January Skiing

January 12th
Maylee's friend Ty from Carol's house and his family were up at the ski hill too.  Ty's mom works with Kevin and his older sisters are former kindergarten students of mine.  Ty's dad did our bathroom and two upstairs bedroom remodels.  They are a great family!  Kaleah stayed in the lodge with Bryan and friends Jan and Curt.

On the chair lift...

Skiing with her friend Ty...Kev has Ty and I have Maylee.

 Watching Lisa with Ty...

 You know it will be our last run of the day when Maylee falls asleep on the chair lift.

January 17th

Mom and Maylee Ski Day

On a Thursday, we picked up our friend Mona to watch Kaleah in the lodge, while just Maylee and I skied.  This was my last chance to go on a work day before I had to return to work.  It was awesome going during the week because the lodge and mountain were not busy.

Maylee's goal was to ride all the chair lifts on this day and we did it! On one of the rides she sighs and says so sincerely, "Ty loves me. (pauses) He's my best friend."  For a second I was wondering if I would have to have the boyfriend-girlfriend talk already.

Skiing on the backside...

Working on turning all by herself without me tugging on the straps...

Lodge Time 

January 19th

Another Saturday

"Wake up Monkey. Time to go skiing."

We were the first ones down one of our runs.  It was a beautiful day and warm for January.  

Kaleah was along for the ride until friends of our arrived at the lodge to watch her.

 Working on turns around the posts...

 Maylee's friends (all their parents work with Kev)...

Ski or Play with Friends?
Two of Maylee's little friends were up at the lodge waiting for Ty's older sisters to finish their ski lesson.  The boys were just sledding and playing in the snow so Maylee chose to join them.  A friend had sleeping Kaleah so Kevin and I got to ski some runs at faster speeds.
Ty and Maylee

Ty, Maylee, and Owen

 Maylee is already making the boys work for her...

Lodge Time

Maylee is trying to play peek-a-boo with Kaleah.

 Happy Baby

January 20th - Wife Carrying Contest...We got 2nd place!

This is one of the annual special event days at the ski hill.  Kevin really wanted to do it and there were cash prizes.  We won our division (ages 30-39) which put us into the finals.  In our division race, husbands got their wives in position and then they counted down.  For the final heat, the wives had to start further back and taking a flying leap onto husbands when they announced "go."  We ended up second and won $50.  The husband in the first place couple is a college track and field athlete so Kevin felt good about being in the older age bracket and not too far behind him. As you can see from pictures, Kevin said he could run faster with me in an upside down position.  I had to keep my eyes closed because it was making me dizzy trying to watch.  There was also a clown out an about and gave Maylee a snowman tattoo.

Our division (30-39 year olds)

 The Finals...

We arrived until lunch because Maylee really needed to sleep in due to yesterday's full day of skiing, no nap, and going to bed after bedtime. After the wife carrying contest, Maylee and I skied three runs looking for Ammie and her friend Chris but we never found them.  At one point on the chair lift Maylee says, "Maybe Ammie and Chris are on a black diamond."  I laughed and said, "Ammie never goes on black diamonds."  

Sporting her snowman tattoo...

Kaleah is 2 Months Old

At two months old, Kaleah smiles at people, tries to "talk" (coos when you talk to her), tracks people and things as they move, and loves to swing.  She also loves to listen to her sister talk, sing, and read.  Most nights, Kaleah sleeps from midnight to about 6:30 am.

Kaleah's Baptism

The Lutheran Church celebrated Jesus's baptism the second Sunday in January.  Maylee was baptized on this special Sunday in 2010, so we decided to have Kaleah baptized on this date as well.  Both girls wore the same baptism dress that I wore and used my white baptism blanket.  Kevin's Aunt Lorraine and Uncle Mark are Kaleah's godparents.  Many of our teens from our youth group also stood up for Kaleah.  After church we had a reception at our house.

During the Children's Sermon, the pastor's wife talked about Jesus's baptism.  Maylee piped up and told everyone a lady with short dark hair poured water on her head when she was a baby.  (We had recently looked at Maylee's scrapbook and she connected the pictures of her baptism to what Cheri was talking about.)

  

 

Youth Group teens (Tony & Kira) bought flowers for Kaleah's baptism....

Pastor Ken

Reception at our House

Uncle Mark and Aunt Lorraine with their goddaughter...

Aunt Lorraine

Great-Grandma Linda

Aunt Tabitha and Uncle Craig

Grandma Julie (a.k.a Ammie)

Great-Grandma Doris (a.k.a. Big Ammie)

 Book Time...I think Grandma Doris read to Maylee for a solid 30 minutes! 

Maylee kept bringing her more books and asking for her to reread many.

 

 Grandma Shirley (a.k.a. Nana Jo) - previous night to Kaleah's baptism

Kaleah Smiles!

