c’s skiing incident

charlie has been out skiing 3 times this year. on monday, the day after christmas, bill and I were able to take charlie out skiing in the morning while my parents stayed with the girls and packed up. it was really fun to get out and see charlie having so much fun.

this is at the lodge at welch village before heading out. charlie is giving me his scruff face.

here is the set up.

then he fell and this is how fast bill went over/avoided him and stopped. charlie isn’t even fazed.

here is bill cleaning out all of the snow out of his helmet and goggles.

on the lift. charlie absolutely loves skiing. I know it makes bill’s heart swell when he sees how exciting charlie gets when he knows we are heading out skiing.

this is going down the main run at welch.

charlie enjoying a donut and gatorade for his break. growing up I never got to eat from the chalet cafeteria, but bill almost always got a donut and some food so he loves watching charlie get a donut and relive his childhood.

before the end of our time, bill suggested I ski with charlie.  he obviously thought I could do a decent job and we both thought I need to figure it out if we are going to get the girls on skis next year. so I decided to go for it. we headed down an easier run (even though bill thought the steeper runs make it easier to keep charlie out in front) and we were doing pretty well… until charlie fell and went over my ski and instantly (without thinking) I pulled my ski out from underneath him and cut his lip and cheek with my ski tip. blood was flowing out everywhere – it wasn’t pretty. charlie was crying, but not out of control and I was more sad about it than charlie. thankfully, bill maintained a level head to keep me and charlie calm. since his lip and inside his mouth were bleeding it was a lot of blood, but eventually it stopped. we took one more run and then we had to head home to pack up and leave for green bay. charlie was a trooper.

you can’t really see the blood and marks in these pictures. but he cut his upper lip, inside his upper lip and the side of his cheek.

I had to take this picture as we were leaving the chalet. bill rolls charlie’s ski pants and with his tennis shoes on he looks just like ski racers do when they walk into chalets. it is so cute.

during the car ride home the marks showed up a bit more. they were a lot darker than these pictures show.

speaking of the drive to green bay. my dad purchased a new truck while he was in montana so there were not enough seats for me and the kids to fit with my mom and dad. my mom insisted she would fit somewhere (and my dad said it would be “no big deal”). now she is tiny, but it was unbelievable where she sat the whole 4.5 hr drive to green bay (they insisted I stay buckled up). we had the three car seats in the back and if I moved my seat all the way forward there was room under charlie’s feet for her to sit on the floor with her back against the door. it was tight! I guess they really wanted me to come home 2 days early. this is my attempt to try and show how tight it was.  here you can see the car seats and my mom’s head.

what a good sport!

Christmas 2011

Christmas morning! ellie, daddy, & claire!

charlie opening his stocking. he was excited this year, but almost a little shocked by it all.

I really wanted a picture with all the kids and their stockings -I even included lily…but it totally backfired. no one was happy. here is the proof.

bill read through the Christmas story while acting it out with our nativity set. charlie was able to finish some of the sentences for us and recite Luke 2:14 that we memorized earlier this month. “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, good will towards men”. it was precious.

then charlie dove into his big gift.

claire opened her new little gund bear.

while ellie was opening her little gund snuffle bear claire bonked herself and had to have a little scream.

charlie was so excited to get Scruff – a specific train. he has been talking about scruff for months and when people would ask him what he wanted for christmas he would say scruff. he also has coined a signature “scruff” face that you will see in a few pictures. this is the face he said he would make if he received scruff for christmas.

 

bill and charlie making the “scruff face” because they were so excited!

an up close look at charlie’s newest look.

so excited to have scruff!

attempting to get a picture with all 3 and their gifts.

one with charlie looking.

bill was happy to get his new computer bag and retire his old timbuktu which he has had for 8 years.

I loved my new lululemon top.

all of us with a lot of our gifts. my parents joined us after we had a little family time and it was great having their help that morning. even better was we got a group shot. I just love that the girls are smiling at each other in this one.

my dad with claire.

ellie enjoying her new blocks.

g.pops cuddling with a soon to be sleeping claire.

eleanore finding daddy super funny.

 

then after a delicious brunch, tom and laura joined us. charlie was delighted to see bubba coming through the door.

claire was sporting this beautiful red dress that was lent to us.

charlie was pumped to start reading his new magazine from pappy!

my mom and ellie.

lily found a comfy spot to lay her head down.

charlie was given a doctor’s kit with little scrubs from tom and laura. the kit even has a pager so he can be just like his daddy!

e&c got little patagonia down sweater vests! I was in love! ellie modeling it.

now the pink did not go so well with their red outfits, but you get the idea…cute!

since laura comes down to help out each week we have joked that she is our employee. we comment about her promptness, attendance, work performance, etc. I was trying to think of something funny to do for her for christmas and then found a document frame in target and we printed off a certificate of achievement online and then bill spent hours carefully penning her name (laura schmiDt) on the certificate with his world renown cursive. when she received the reward at our employee banquet she was delighted.

then we busted out the teeter totter from the aunts and uncles and the kids loved it.

the charlie came running over and jumped in the middle of it.

claire did not want to get off of it. she LOVDAT!

pete, margit and paul came down to visit for a little while in the afternoon.

we ended the night watching the packers beat the bears. since we were leaving town on monday for a week I wanted to get the tree down (and to be honest –after a month of having a needle shedding 9.5 ft tree cramping my style I am ready for it to be gone…I know “mrs. grinch”) so we took that down during the game and wrapped up Christmas at our house for this year. what a wonderful year it has been and we are so blessed with loving family and friends nearby to share our holidays with.