April Snapshots

Dr. Maylee...

 Friend's Birthday Pool Party...

 Maylee and her best friends! 

(Holly is in the middle and Dani on the end.  Both of them are five and Maylee looks up to them.)

 Playing in her bed...her teddy is doing "bimnastics."

 Jump! Jump!

Visiting Great-Great-Great Aunt Ruth

Easter 2013

We spent Easter weekend in Moscow.  On Saturday, Maylee and Ammie made Easter cookies.  At first, Maylee helped cut out the cookies but then she found playing with the excess dough more exciting.  She decided to design her own cookie and plopped it on the corner of the baking sheet.  Maylee said, "This is my house cookie."  

That Easter Bunny left tracks and gift baskets again!  

 Easter breakfast with Big Ammie (Great-grandma Doris)

 Easter Egg Hunt

My Easter Girls

Maylee loves it when her sister has clothes the same as hers.  She helped pick Kaleah's dress out.

Happy Easter!

Kaleah is 4 Months Old

At four months old, Kaleah learned her first "trick."  When we hold her under her arm pits and say "up," she will push with her feet to stand up.  When we say "down," she will plop down.  She also started doing "motorcycle" hands when she gets excited.

2013 Ski Season Totals

Ski Trips: 15

Maylee's Records:
Runs: 66 (last run of the season was with no harness, on the terrain park, and with no falls)
Bunny Hill Runs: 1 (with harness), 23 (with no harness...all by herself!)

Maylee skis all over the mountain...most of the runs she picks are runs that are blue squares (intermediate terrain). She has asked to ski on the black diamonds (most difficult terrain) and recently we let her do one that was a shorter one.  Her skills have really improved!  She didn't fall on the black diamond and we also only had the center harness clipped, which means we can't control her turns, only slow her down.  Maylee can ski with no harness on the bunny hill.  She still needs a boost from the lift attendants to get on the chair but she can get off the bunny hill lift and ski down all by herself.

Most of her favorite runs are blue squares.

This is a picture of one of the more difficult blues,
before it gets really steep and I can't hold onto her while taking a picture...

Kaleah's Records:
Runs: 35
If we don't have a friend or relative in the lodge available to watch Kaleah, then she rides in a front pack with me.  She gets cozy and always falls asleep...of course, I take it nice and easy.  Now she prefers to take her naps while skiing with me instead of in the lodge.  Kaleah also likes feeling the movement...kind of like babies sleeping in their car seats while the car is moving but once the car stops then they stir and sometimes wake.

  

March 2013 Skiing

March 2nd
I didn't take any pictures of Maylee skiing...only videos.  The exciting thing about this ski trip, was didn't connect the leashes on Maylee's harness for the top third of three runs where the slope is more gradual.  She did awesome skiing by herself!

March 9th - Costume Day at the ski hill

 She is so proud that she learned how to get off the chairlift all by herself today! The bunny hill chair lift is slower and lower to the ground. We spent more time on the bunny hill because Maylee liked skiing all by herself with no leashes.  She tried to convince me to let her ride one chair up all by herself and I would follow on the next chair.  I told her that 3-year-old can't go on the chair by themselves so she let me ride with her.  :-)  

Within five miles of the ski hill, this is what Maylee looks like on our way home from skiing.

Kaleah is 3 Months Old

 Kaleah has discovered her fingers and loves to put them in her mouth.

She has also started to grab at some toys (like the parrot in this picture).

Maylee loves to feed Kaleah her bottle.  Maylee is getting better at holding Kaleah for longer periods of time and sometimes feeds her the whole bottle before saying her sister is too heavy.

Maylee was doing her "bimnastics" with her handy-me-down outfit from cousin Sarah.  Earlier in the day she caught a glimpse of women's college gymnastics floor routine on t.v.  She asked me to help her "boom, boom, boom" (while making her hands hop like a frog).  I figured out she wanted me to help her do a tumbling sequence.  I told her I don't know how, but she grabbed my hands anyway and pulled me to the end of the mat to show her how to do it.  Later, Kaleah joined Maylee on the mat while I was cooking.  I turned around to find that Maylee thought her little sister's arms needed something to hold (blanket and doll).  Maylee insisted that I take a picture. 

