Kirkwood Snow Trip!

Pretty much right after Makena's 5th birthday party she started asking if we could go to the snow for her 6th birthday. We told her we could, but then we wouldn't be hosting a big party. She said that was a deal, and all year she's been looking forward to going to Tahoe. Our dear friends have a house in Kirkwood, which is a bit closer (and snowier!) and they offered it for us to use for the January 8th weekend. And as a bonus we took their boys with us, since they had the first day of their ski team class. And I & C have been Makena's special buddies since she was a tiny baby. It's been so fun to watch them all grow up, I love when we get together!! They have such a sweet friendship, it feels more than friends, but not quite like family.

There was so much snow, it was really amazing. The 4 hour car ride went so much better than anticipated, and we arrived in time to play and then go eat. Hadley mostly didn't like the snow, despite what these cute photos show. ;) Makena was SO THRILLED that her friends were with her. While it might seem crazy that we took 2 extra kids with us, having them really made it more enjoyable for us because they kept Makena entertained!

   

  

 

  







 


It was a really wonderful trip. It snowed on Saturday, which was Makena's first time seeing it snow. I love snow so much and being in such a beautiful place with so many feet of fresh snow was just magical. We couldn't build a snowman, or even make snowballs, because the snow was so powdery! Sledding was mostly a failure too, it was so hard to walk in snow up to my waist! The big kids played so well together, and for the first time ever Makena fell asleep in a different room than one of us! I made s'mores brownies and we sang Happy Birthday to Makena and I just really wish we could live somewhere with snow. Maybe some day soon!

New Year. Same lack of posting.

We are 6 days into 2016. Pam's at a night class. The kids are playing in the bath. I just grabbed the chromebook and instead of getting distracted and doing anything else online I quickly opened up this page!

I don't do the whole New Year's resolution thing. I'm not really into setting goals and stuff because that doesn't work for me. But I did think to myself "I sure hope I can carve out time to update the blog more regularly next year."

As usual there's a LOT that I feel the need to catch up on. I want to pull up my FB page and do a quick scan of photos I've uploaded to get a refresher of our summer fun highlights. Instead I'm going to jump right in and just say that I have a 2 year old an almost 6 year old and these kids are the best things ever. Things have been going really well, we just finished our awesome 2 week holiday break where Pam got to be home with us that whole time. (Yay for school jobs, at least this time her time off was paid!!)

We are about to spend this weekend with Makena's dear friends I & C at their family's mountain house in the snow. Makena requested a trip to snow in lieu of a party for her birthday this year. All year we've been looking forward to this!

And wouldn't you know, Makena just asked me to help her dry off and now Hadley's trying to get out of the tub too.

(I'm going to save this and try to come back soon!!)

Hahahaha. Well, now it's January 21st. I've opened this window a few times but oh, it's hard to find time to sit quietly and type!!

I'm going to start a new post now all about Makena turning 6 and our snow trip.

Makena is 6, Birthday Survey Results Are In!

Makena is 6. She fell asleep 5, and woke up 6. She asked to go to bed early because she was worried she wouldn't sleep well since she was so excited for her birthday. (Christmas Eve and the night before our snow trip were both horrible nights of very little sleep.) 

One day she will be 16. I wonder how much she will change, and how much will be the same. She had a very hard time staying asleep-

I went to bed at 10pm. I woke up at midnight when Hadley wanted to nurse. Then I woke up at 1am when Makena told me she was too excited and couldn't sleep. She got in bed with me and tossed and turned until 2am when she said "I'm still awake" and I made her go lay with Pam. Then at 3 Hadley woke up crying. She wanted to nurse from the other side, but wasn't satisfied with me just leaning leaning over so she crawled to the other side of me. Then at 4 I awoke to a thump and screaming when I scooped up Hadley from the floor where she rolled off the bed and landed face first. At 5 I lay in bed unable to fall back asleep. At 6:30 Makena came in and asked me to get up.

