A New Year

Normally, we celebrate New Year's by . . . going to bed at a normal time.  That's not entirely true- we go to bed at a normal time at the cabin as often as possible.  We try to spend as much time as possible up there over break.

Seriously, nothing is better than dozing off on the couch in front of the fire.

We should get out and play in the snow at home too, but somehow that is just what we do at the cabin.

We build snowmen, we sled in our yard, and we throw snow at each other.

I love these kids.

For Christmas, Kaitlyn got two sewing kits that she was thrilled about.  She has been really interested in learning to do what mommy does, which is sweet.  In fact, she wants me to get her a little sewing machine she saw at Joanns, but I told her she can learn to use mine when she's eight.  In the meantime, American Girl has some cute kits that really were great.  We sewed 12 buttons on to make a clock for her room, and then we made two of these little owls.

And she did great!  In fact, this is the smaller owl that I helped her with, but I didn't help her at all with the bigger one she did the next day.  They had her doing an applique stitch, running stitch, sequin stitch, and whip stitch with all the start and end knots and she did it all by herself.  What a champ!

But when little sister saw her posing with the finished product, she decided she needed to steal it and be in the picture too.  Despite refusing to put on clothes that day.

This is my real household, friends.

Sigh.

But this year we got a bonus- we got one of Christopher's brothers to come with his family for the holiday!  And it was so much fun that we're hoping to pull it off again next year.

So there was more sledding.

The snow was so perfect for sledding that you didn't even need the sled.

Christopher was excited to have teenager neices and nephews and his brother to play on the toys with.

The way up to our cabin is just that: up.  The road is a steady increase the whole way.  So when there are extra people to watch our little kids, everyone can sled or ski down the hill, and someone can use the snowmobile or four wheeler to go and pick them up and bring them back up the hill.

Christopher got these skis at DI last year, and declared them well worth the $10.

Jasmine wasn't so sure about all of this snow, but she did like getting her new snow boots on and doing what everyone else was doing.

So we had a great countdown to New Year's, just sitting around and putting together a puzzle and playing Phase 10.  Oh, and Christopher challenged his nephew to see if they could each down an entire bottle of sparkling cider.  Because that's just what my husband does.  And yet, he always seems shocked when he doesn't feel well afterward!