Nana and Papa's Visit

We had a great visit with my mom and dad. The kids had a really long time off of school so I was excited to fill in the break with some grandparent time. While they were here we heard that my laptops hard drive had crashed. Luckily they were able to retrieve all my data since I hadn't been good about backing up. Dave and I were able to take a night to go get our new iMac and finish some Christmas shopping. Nana and I took the big kids swimming while Papa watched Claire. Then Dave and I got to do on another date night as well. 

One day we went on an adventure to Nevada City. It is about 1 1/2 from me. And the cutest city I have ever seen. It was a gold rush town and mostly built in the 1900's. It is just like stepping back in time. We enjoy 60 degree weather there. I can be honest I didn't want to leave.

Ronan and Eva in a make wooden tee pee 

My dad has only skied a couple times in his life and has always wanted to try it again. I was really impressed that he gave it a go while they were here. Eva was his coach and taught him everything she knows. Like to take off your ski when you fall and can't get up. 

Nana enjoyed the village and babysat Claire while I took the rest of everyone up to ski. 

Claire 8 & 9 Months

Here is our ever growing girl. The months keep flying by and I can't believe all the new things that Claire has been doing over the last few weeks.  Here is her 8th month pictures. Which may be really only 2 weeks from her 9 month. If she doesn't look much different to you.

One of the biggest developments this month is pulling herself up on stuff. She even will shimmy along furniture. I don't think we have too long before she starts walking. Also she is crawling like crazy. The wood floors here hurt her knees so she does these peg leg crawls one knee and one foot. I'll take some video of it its hilarious.

Here is Ms. Clair at 9 months. She has starting talking this month. Her first word was dada. She says it all the time. Dave also taught her to wave and now she says hi. When he comes home she'll wave and say hi dada. When she wants something to eat she smacks her lips together. Especially when I am eating something in front of her and not sharing. Every time I am singing or we are playing music she sings too. And she loves to dance and bounces to the beat. 

Oh this sweet thing melts our hearts. Everything she gets into is just cute. I love watching her explore. Even unrolling the toilet rolls or taking things out of cabinets.

I bought this cute globe that plays Christmas songs and lights up. Claire loves it. I wanted to add it as a prop to our Christmas photos.

Skiing

We got our first snow storm and it put into reality that soon we would be needing all our ski stuff. So we took a trip to Reno and did a season rental for all the kids. Then Dave built them this awesome hill off our deck. To say that they loved it would be an understatement. I hoping this is a sign that they are going to go mad when they see the mountain they get to ski.

It took Ronan a few times but eventually he got it. 

 Eva surprisingly was the most balanced on her ski's and didn't fall once.

Leah was very sweet and thanked Dave and I multiple times for their skis. 

Here is a quick pictures from Leah's end of soccer season party. This was like a week before it snowed. Eva had a party too it was dinner at a restaurant with all the kids. Not my favorite evening keeping all 4 of the kids behaved. Dave left work to get there and save the day.

Halloween

The funniest part of Halloween for Dave and I this year was that we went to a Halloween Gala. I spent way to long making these mummy costumes. They looked a lot easier just looking at the instructions.

We really got a kick out of driving around waving at people.  

Here we are with Daves boss Bill and Jen his wife. 

I had my friend and her kids over to carve pumpkins. This is the first year I didn't carve all three pumpkins. Leah actually did hers all herself.

Our ward had a Harvest Party. Complete with Chili cook off and game booths. I was in charge of decorations. Flo and the kids helped me set everything up.

Halloween night we went to my friend Amanda's for trick or treating.We had quite the food spread for the adults.These are the kids friends from church. One thing I love about Halloween up here is there aren't any street lights so it actually is a little spooky to trick or treat. Next year I'll make sure we all have flashlights.

Here is a cute little pumpkin who was really only dressed up for about 15 minutes. The big round pumkin didn't help her with her crawling.

A week before Halloween we went to a carnival at Ronan's preschool. Then they have a gigantic Halloween parade downtown. I think the whole town turned out. Then you trick or treat to all the stores on the main street. It was really fun and we got a whole lot of candy really quick.

Here is a good shot of our cute down town with my cute trick or treaters. Eva was a skeleton, Leah a witch, and Ronan wolverine.

Grandma Flo's Visit

We had the pleasure of Grandma Flo's visiting over the Halloween holiday.  

We took a Sunday drive around Lake Tahoe.  

We were able to do a hike that we had wanted to do over the summer. It was these rock stairs up to a waterfall. The kids loved it and would have kept going. We will have to go back again.

We climbed all around the rocks the kids kept finding new places they wanted to get to. 

This picture was actually taken on a timer not to bad ehhh 

The waterfall wasn't as cool as the walk to get there. Maybe it is bigger in the spring. 

Ronan's preschool class does a celebration once a month. Grandma Flo was able to come to one.

One of our favorite spots above Donner Lake.

 We took the kids to Reno to go to their new childrens museum. It is an old city office building that they converted. Very cool. Clean spread out. I didn't feel like I was going to lose one of my kids all the time. The kids are in a large climbing structure made to look like clouds.

Below is this big water feature. 

Leah and Claire in the pond projector. It kinda ripples when you step on it.  

Old western room

Claire 7 Months Crawling!!!

Claire at 7 months is divine. She sits and plays with her toys but yet can't get anywhere yet. Love it. She is falling asleep by herself in her crib and sleeping through the night.

 This picture was taken just 2 weeks ago and man the changes in the past few weeks have been amazing. She crawled last night, crawled!!!! I will post a video. There was a small tear partly because my baby is not so baby anymore. Also because my life is over once the mobility starts things get crazy. She also started jabbering a lot more. First recognizable sound was dadadadadada. If no one is talking she just sits and talks in a cute sing song voice. Here is her crawling. She waited until the whole family was around. It was nightime so look past the outift and missing bow. I am glad that everyone especially Dave got to see this.

Boys Boys

Nearly every Saturday Ronan asks Dave to take just him out. One day the girls went to a girl sports day. Ronan and Dave spent the day together. They went climbing above Donner Lake.

They went further than we went with the baby in tow and were able to get to the old railroad shaft. Ronan said it was spooky.

A couple weeks ago Dave had some friends come stay for the weekend. They golfed and swam in the lake, watched movies and ate out. I am choosing to not blackmail these guys with the swimming photos that I have. But they better watch it because one wrong step and they are going up on Facebook.