Maylee and I enjoy trying to get Kaleah to smile at us!  Maylee is so proud when Kaleah smiles at her.

 When Kaleah smiled in this onesie, it reminded me of a picture we captured of Maylee when she wore it.

Kaleah (7 weeks old)...

Maylee (9 weeks old)...

Oh the Things Maylee Thinks...

Saying Maylee has an imagination is an understatement.  She not only comes up with things but remembers what she comes up with months later. Lately, most of Maylee's "stories" are about her schools and her teacher.  This started in June.  She doesn't go to a school (just Carol's house while we go to work) so I tell people that if she says anything about "her school or her teacher" then it is all make-believe.

Maylee's "Schools and Teacher"

Early this summer, Maylee started talking about her "purple school."  She used to just say that she has a purple school and kids go there.  Since then, she remembers what she has come up with and adds to the story.  First, she added that only girls go to that school and later she added that the buses that go to her school are pink.  In July, we were driving by my school and adjacent to my school is a condo building with black metal roof.  Maylee was watching out the window and announced, "Mom! There's my black school.  It has a diving board and big kids go to that school with me, boys and girls, and we go to diving lessons and my teacher teaches us how to dive..."  In August, she spent some time in Moscow with her grandparents and when my mom drove by Theophilus Tower, Maylee told her that was her "red school" and "it has an elevator."  In October, Kevin, Maylee and I were in the car doing errands and the song 5-1-5-0 by Dierks Bentley came on the radio.  Maylee loves this song so she excitedly exclaimed, "I love this song! Did you know that the pink buses that go to my purple school play this song?"  Seriously!?!  After I gave birth to Kaleah, she has added on to her imagination schools and now says "My teacher is going to have a boy baby.  His name is George-Up."  She often connects with whatever we are talking about or doing to her school or teacher.  Like having the same crafting supplies I am working with in her classroom too. Or, when Kevin was sharing a hunting story with his friend, she pipes up and shares how her teacher got an elk.  I can't believe she remembers the details she has already made up and continues to add on to them.  So far, she hasn't given a name to her teacher.

Just another moment playing...
(High heels, ladybug costume, cat ears, headband, pom-poms in the background, cars in her hands...not really sure what she was thinking but she was having a great time!)

Memory Shocker!

Maylee continues to impress us with her memory.  While she spent time in Moscow between the version procedure at the hospital and Kaleah's birth  Maylee was in the car with my mom and they drove by a park. Maylee said, "That's the park where we took Charlie and Tessa and we met your friends Ammie!"  This shocked us, because that day at the park was the summer of 2011, when she was only one (21 months old)!

Her Taste Buds

 This summer she asked for salsa on her ice cream, which I said she could have ice cream in one bowl and salsa with chips in a different bowl.  A few weekends ago, Kevin was making us sandwiches for lunch.  He asked Maylee if she wanted a peanut butter and jelly or meat and cheese sandwich.  She picked peanut butter and jelly.  About three minutes later when she sees Kevin get the pesto out of the refrigerator she asked if he could put pesto on her sandwich too.  We both said "No" at the same time.  Pesto is her new favorite "dip-dip" and she BEGS for artichoke hearts about every meal.  She is definitely her father's daughter.

Silly Maylee

Bath Time with Baby Sister

Maylee was in the bath when Kaleah spit up on her pajamas so I decided to put Kaleah in with Maylee.

I would never do this if Kevin wasn't also in the bathroom too to keep our eyes on them. Maylee was excited to wash her sister and she did a careful and thorough job.  Kaleah usually showers with me so she wasn't too sure what to think.  (The water is pink from her color changing tablets...she likes to pick what color to make the water.)

Kaleah - 7 weeks old

Here are a few pictures from the week Kaleah was 7 weeks old...

She loves the swing.  We bought it for Maylee who ended up screaming after about 10 seconds sitting in it.  Kaleah is either content just rocking or falls asleep...glad we kept it.

Maylee's real live baby doll in her doll stroller...(very closely supervised)

Maylee likes to push her slowly in the hall.

 

Maylee's 1st Eye Visit

Kaleah and I happened to ride up the chairlift on our first run with our family eye doctor.  (Kevin and Maylee were on the chair behind us.)  I have been meaning to set up an appointment for weeks now because I am on my last set of contacts (or "tank-tocks" as Maylee calls them).  So on our ride I asked him if he had any openings this week and at what age should we take Maylee in.  He said the recommendation was when children turned five, but now the recommendation is for the first visit when babies are six months old to look for lazy eye and eye health.  Luckily he knew he had opening so we went a few days later.  Maylee was a trooper!  She followed directions and complied with all the check-up tasks.  The eye doctor was impressed and did some tests he normally doesn't do with kids her age.  He said she got 100% on the depth perception test so she is probably the most coordinated three-year-old in our area. Ha!