Idaho

We left for Idaho the day after Christmas. We had a late start due to roads closed in Wyoming. The kids did okay in the car until eight or nine hours into the eleven hour car ride. Haden kept telling us in a pitiful voice to help him get out of his carseat because he was stuck. We were all relieved to get to my mom's house. Regan loved playing with her aunts and cousins while Haden terrorized my mom's two house cats. Her cats must be dumb, because they rarely ran when they saw him coming! He caught them a lot, but luckily only wound up with two scratches on his cheek.

In Samaria, Grandpa took us to help him feed the cows. At first, Regan adamantly refused to go. I think that she was envisioning my mom hand feeding her two pygmy goats and had no desire to get that close to a cow! She finally gave in, but upon climbing into the farm truck, claimed that it was too dirty and needed to be cleaned. This is Regan not happy about such a dirty truck.

Haden loved riding around in the truck without his carseat, but loved driving the tractor with Clint even more. Regan kept telling Clint that he didn't know how to drive the tractor and he should go get Grandpa! I think Clint was offended!

Regan quickly lost interesest in riding in the tractor and climbed down to be with me. While Clint and his dad were spreading out straw for the baby calves, I gave Regan the job of pulling the bailing twine out of the straw. She wasn't exactly excited about it.The 4 wheeler and snowmobile pulled sled were also big attractions. Both kids loved going fast especially over the bumps! In Samaria, there is a penny candy store named the Blue Goose. (Clint & I actually had our wedding reception there years ago!) Clint's dad traditionally takes the kids to visit Clarence, the storekeeper , and assemble their bag of penny candy. This trip was the first time Haden understood that when he went to the Goose he got candy. There were several times that Haden would grab my hand, pull me to the door, saying, "Go, Goose!" over and over. The poor little boy didn't understand that it wasn't open 24 hours. The Goose was supposed to be closed New Year's Day, but Clarence had sympathy for Haden, and called to let us know he would be there for a few minutes if Haden wanted to come visit.

It was a fun trip, but we were all relieved to get home, this time ahead of the storm.

Merry Christmas

Christmas with kids is so much fun! I love seeing their expressions when they come down the stairs and see all the presents under the tree. (We don't have any presents under the tree until the kids go to bed Christmas Eve-my kids have little self control when it comes to presents.) This year both kids were spoiled, Regan loves her Barbie house and Haden had so much fun fishing for Regan with his new Spiderman pole that it had to disappear until we actually take him fishing. The Zhu Zhu pet was a hit, and has surprisingly not been stepped on as it wanders around the kitchen while I am making dinner.

Ballet

To conclude this semester of ballet, the kids performed to Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Regan did a wonderful job and cannot wait for ballet to start again!

Happy Birthday Haden!

Haden turned 2 on December 18. It was a rather low-key affair. Clint took off work early to take the kids to the library. They LOVE going to the library with Daddy. I don't know why it is any different than when I take them. We had been getting toy catalogs for several weeks advertising this year's must have toys. For some reason, Haden fell in love with Buzz Lightyear. He has never seen the movie and we have no other Toy Story things, but he could pick out a half inch tall picture of Buzz in every magazine. It made present shopping easy! Haden got his Buzz Lightyear and was thrilled! He would frequently bring us the picture in the catalog and then proudly point to his own Buzz. I'm not sure why we didn't get any pictures.

Haden is all boy and definitely a different animal than Regan. His ridiculous antics always keep us well entertained! Whether he is climbing the wall, doing flips off the couch, or reading "Gone With the Wind" we love having him in our family!

Cinderella

Regan's preschool teacher's 2 sons were performing in a local high school's performance of Cinderella. Regan wanted to go and, after all, we needed another opportunity to wear her fancy Halloween costume! The girls were supposed to dress up as princesses and bring magic wands to help the fairy godmother get Cinderella to the ball. It was Regan's first play in a long time, and I don't think she knew what to expect. I assume she was expecting Disney's version rather than Rodgers and Hammerstein's. She was intrigued by the play, but commented later that Cinderella's dress was not the right color and the fairy godmother looked funny!

Halloween

This past summer, while in Idaho, Regan and I went with my brother to his friend's quinceanera (a coming of age party for 15 year old Mexican girls). The music was way too loud, but the birthday girl was wearing a bright pink version of a wedding dress. Regan was instantly captivated. When we got home, she told my mom all about the "beautiful princess" and her "fancy dress." My mom used to sew professionally and was very good. She promised Regan that if we would pick out the fabric and the pattern she would make Regan a "quince" dress for Halloween. So, despite what I had planned, she was a princess again for Halloween. Haden was a knight. He hated his costume, but LOVED his sword. After several attacks on Regan, we had to institute a rule that he was only allowed to hit Daddy!

The week of Halloween, Regan's ballet class had a Halloween party where all the ballerinas could wear their Halloween costumes. I think Regan struggled to dance in hers (she had layers of tulle petticoats) but loved wearing it every chance she got. She refused to wear her crown though and produced instead last year's Easter hat.

Clint took the kids trick or treating. I was sick, so I didn't get many pictures. These were post trick or treating. Notice the Starbursts Haden already had in his mouth. The kids had fun and Regan is already talking about what she should dress up as next year!