Pam made her pancakes for breakfast that she wanted, plus strawberries even though they aren't in season, not very sweet or yummy or red, weren't organic, and cost like $7. Then we had her go into the bedroom for a bit while we set up her gifts, including a brand new bike! She recently was at a friend's house and tried the bike and rode it like a champ, asking for one for her birthday. Pam was determined to buy her one, and this purple one is so perfect.

Her little face was so shocked and happy when she saw the bike!! She and Hadley both love the bell. We stayed at home for the day and did each others hair and nails for fun. Instead of a party we invited a couple friends to dinner at P.F. Chang's. 

This is what I wrote on fb about my big girl- 
Makena spent some of her birthday money to buy Hadley the Sago Mini Babies app. (Which is adorable and I totally want to play with it too!) She's the best big sister. She is just really so sweet, silly, thoughtful and empathetic. She enjoys vegetables and singing and is constantly drawing and writing and creating. I'm continually amazed by how well she reads. And how easy she is to parent.

She's such a joy to be around, I'm so happy we are homeschooling this year because 5 has been so wonderful and I'm glad I didn't have to share her with anyone else all day. We love to cook together, take baths together, watch movies, do each other's hair while pretending we work at a salon, play games, build forts, and write each other notes.

When I ask her for help 9 out of 10 times she does so happily. She's quick to offer suggestions and takes initiative to solve the problem when she knows I'm struggling with Hadley. She doesn't push my buttons, she turns the dial down when needed and I rarely have to ask her to do something twice. She is funny and lovable and fills my bucket in so many ways! She just asked what I'm doing and I said I'm writing all the things I love about her, and she smiled knowingly and said, "Are you writing like a hundred things?" I love her so much.

I hope that year 6 brings her more chances to explore outside of her comfort zone, more opportunities to work on friendships, more fun adventures, and more understanding about the world around her and her very important place in it.

(Note- she went into the bedroom sadly saying that Hadley is ruining her birthday because all she wants to do is play with the new app now. I'm always honest about the good AND the bad!!)

I had wanted to do this same survey every year on Makena's birthday but I haven't. It bothers me so much that I have all these great ideas, but then when I sit down at the computer they rarely end up happening!


1. What is something mommy always says to you? 
I love you.

2. What makes mommy happy?
 When I hug you!

3. What makes her sad? 
When I'm gone.

4. How does mommy make you laugh? 
Play. 

5. What was your mommy like as a child? 
Silly.
6. How old is your mommy? 
That's easy. You're 33.

7. How tall is your mommy? 
I don't know. As tall as 1 of me and 2 of Hadley?

8. What is her favorite thing to do? 
Snuggle me. 
9. What does your mommy do when you’re not around? 
Go on your phone. 

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for? 
Help people nurse.

11. What is your mommy really good at? 
Helping me. 

12. What is your mommy not very good at? 
Pottery. 

13. What does your mommy do for her job? 
Tinkergarten.

14. What is your mommy’s favorite food? 
Broccoli. 

15. What makes you proud of your mommy? 
Cooking. 

16. If your mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be? 
Pinkie Pie because you like parties.

17. What do you and mommy do together? 
Everything!

18. How are you and mommy the same? 
We both like veggies.

19. How are you and mommy different? 
I like olives, black olives.

20. How do you know your mommy loves you? 
That you always say "I love you."

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Favorite color?
Purple. 

Favorite food? 
Black olives

Favorite drink? 
Starbucks Iced Tea

What do you want to be when you grow up? 
A veterinarian. 

What's your favorite movie?
Frozen

What's your favorite toy?
Rebecca

What is your favorite thing about being you?
I like myself 'cause I love my sister.

Where do you wish we could go right now?
To I & C's house.

What would you buy with a million dollars?
A huge house with 2 bedrooms 5 bathrooms and I would also want 2 bunk beds one that belongs to me and one for Hadley.

What's the best thing you've done this past year?
Go to the snow!