One-on-One Time with the Kids

I get lots of one-on-one time with Nolan while Keaton is at school but I get very little with Keaton.  TJ doesn't get a lot of one-on-one with either kids for obvious reasons (working).  But he has been getting a lot with Nolan lately and I can tell how much Nolan loves it!  I guess him and Keaton playing video games counts too even though the rest of us are around.  They just ignore us while they are in their gaming world.

Since Nolan and I are together a lot our time isn't as "special" unless we do something out of the ordinary.  It was really nice a few days ago so we went to the park for the first time in months.  We both had so much fun.  It was amazing to see how much he has changed since he was last at a park.  He was interacting with other kids and even became buddies with a 5 year old.  I haven't witnessed him interacting with other kids except when Keaton is around but I think he's finally getting to that age.

Today I got to spend almost the whole day with Keaton.  Usually our friends come skiing with us but they were sick so it was just him and I.  He didn't want to play his video game player on the way there so we talked the whole time (hour and a half).  It was great.  It was great to have lunch with just him.  And share an activity with just him.  He went on the chair lift last weekend and didn't fall at all skiing down.  Today he went on the chair lift 3 times and only fell a couple of times.  He's doing really well and today his teacher spotted him after class and was impressed on how well he was skiing.  None of the other kids in his class has been on the chair lift yet, I take him after class is over. 

Playing with knives!

The kids took a cooking class at the YMCA where they learned how to make pizza.  They were also going to make applesauce but ran out of time so I made it at home and destroyed it.  I should probably sign myself up for some classes.
The guy who ran it was fantastic and it was a really fun thing to do!  I'll definitely sign them up for more.
They made sauce and dough from scratch.  He let them stir the tomatoes on the pot on the stove (something I'd never let them do), help put the pizza in the oven (again I try to keep them away from there too).  They even got to practice sharpening knives and he showed us how a really sharp knife can cut through a piece of paper like scissors.  I tried our knives at home and the paper ripped so we need to sharpen ours.  Even Nolan got to sharpen a knife but I didn't want to take a picture and risk him losing a finger.

Sadly when the pizza was done neither of the kids really liked it.  But Keaton LOVED the cooked basil leaves so we will add that to our pizza's from now on.

He'll do anything for hot chocolate

Yesterday Keaton had his first ski lesson!  I grew up skiing every week at Stevens Pass and it was something that so many of my friends also did.  I hope Keaton likes it because I'd love to get back into skiing again.  I'll have to get a job to afford it though.  You know you are old when you remember when lift tickets were $10.  They are A LOT more now.  Luckily we don't have to pay for a ticket when he's doing lessons.

His lessons are only a couple of hours and then they have lunch (and hot chocolate which he was really looking forward to).  I was so impressed with the kid in the black shirt.  He was 10 and was so great with Keaton and Camden at lunch.  It's great to see when older kids are so nice to the younger ones!  He taught the boys a new hand shake.

They encourage the kids to go back out after lunch to practice what they learned in lessons. They have this thing called the "magic carpet" that takes the kids to the top of the practice hill.  They never had this when I was younger.  You had to climb to the top of these little hills.  Keaton is the second kid in the red/black outfit.

I was so impressed with how well Keaton did on his first day.  And how brave he was.  Keaton can be a little timid when he tries new things but he was confident, didn't get upset when he fell and wasn't scared when he went really fast and then crashed.  I think he might already be a better skier than Grandpa Morgan! 

Celebrating Big!

TJ and I celebrated big on New Years Eve!  We had lunch at the Space Needle.  It is something neither of us have done and I decided it was something I should do since I've lived here my whole life.  It was really fun!  The restaurant rotates and it takes about 47 minutes to go all the way around. The seating area moves but the center and outside of the restaurant don't (hard to explain but was really cool)!
People put post-it's on the windows.  The window's weren't moving but where you were sitting was.  So you'd move past these notes that would say things like "Where are you from", "Who's your favorite super hero." Mostly kids wrote them so they were totally random.

The restaurant has a reputation of having bad food.   Neither of us thought it was bad.  I think it's because everyone's expectation is SO high. It was much more casual than I expected which was good.  It was something fun to do on a special occasion (belated birthday present).

 

Our kids also celebrated big with lots of champagne (sparkling cider).  Then they passed out around 7:30!  We were suppose to go to a friend's store to celebrate with a bunch of other families but stayed home since Nolan hadn't been feeling well (and had partied all day long with Aunt Claudia).

I'm obviously having a wild and crazy New Year's eve since I'm writing my blog at 8:30pm :)

Still Believe!

