Skiing, Skiing and More Skiing!

We went skiing on 12/26, it was Eva's first time skiing and she did great. She made 4 runs down the mountain at Ski Summit 2 with Scott where he was teaching her to ski and 2 with me where she basically caught a ride. When she was skiing with me she was whooping with joy as we went down the mountain. It was thrilling for me too. I'm not a good skier so the opportunity to ski with Eva who was just starting out and safely take her down the mountain was fun. Scott took her on the chairlift because he had to lift her off reaching around the ski lift pole, etc. etc. It was best if he did it!

Last night we went skiing again this time at Mt Hood Meadows for night skiing. It was cold 18-21 degrees! And dark. Lila skied 8 runs on blues and greens and then made countless rides on the Magic Carpet. Eva made one run with Scott down Buttercup and called it quits. I got her out on the Magic Carpet later and she was amazing. At first she didn't want me to let her go but I skied in front of her and taught her to ski to me. Later she was skiing nearly the whole way down. The slope is so slight that at times Eva would not slide on the snow because she weighs so little. It's rough only weighing 30 pounds!

Overall skiing in 2012 was a huge success. Lila is learning to turn as opposed to going straight down the mountain. Eva has learned to balance on her skis and is learning to do pizza and french fries and I'm gaining confidence in my own skiing. Scott is an awesome skier already!

Next up, skiing in Idaho in January!

Christmas Morning, Santa Visited!

Look we got Walkie-Talkies!

Christmas Eve 2012

We celebrated Christmas Eve with Erik and Maria, our neighbors, again this year. This is one of my favorite traditions of the year where we gather for a fun, festive and yet relaxed dinner and anxiously await Santa's arrival. Lila was over the moon with her gift from the Jennings, furniture for her Barbie house. Eva was also excited to receive a remote control train for her train set. I think it's amusing how different our kids are in terms of toys. Eva would much prefer things she can build and move (like cars) and Lila is 100% Barbie focused.

Surprise! Grandma Shrum's 88th Birthday

My mom threw a surprise birthday party for my dad's mom, my grandma. Also known as Gram and GG by all of her 16 great grandchildren. The party was held at her house and we all started arriving at 1pm on 12/23 much to her surprise! It was absolutely perfect.

The kids played and played while the adults got to reconnect. It wasn't that long ago that we would all get together several times a year and as each of our family's have grown it's been a longtime since we've gotten together. All except for my oldest cousin Rob's family were there and Tracey and Georgia who were sick.

Happy Birthday Gram!

The Ski Slopes are Open!

Scott, Lila and I went skiing today at Mt. Hood Ski Summit. The weather was perfect, absolutely perfect. There was about 6 inches of fresh snow, it was snowing when we arrived and later it stopped snowing and the sun came out. Anyway, this is Lila's third ski season and she had a fantastic day at summit. To give you a little sense of what kind of skiing our brave girl is up to here is a video. Lila says, "Follow me guys, I'll go first!" and we're off.

Lila is all set and ready for the day with a couple of new accessories she got to open early (new ski socks and baklava thanks to Aunt Linda and Poppy and Amma).

Lila and Scott on the first run of the day (we made 7 runs today).

So pretty!

Look at little Lila posing for the picture all sassy.

Happy Holidays from the McGeachy's

Its one of my favorite times of year to check the mail. Normally I will opt out for checking the mail for 3-4 days except for the month of December when we receive an overwhelming amount of love from friends and family in the form of their annual Holiday Card. I check the mail every singled day in December. We proudly display them in our front room to look at throughout the whole month. Keep them coming, we love them!

At our house we do things a bit differently*, to view our annual electronic holiday card click here.

*for so many reasons I won't even go into on the blog!

Tough Girl

Our little Eva has been one tough girl lately. Earlier in the month she was playing with a friend at school tug-a-waring while holding onto each other's hands. They pulled so hard that Eva's elbow became partially dislocated*. Ouch! She didn't tell anyone she was hurt, went down for her nap and when she woke up was unable to move her arm. It just hung straight down. The doctor tried to get it put back in place once and it didn't work. She told us prior to trying the second time that she's only willing to try twice and she bribed Eva with a stuffed bear because it would hurt so badly. Thankfully it worked the second time.

Fast forward two weeks and at school Eva got pushed by a friend at school and hit her head on the climber. The bump didn't seem that severe in the first 36 hours and then it got progressively worse. While we were out of town in Chicago it became two black eyes and a goose egg. 

* My elbow was dislocated often when I was growing up. I remember that dull, achy pain well. In fact, my mom emailed me the story of when it happened the first time which went something like this...'We were leaving the park and I didn't want to leave. My mom had a hold of my arm and I was pulling away from her when my elbow was dislocated.' This sounds 100% like something I would do and somehow it makes me feel like a better parent...memory's of my childhood are pretty rosy and hard to live up to as a parent myself. My memory is obviously selective!