come visit! 

(This was taken late…after a long day…)

This year I got a little crazy and made 7 pairs of these monster slippers for my kids and some of their cousins. They were pretty fun to make.

One night we went and walked along the path at Gene Coulon Park. 

They had some really pretty lights up.

Mom and Dad and grandkids…and Alyssa. 

(Sorry Mom and Dad that you have branch mustaches…)

A couple days after Christmas we made our way down to Seaside to visit Skyler's family. 

Kid's Table

As per New Years tradition, Jodi and Ben bring their Chocolate fountain. 

It is quite the spread if indulgence!

Jodi and Kylee

Nick, Jenna, Brenna

Hayley and Skyler, celebrating New Year's for kids…at 9pm.

Let's be real, we love them, but 12am would be 4-5 hours past bedtime 

and they don't know the difference at 9pm. 

Break out the streamers and noise makers for 5 min, do a fake countdown…. and bedtime! 

When in Seaside…ride the Carousel.

And of course, visit the beach! 

We had a few family photos taken, this is one that I snapped right before my batteries died. 

Go figure.

We had a wonderful time visiting both our families and getting to see just about everybody.

1st Christmas

For the last few years we've always been traveling on Christmas, so we like to celebrate just our wee 4 before we take off. It's such a frenzy, I almost didn't get any pictures. 

The kids were very excited about a basketball hoop, Repunzel doll and Hobbes got some dinosaurs. 

Snow Day

I say Snow Day in relaxed terms, they don't really have typical snow days here with school closures etc. unless we're talking 2+ feet of snow overnight. It snowed a few times in November which was fun, but it quickly melted before we could really play in it. Now…it's so cold (0-25degrees) each day we can barely stay out long enough to get some play in before we're all frozen! 

So the kids have been getting creative with their indoor play. Surprisingly Hobbes loves to be pushed around in the play stroller, and unsurprisingly Hayley loves to push him! 

I had a "Christmas Story" movie moment when getting the kids ready for snow. I felt like the mom in the movie tugging boots andbundling Ralphy until you could barely see his face and by the end of it he could hardly put his arms down. Got my own little "Ralphy" here but boy he loved rolling around and tromping in the snow. 

It was pretty cold. He got upset if the snow actually touched his skin, but he was rolling and falling all over it so... we only lasted about 5min. 

The kids love playing with the "spaceship" box, and sharing with friends. 

Watching the snow fall.

I got new boots and Hayley thought it was hilarious to wear them. It was almost a transformation when she had them on, completely silly doing moves I have never seen.

Hayley is very excited for our Christmas trip to see both sets of Grandparents. So since we have blocks that count down to Christmas, I showed her how to make a paper chain as a countdown to 

Grandma's houses'.