Annual Cold Camping Trip

John, Brent, Shane (my brother) and Trenton made the crazy cold camping trip last weekend. This was the fifth annual trip. Every year the group of guys that goes varies in size with this year being one of the smaller. They have a great time "guy bonding" which really means sledding, hiking, shooting guns and building BIG camp fires.

This year the temp over night was 10.2F. Brent slept outside in his zero degree bag while the other three slept in a tent.

The guys camped next to a big hill that was perfect for sledding. They all had some fun going down and there were some pretty amazing photos of each of them taking a dive off the sled. Check out Flickr for all the photos of the trip.

View all Cold Camping photos.

Sophia turns 5 months

What a big girls Sophie is getting to be. She had a pretty full month with Christmas, learning to sit, and playing more with her sister. She is doing really well sitting, still needs a little support sometimes to not fall backwards. We introduced the sippy cup this month and she is holding it really well and even gets some in her rather than just all over her.

Zoe helped her open presents on Christmas morning. She really likes her pal Scout - her puppy that sings her to sleep. Christmas night she got to take her first trip to Sedona and had mom and dad all to herself for 2 days.

New Years Eve she didn't quite make it to midnight with us but she did get to participate in our tranditional burning of the Christmas tree.

To view all her 5 months photos click here.

Zoe and the last three months

It is hard to believe Zoe will be 2 soon. The three months (months 18-21) since Zoe's last update have gone by so fast.  I had to look back at pictures to even remember all that we have done. I find with two children now the months are just a blur. We really have had a lot of fun the last several months. Here is just a sample....

October was filled with lots of activities starting with our return to Stroller Strides classes and a visit to Mother Nature's Farm where Zoe got to pick her very own little pumpkin. Later in the month John and Zoe had a day at the zoo together with our friends Marvin and Alexa. They did a lot of walking, some riding in the stroller,and even got to pet a few animals. Zoe also got to watch her cousins Kyle, Trenton and Ryan play football. She had fun watching the game periodically and exploring the bleachers. At the end of the month Zoe had an unfortunate fall on my Grandma's back patio and chipped her front tooth. We have really come to love the snaggletooth smile.
 

November brought a visit with Papa Broom and Mama Shar, who arrived just in time to head to Tucson to attend Lisa and Topher's wedding.  It was really good to see Bentleys, Coxes and old family friends and have them meet the kids.  Zoe also attended a "Beginning Movement" class thru the city of Chandler - learning how to walk the balance beam, turn somersaults, and controlled falling in general.  Apparently the class didn't take very well though, as a couple weeks later she did a face-plant off a curb and skinned her face up real nice. 

In December, Zoe started learning to help clean the house - she enjoys "cleaning" the windows with the feather duster.  She also loves to press all the keys on the organ at Grandma Buttons' house just like her mom and uncle Shane used to.  Kelly has started baking with Zoe - she loves using the cookie cutters and making sugar cookies. This month Zoe had a great time at her friend Amira's birthday party at Jeepers. She got to ride the carousel which she actually wasn't a big fan of. She did like riding the cars, playing in the big climber and sliding down the roller slide.



Zoe and Sophia are starting to interact a lot more - Zoe is always giving her toys, sippy cups and big sloppy kisses - she also somehow has a knack for getting her to laugh like no one else.


To view all her 18-21 months photos on our Flickr site click here.