Luke's 1st time skiing

He was excited, but nervous. 

We strapped on our skis and headed for the Tow Rope/bunny hill for a little practice. 

It was years since I last skied, and I lack both skill and confidence; needless to say,

I failed to line up his skis correctly, and when he grabbed the rope, his legs did NOT follow his body.

Enough!

He decided from then on out he would ski with Daddy ONLY!

(good choice, little man, good choice)

All his gear on and ready to head outside.

(: SNOW :)

Daddy helping Luke up the Rope Tow!

(aka Daddy does all the work, and Luke is along for the ride - "spaghetti legs" and all)

Great progress... Daddy is no longer "carrying" him.

Why, hello cutie pie :)

Aidan can ski circles around me already, but he was a sweetheart and accompanied me several times.

(I think he could have walked down and still beat me - LOL)

Drew is also getting pretty good, but still joined me on a run or two.

Asher was sooooooooo good. 

He had 5 different caretakers during the day (Sean, Patrick, two "HCA" Moms, and I).

He even took a nap for Mrs. Dahlia!!!!

Luke and Daddy

Way to go, Lukie!!!

(Patrick was waiting a short ways down the slope to catch him...need to work on that "snowplow")

But all in all, a successful introduction to skiing :)

We arrived home just in time for me to catch a gorgeous sunset!

What a wonderful day!!!

Asher's 1st official hair cut

First haircuts in our family, up until now, were comprised of mini to actual full-blown meltdowns. 

Not so with this little guy.

He ENJOYED it, and cried only when it was time to leave;)

1st snip

Vroom, vroom 

Or maybe a few seconds of, "Mike the Knight".

 Hey, what are "bubbies" doing?

(Aidan was playing Xbox, and Luke, Gamecube on the big kid's side of the salon ). 

This is the moment he decided he was finished...

and thankfully, he was correct :)

Enjoying his reward for being such a GOOD boy - lollipop and balloon!!!

And "goodies" for Mommy too :)

P.S. Sporting his 1st pair of running shoes. 

Ponytails and pigtails, oh my

Yes, his hair was that long, and everyone thought he was a girl.

If we bothered to correct people, they usually commented,

 "Well, he is just too pretty to be a boy!"

How does one respond to that?

Anyways, 

*if* we had a daughter,

she might just look like this:

And a few more...

before his 1st hair cut!

Our baby is almost 1 1/2

Hard to believe he is getting so big. 

~ He is quite coordinated. ~ 

He can run and pumps his right arm vigorously.

He loves to climb and is also learning to get down.

He can jump if he is on furniture:

 perhaps he needs the extra "bounce" it provides, and I think he feels more secure too,

 because we have seen him leap from one piece of furniture to another.

~ He also has great small coordination: ~

loves to scribble and can easily fit two small objects together.

~ His vocabulary is NOT extensive: ~

Mama, Dada, Aidan, bug, bird, Yes!!!, uhoh, downstairs, 

~ But he does have a few phrases oddly enough: ~

Where are you?; There/here it is.; Bye, bug;

~ He has his 4 front teeth, 4 molars, and 2 top eyeteeth. ~

~ He is finally sleeping most nights in HIS bed! ~

We sure love our high maintenance, little man!

Check out that hair!

It makes the cutest ponytail ;)

BLIZZARD

At least, that's what the forecast called for... 

personally, I thought it just snowed and snowed and snowed...

most of the time pretty light, but it sure did accumulate.

Door #1 - snowed shut

 (this is as far as we could open it).

Door #2 - snowed shut

Door #3 - snowed shut

Patrick dug a path to the front door so that we could use it:)

Aidan -  up to his thighs in snow:) 

I bundled up Asher:

. clothes and 2 pairs of socks

.  fleece body suit

.  water resistant body suit

. winter coat

. mitts, WARM hat, and boots

Even then, we could only keep him out for a short while.

We hiked down to the road (Luke was not impressed since the snow was above his knees making it difficult for him to walk), walked out on the pond and down by the ocean. 

Very windy, snowy, and cold!

 But BEAUTIFUL!

View from the top of our hill.

The boys all worked on this tunnel. 

Pretty impressive if you ask me :)

Mastering the fork

Attempting to stab a bite.

Left hand provides a little assistance.

Mmmmm, sweet success!

What a silly, clever little boy!!!

First Ski Trip

Through the older boys' school, we have access to skiing for a very reasonable price:

$25 - Day Pass, Instruction & Rental of Equipment including helmet 

Up, up and away

View from the top

Of course, what goes up must come down.

Drew chose snowboarding and did quite well 

(especially considering he had never even skied before).

Aidan, Sean, and Drew

Docking Station...

 not meant for a phone ;)

Almost got it.

 There... got it!

"Hi" 

(said in the most drawn out, southern accent possible, and he kind of forgot to grab the phone too)

What a silly boy :)