They still believe in Santa which makes Christmas super fun!  I'm not sure how many more years the magic of Santa will last.
The kids had a great Christmas and got everything they wanted and even some stuff they didn't know they wanted.  Keaton got his gum lollipop and Nolan got his lollipop too.  Nolan was lucky that Santa brought him a few more things that weren't on his list (since all Nolan wanted was the lollipop).

Keaton got some Minecraft and Plant vs. Zombie toys along with a cool race track, a smart watch and some other stuff.
Nolan got a race track also so they were able to combine the two and make a giant track.  Nolan got a lollipop drum!  Some play dough toys.  They both got a giant Super Man vs. Batman play house thing.  They got mini lazor guns to shoot each other with (it's great they are small so they can't hit each other with them).

Santa always remembers Manny!

During Christmas break Keaton got his rental skis since he will be doing ski school this winter!

  

We took the kids bowling and they both had tons of fun!  The first time Nolan tried he didn't understand that he was suppose to roll the ball and then watch it go down the lane towards the pins.  He ran down the bowling lane to push his ball again, I came running after him and fell since it was so slippery.  He loved it and put his arm up in the air each time he bowled like he won or something.

 

Looking forward to 2017 and all it brings!

5 Days of Fun!

The kid's Christmas vacation started with a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge with our friends.  This was Nolan's first time and he loved everything about it!  I wasn't sure how Nolan would do at the enormous water park since he hasn't wanted water in his eyes during swimming lessons.  He did amazing and didn't notice the water at all.  I didn't get any pictures in the water park since I was playing too.  Keaton's favorite part was the giant wave pool.  Nolan went down a big water slide (that he was probably too young for) and LOVED it!

The place was all decorated for Christmas.  It was really pretty.  It snowed in the lobby throughout the day!

 

They had a giant (and real) gingerbread house you could eat in.

The kids did yoga!  It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen!  They have tons of different activities to keep them busy.

Nolan fed Colesen a lollipop!

They found gold!

After the Great Wolf Lodge we headed down to Portland to visit Uncle Jason and cousins Crystal and Emerald who were at their grandparent's house.  We planned to stay two nights but had so much fun we stayed a third night.  Grandpa Morgan met us down there which made it even more fun.  The kids always have SO much fun when they get together!  It was so cute to watch Nolan wanting to be just like them.  If they had their coat zipped up, he wanted his zipped up.  If they were eating with a spoon and he had a fork, he wanted a spoon instead.  I'd tell everyone we needed to go to the bathroom before we left and I'd find Nolan in the bathroom with his diaper off trying to go.  He was just old enough to hang with the other kids and thought it was pretty cool!

We made gingerbread houses and Christmas cookies at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

I took the girls for two days so their would be some peace and quiet at the grandparent's house.  I was very proud of myself for taking care of the 4 kids and having everything go smoothly.  Very proud.  And then I remembered a friend I have who has 4 kids and does it everyday. Guess I wasn't as great as I thought I was :).
We went to a really fun indoor swimming place.  It had a giant wave pool with inter tubes and water slides and sprinkler things to play with.  I had 4 kids who can't swim and nothing went wrong!  We went to Target and we only ended up buying a few extra things.  We went to the Portland Children's museum and spent almost 5 hours there!  I asked Keaton and Nolan what their favorite part of the trip was.  Nolan said "his blanket."  Keaton said "that Emerald knew about Plants Vs. Zombies."  I think my favorite part was all the smiles and laughs.  And that every time we were in the car they wanted to play the quiet game.  But instead of peace and quiet they paused the game many times so they could talk.  And they were always getting second, third, fourth chances if they accidentally talked.  

Winter Wonderland

It's December! It's almost Christmas! It snowed!  Holiday fun is everywhere!

It snowed for my 40th birthday!  It was a great gift because it was a distraction from my birthday (that I especially didn't like this year given how old I am). It was beautiful!  School closed and the kids got to sled on some amazing hills in our neighborhood.

 We ventured out in the snow in Dad's big blue truck and went to see some reindeer and played on a decorated pirate ship.

The kids visited Santa.  Nolan was super excited until he sat in Santa's lap!  All Nolan wants for Christmas is a giant lollipop so I'm sure Santa will get his everything he wants!

Of course Manny got to see Santa too! He's gone every year so I have to keep the tradition going. 

Nolan had a really fun holiday party at his school. I was in charge of the cookie decorating activity....super fun but total chaos.

We've seen a couple of really cool light displays in the area. 

We got the family picture done for our Christmas card.  Now we just need to get them and mail them!  They will probably be late this year since they seem to be lost in the mail.

We are now heading to the Great Wolf Lodge and then down to Portland for a few days and then back for Christmas!  I hope the kids are having LOTS of fun during the holiday's this year!  This is the time of the year that I feel especially lucky for having kids because it makes everything SO much fun and I love to see them have SO much fun!