a taste of winter

The snowfall this year has been pretty pathetic. I don't think we've had a single measurable storm in town. A few weeks ago we finally got some rain and decided we should head up toward Sunrise to see if it had turned to snow there. It most certainly had. We tried to get to Mt Baldy, but the road is closed during the winter, so we had to find a few other spots where we could let the kids put their snow gloves to use. It was gorgeous! We all played until we were frozen, then cranked up the heater and enjoyed the warm ride home.  

This is Justin's, "seriously??" look. What are the odds that MJ's first snowball would hit him right in the head? She looks pretty pleased with herself though. 

Yep. Tastes like snow.

I can't tell if they're puckering up for a kiss or arguing. [The second one is more likely.]

Stuck! STUUUUCK!

Snowman time!

Same picture, different year

These cousins are the best of friends. 

Britt & Ellee are 6 months apart, and Emelyn & Marnie are 4 months apart. 

Britt (7), Ellee (6), Emelyn (4), and Marnie (3)
December 2012

And December 2013
Britt (8), Ellee (7), Emelyn (5), and Marnie (4)

I think we'll make this picture an annual tradition. It'll be fun to look from year to year and see the differences in their hair and teeth. 

Scenes from my phone

Here are a few iPhone pictures of things worth mentioning.

Marnie was feeling left out when Britt went on a field trip to the swimming pool in September, so she dug out her swimsuit, goggles, and floaties and "swam" in the tub.

I chopped off 4 years of hair growth. That ponytail was 19 inches long!

We took a trip to Tonto Natural Bridge in September. We went in January last time, and there was a lot of ice under the bridge, but this time it was nice and warm so we got to go all the way under the bridge and hike up the other side. It's the coolest place!

This is the view from the other side of the bridge.

We've had some beautiful frosty mornings lately. It looks like there's sugar sprinkled all over the place.

Sam is not a quick learner... This picture is from yesterday, but he sat like this last week and we heard, "GOTCHA!" splash! and a soaking wet cat ran out of the bathroom. Marnie just figured he wanted to join her. A few nights ago, while Justin and I were watching TV, we saw him walk down the hall and assumed he was going to get in bed with one of the kids, then we heard a SPLASH... Someone had left the lid up on the toilet and he jumped right in. He keeps things interesting. One night, he was in the mood to play at bedtime and was waking Marnie up, so we decided to trap him in a different room where he couldn't bother anyone. Griz sleeps on our couch (he's actually very well-trained and knows he's only allowed on the couch when we put his blanket on it and go to our own bed) but just a minute after we made his bed and headed to ours, Griz came to our room and stood in the doorway. We thought it was strange (he never does that) so we got up and followed him...to the room where we had left the cat...who was climbing the baby gate we had used to blocked him in. Griz was tattling on Sam! He knew the little stinker wasn't supposed to get out, and was telling us, "hey guys...that cat's escaping." That dog is the best. :)

We've had the same (cheesy, not very cute) Santa-suit tree skirt since our first Christmas. I've looked for a new one every year, but never found one I really liked or that I was willing to spend the money on. This is our 12th Christmas, so I decided it was time to just make one. Since I don't have a sewing machine, I put this baby together with my hot glue gun. It was so fun! I used two sheets I got on sale, so the total cost was under $5. Britt asked why I made the Target symbol for our tree skirt (totally non-intentional, btw) and I just said I wanted to keep with our red and white tree decor and this way we know where to aim the presents. ;)
As soon as I put the new skirt on the tree, Marnie grabbed the old one and put it on. She loves being Little Miss Claus. 

From the forest to our living room: Christmas tree 2013

Fat Suit and Lucille

In October, we raised two monarch caterpillars. The kids named them Fat Suit and Lucille (any guesses who named who?). We made sure they had plenty of milkweed to eat, and moved their chrysalids to our butterfly pavilion so they could emerge there. It was an awesome experience! Monarchs are beautiful creatures, from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. After we had observed them for a day, and took them to Britt's class for show-and-tell, we released them so they could make their journey to warmer weather for the winter. 

The monarch life-cycle, from my iPhone pictures. I love how clear the chrysalis becomes just before the metamorphosis is finished.  

Waving goodbye.

It was a pretty gorgeous day.

Little Man Sam

We might be insane. For the last few months, Marnie has been saying she was going to ask Santa for a black kitty. Soon, Britt started saying he liked that idea, and he was going to ask for his own kitten for Christmas. I should mention, we already have a dog, a corn snake, and two gerbils. So the thought of adding TWO more (eating, pooping) animals to our house was not a super-duper welcome one. We went back and forth on getting a cat (just ONE) at all, then we found out about a tiny black rescue kitten at our vet's office. When he was about a week old, someone had found him and one of his litter-mates in their yard. It seems they had been abandoned by their mother. The other kitten didn't survive, so the person took the survivor to the vet and asked them to euthanize him. A sweet vet tech offered to foster him and give him a chance. She bottle-fed him and raised him with another rescue kitty who was a couple weeks older. Marnie and I went to meet him at the vet's office and she fell in love. We adopted him when he was about a month old. He really is a sweet cat. He was already litter box trained and comfortable with big dogs and kids, so that's made the transition pretty easy. Really, the hardest part has been weaning him off his bottle. He recently discovered that one of Marnie's fingers is the right size, so she is his pacifier now. Ha! We named him Sam, but he also goes by Harper (basically, Hyper in a funny voice) and Spazzy McGee. Griz has been amazing with him from the beginning. He is the most patient, gentle dog. They play together and nap together all day. Griz already lets Sam boss him around too. It's pretty ridiculously adorable.     

First time meeting face-to-face

Exploring Marnie's room

Poor guy is still wearing his baby fur. It's coming in thicker and darker now though.

They spend 90% of their day snuggled in the sunshine or snuggled in front of the wood stove.

Like I said, ridiculously adorable.