The snow and the ice

I understand there are family members in Arizona (hint, hint Helgeson & Echeverri ladies) who are having a hard time remembering what it is like to have the snow we have this year. Here are a couple shots to give you some idea of what we have so far. And we're not close to the end of the snow year!

At the end you will see some video of Claire for the first time she was on skates.



Video # 1 where dad still needs to hold onto her for the most part.


And 13 minutes later... she takes her first few on her own.

Photos from the Holidays

Helping Jordan with her gift.

Chilling with Papa before the clan arrives.
The Whitcomb kids sledding at Grandma and Papa's.

Who do I look like?

Who wears navy blue in our family? Hmmm??? Guesses anyone?

By the way, the only way I could get her out of her dress into pants to go outside to play in the snow by telling her when I put this outfit on her she looked like a particular person in our family.





(A. Grandma Joanne)

Ain't afraid of nuthin'

Sometimes a great advantage of having cousins older than your toddler is that she tries very hard to keep up with them and doesn't think there is anything she can't do. (I know this can go the wrong way too but for the most part it works). The most recent demonstration of this came when we were out in Amery for our annual Christmas tree slaying.

Some of her cousins brought their sleds. Claire took a spin on her own in the backyard. Then she dared to jump on Adam's back for a quick trip. As you can see, she enjoyed that a lot. The other cousins joined the rest outside and headed to the sledding hill (a nice hill that Papa so kindly mows before the snow flies so the kids have smooth sailing). According to her dad, Claire was all for sliding down the hill hooked onto her cousins or sitting in the sled with one. She had a blast and not a single tear was shed. While you might be saying... "What's the big deal?", let me explain. This isn't a hill in the backyard of the city. This one can really cook, especially when covered with a thin layer of ice. It was so nice to hear she was fearless and had a good time. Her cousins love going out to the hill and I am glad to hear that Claire will enjoy this with them.


Getting a ride from Adam.

Our tree before the slaying.

Claire Loves Trains

Claire enjoys the train Grandpa Jim is sharing with us for the holidays.




And shows her delight with having some of the Thomas train set is back. She played for nearly 5 hours with it this afternoon.