February Skiing

Feb. 2nd
We did two runs then came in the lodge for lunch.  We took a long lunch break thinking Kaleah would wake up to eat, but she kept on sleeping.  Maylee was ready to ski again so we put Kaleah back in the pack and put in another three runs before Maylee said she was tired.  Maylee worked really hard improving her turns, getting up after a fall, and enjoyed being "tricky" on her skis.  She would dance while skiing and also figured out how to "side hill" above the cat track.

Maylee is working on how to make her skis parallel to the mountain before standing up on her own.

Feb. 9th
Maylee had a lot of fun showing off her new skills to Ammie and Papa.  On this day, she seven runs!  Kaleah joined us for five of those.  Again, she was side hilling, dancing on her skis, turning on her own, skiing around the trees on the edges of the runs, and went on jumps.  She caught some air for the first time off of a jump, but when she landed her feet kept getting further apart until she fell.  We also laughed when she face planted into the side of a snow bank...she laughed too.  We weren't sure what she was thinking when she did that one.  Maylee likes to ski fast, which is why she will probably be on the leashes until she is eighteen.  :-)

Mardi Gras Weekend at the ski hill...kids loved playing on the snow fort.

 Hailey and Kaleah in the lodge at lunch time.

The evening after seven runs...

We tried to wake her to eat dinner so she would not get hungry in the middle of the night.  I ended up feeding her some bites and reminding her to chew.  Then we got her pajamas on, teeth brushed, and she went right back to bed.  The next day, she was still worn out.  She was not just a bear, but a grizzly!

 Even Kaleah was done for...

Feb. 15 & 16
We skied two days in a row and Maylee was a trooper.  On Friday, we went with my parents and Aunt Julie.  On Saturday, Uncle Wes, Aunt Patty, Emma and Sarah joined us.  Maylee has been asking all season for Emma and Sarah to come ski with her so she was excited!

 Her latest thing is to have breakfast in the lodge...

Another snow fort in front of the lodge for kids to play on...

 

 Silly faces (Maylee's idea)

Happy Valentine's Day 2013

Super Bowl 2013

Kevin was so excited that his favorite team since childhood was playing in the Super Bowl.  However, that excitement dwindled as the 49ers did not play so well and ended up losing.  We invited our youth group teens over to our house.  Maylee enjoyed cheering.

 The youth group teens gave Kaleah this outfit.

Funny Maylee in Winter 2013

Funny things Maylee said in January...

1. I replaced the liquid hand soap by the bathroom sink and Maylee noticed the change.  While trying it out for the first time, she said, "Mmmmm.  Smells like green eggs and ham!"  It really was a citrus soap from Bath and Body Works that has a slight mint green color to it.  So weeks later, she still calls this soap the green eggs and ham soap.

On the way home from errands, Kaleah started to cry because she was hungry.  Maylee reached over from her car seat to help settle Kaleah down with a pacifier.  It worked until Kaleah spit it out.  Maylee says, "I smell something stinky!  Mom, maybe she has a BIG poop this long (holds up her hands about eight inches apart)!"

As you can tell from this picture, someone thought it was a good idea to use a marker as chap stick.  I had to turn around and compose myself before trying to have a "serious talk" about how markers are not chap stick.

Funny things Maylee said in February...

Maylee and Kaleah’s babysitter, Carol, shared a hilarious story with us…

Maylee (age 3) was playing with Ty (age 4) and put a baby doll up her shirt.  Then she asked Carol to help her put a dress on.  (Carol has lots of dress up clothes.) Carol told her the dress probably wouldn’t fit over the baby doll under her shirt.  She was insistent on wearing the dress and said, “Ty and I need to get married.”  Ty got dressed up in the Luigi costume, including the hat.  When they were all dressed, the ceremony was a quick hug and then they were married.  They immediately undressed out of their wedding clothes, then Ty told Maylee, “Now, I’m the doctor. Lay down so I can get the babies out.”  Ty pulled the baby doll out of Maylee’s shirt, then Maylee inserted another baby doll under her shirt, and Ty repeated until they had five or six babies.  Together, they proceeded to change diapers, feed the babies, and put the babies to sleep in the beds they made out of blankets lined up on the floor.  Carol said it was funny to listen to them and watch their imaginations.  I asked Lisa why her son knocked up my daughter before they were married, and she replied saying at least they got married and Ty is quick about fixing his mistakes.  We got a good laugh from this story!