Families that ski together

Our new family motto is:

Families that ski together, stay together.

Well, in our case, you can snowboard OR ski. Last year we took the two older girls out for a day of skiing and loved it soooo much. This year for family day weekend (actually our 11 year anniversary) we went with a bunch of their cousins and Aunts and Uncles on my side and it was seriously so much fun! That very next week I went out and bought them new skis, boots, and helmets. We are going to commit to this. You may or may not remember, but this is how Ben and I met. A girlfriend and I had filmed ourselves doing some fun little snowboard tricks. We brought our little movie to the institute one night to show some other friends. Ben and his roommates saw, and were interested. We invited them out snowboarding and the rest was history. Through out our dating and married life we have spent countless hours snowboarding. We went on a snowboarding Honeymoon for goodness sake! It's kind of important to us, and we couldn't wait until our family was at that stage where we could do it together. And we're almost there!

Anyway, the girls loved trying out their new skis. They loved climbing in and out of their bindings and wanted me to document every single moment of it! We've been out one more time since and I'm super impressed with how good they are...Hailey can rip down the hill without a problem, and Paige just graduated from her leash to skiing without any help!!

Maybe next year we'll take Cait

Piggies

Someone let me put her hair in pigtails...that same someone didn't let me take pictures of those pigtails. I still tried though, and I think these are still pretty cute!

She did pretend to vacuum the kitchen, which is pretty much as good as a photoshoot!

Valentines Day

In a house of girls, especially girls like mine, who's parents got married the day after Valentines day, you can certainly bet that celebrating Valentines day is a big deal. It is. We get out our craft supplies weeks before the big day, and get started. Like with all Holidays, I let the kids run the show on this one. We don't do anything super fancy, I don't photoshop cute phrases onto cards, or their pictures onto lollipops or any of that pinterest stuff. I let THEM make their own valentines and I let them individually express their feelings to their peers. Some valentines have more sparkles than others, some are on blue paper, some on pink, some have drawings of their friends and some just have their names. It's a labour or love and I love how they turn out each year. We even enlisted a friend (and piano student of mine) one day to help cut the hearts out.

So if making valentines is such a big deal around here, you KNOW that receiving them is just as important. Ben is great with this. He KNOWS he has 4 little girls to impress (Ok I'm not so little - but I'm still a girl). Every year he buys a dozen flowers....the girls each get one, and I get the rest. Then we put them all in one vase together and swoon over our awesome dad/husband!

And just so you know...I thought I'd share a brief moment of reality. 

And then one second later...the picture face

Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam

We are creatures of habit. Every single Monday we have Family Home Evening. And every single Family Home Evening we sing 'Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam' for our opening song. And every single time someone is missing a piece of clothing, and every single time they sing sun-BEEP instead of BEAM, and every single time Cait is at least one beat behind her big sisters when it's time to JUMP! And every single time Ben and I laugh and laugh and lauch...because these three girls crack us up!

Grandpa Waugh

Ben's Grandpa passed away a couple weeks ago. The week before he passed we were able to make a trip down to visit him in the nursing home. The girls played quietly on the floor, we looked at old pictures and grandpa slept. At one point he opened his eyes as we were leaving, he looked at Cait and smiled for a moment before falling asleep. This was such a touching moment for us because it just epitomizes the kind of man he was. In the 12 years I've known him he was always happy and kind. He loved seeing the kids and was just such a joy to be around. It is sad to have him gone, but we are grateful to know that we'll see him again. He was a great man and lived such an honest and righteous life that it gives us something to work towards.

Playing on the floor at the nursing home

Showing granpda some pictures

Hailey and Grandpa a few summers ago

Paige and Grandpa - July 1 2011

Hailey hugging Grandpa

Ben and his Grandpa

A fun afternoon in Raymond - 2011

Hair Cut Time

So it was time. Time to cut hair. Time to say goodbye to all the crying and whining when their hair gets brushed. Time to have easier hairstyles and sometimes hair that looks good without being brushed and straightened or curled. It was time. Oh boy was it time. I still wanted their hair long...and so did they! It's so much part of their identity that I couldn't do a short cut. But a pretty decent trim would hopefully do the trick. My only concern was cutting Paige's hair. It's so pretty and curly, and I was scared I could cut those curls off. 

Paige before - all brushed straight and long

Paige After...still a small bit of curl. BUT far far from what it used to be. I think I want to cry.

And Hailey's after...I totally forgot her before picture. Just picture it going right down to her pants. Yup. It was LONG!

Anyway, it's been so nice to have their hair at a reasonable length again. It brushes so nicely and just looks so much better. I'm still sad about Paige's hair. I think I'm going to take her into a real hairdresser and have them cut some layers into it and soften up then ends...maybe that'll bring back the curls a bit more.