January 2018 happenings

Emma, a classmate of E&C, sent home these sweet cards. Girls love writing notes!

playing on the snow pile before heading out to ski.

we found a small spot by claire's forehead that looks as if it was cut. claire claims no. i am not so sure. 

this is a blurry photo from Mrs. Holland of the girls in the class who do Ballet on Tuesdays after school. The girls just signed up for this session and are loving it. 

more snow eating and playing.

we are getting very close to the girls both not fitting in the tub anymore. when they are in there they are all legs! 

ellie on the snow!

When Bill was on his ski trip and I was solo parenting up at the mountain it was an extremely warm weekend. The girls were so hot! 

Bill's ski trip ended up at Schweitzer on Sunday so he saw us for a bit. the rest of our crew was laughing at him for eating with us while his group was up at the top having a beer. 

Ellie and Luke

we love Ann and Addi and their family! so thankful for their help while I was skiing along with the girls on Sunday! 

Ellie trying on Bill's old bomber jacket. love that jacket! 

claire with it on. yes they are both in underwear only. they like to sleep like that so after bath they usually only put on undies and their robes. 

Saturday morning we heard that Bill's Grandma - Gamo - as we affectionately called her - entered Heaven. We were sad to hear the news, but are rejoicing that she is without pain. We will miss her deeply. 

We flew to Minneapolis Thursday and Ellie was cuddling with her Auntie Dotes by 2pm. 

hanging out with little Lynnie

Auntie Margit juggling Janie and Lynnie

me and Paul!

Auntie Margit with Claire

Ellie was in full babysitting mode with Janie. 

2nd Cousin - Michael (who is probably 6' 6") having the girls hang out on his shoulders after the power went out at Lynn's house (after the funeral there was a huge gathering that evening at Lynn's house). 

Ellie found this owl in one of the flower baskets at the funeral and brought it back and now it is on her dresser. 

So thankful for the Hope we have in Christ that we will see our beloved Gamo again.

New Years Eve - SARS 1st Home series race

Bill and Dave sitting hill side for the first race. They were taking a quick break in between their volunteer efforts. 

so nice to have a sunny race day.

Ellie!!! She wanted so badly to ski all the gates correctly - she did it and skied fast! 

Claire! 

Claire skied hard and got to the end and said "whoa - i felt like i was going to crash the whole time" ha! It is why she skied so fast -- living life on the edge. 

Ellie wanted so badly to get a trophy like Claire. Ellie got 5th, which was amazing. The girls beat many girls who were 8! Being in the top 10 in skiing is a great accomplishment. 

 she wasn't  thrilled.

Claire won! Her first time getting 1st. I doubt it will be her (or Ellie's last). It was a hard parenting moment though. We were thrilled for Claire and Ellie, but Ellie was devastated and Claire was so excited but also holding back a bit because she could see Ellie was disappointed. I do think we will work through issues many girls deal with just at an earlier age. 

 Claire 

sadly this is the only photo I could grab of Charlie (I was dealing with the girls at the time). He is a first year U10 so is on the younger side of this age group. He skied awesome and got 8th. Again - top 10 is awesome! So proud of him! 

by that evening the girls had turned a corner and were happy with their results. 

how sweet is this. 

 we had a lot of new years eve parties to attend so we went to our neighbors and they started with early fireworks.

lanterns first.

sparklers and then real fireworks happened.  

our friends the Bruya's put on insane fireworks and this is a picture they took of their fireworks. they were basically professional. 

 ellie and luke were so tired by the end!

1st race of 2017 season results -proud of these kids. 

After 9 days being at the mountain, it was time to pack up and head back home to get ready for school the next day. I love being up at Schweitzer and escaping from all of the crazy. We love skiing and spending time by the fire and together! What a wonderful break!