Hogle Zoo

Hogle Zoo has free zoo days the last Wednesday of winter months, so we took advantage of that and the good weather to go see the animals.  They have some fun new exhibits!  I love how the new improvements make it so easy to see the animals!  When we got to the last bear exhibit, the little bear cubs were running around playing and so cute. Then both them and the biggest bear ended up coming right up to the glass where we were looking through, but unfortunately my phone died, so I couldn't get any more pictures!  It was so fun to watch them right up close.

Dolls

We've really done it at our house.  After noticing Lauren playing with the Barbie's at my Mom's house last week (she was so excited to show me the shoes and how she could brush the doll's hair), I remembered the storage bin that I've had waiting for this time.  It has sat unused, with the exception of the time I pulled them out for my nieces Abbie and Adrianna.   It was a great walk down memory lane as I pulled out the bag that contained most of my childhood Barbies and their clothing and accessories.  I had to laugh at the 80's and 90's style clothing, though!  Lauren had fun putting shoes on them, and having me change their clothes. Of course then she decided she wanted to start changing her clothes too.  Its funny how playing with dolls made her interested in getting her self dressed and undressed by herself.  Austin got in on the fun with the dolls as well. He really wanted Ken to carry a purse.

Also in the bin were some of both mine and Devon's old favorite stuffed animals.  For me that was my bear I called Nursy that my Grandpa Hollingshaus gave me when I was around 7.  There was also the little bear from the Cotton Bowl.   There were a few more, but what really stood out, that I had totally forgotten I had was my Cabbage Patch Kid dolls!  That was so fun!  The perfect thing is that I have a girl doll and a boy doll.  Austin and Lauren like doing most everything together, so I was so happy the way that all worked out. Lauren has really fallen in love hers.  She has two other small dolls, but has never really shown a whole lot of interest in either of them.  So it was funny to see her love this doll I loved as a child.  Austin was funny because he had me put some of his own underwear on the boy doll.

Indoor Soccer

Jayden had fun playing indoor soccer with his competition team this winter.  This was something new for us.  It was really fun, and probably one of Jayden's favorite parts of soccer the entire year.  They play 4x4 and run, run, run on the small field.  Its so fast paced and really fun to watch.  I caught Jayden scoring a goal in one of these pictures.  It was a challenge to get any pictures because there is either netting in the way, or plexi glass.  But I did manage to get a couple decent shots of him.

Basketball

Dylan and Jayden played basketball this year.  They had a lot of fun.  Dylan is a good hustler, and such a team player. He is very good at defense, making sure to stay right on his man. He is so excited for anything good that anyone on his team does.  Jayden is pretty good at getting around while dribbling, and going up for the shot. It was fun to watch both of the boys to play.  Dylan is the blue #5 in the first three, and Jayden is the white #24 with the ball in the last three.

Caught red-handed

I came out from taking a shower the other day to find this. I'm still not sure exactly what she thought she was doing, but she had made all these little stack of dishes, with napkins opened up in between most of them. Also, behind her the paper towel roll is halfway unrolled into a pile.

Dinosaur Museum

My kids love the dinosaur museum.  Problem is that it is so expensive to go!   A few years ago I bought a pass to Thanksgiving Point, and we went a lot back then, but haven't been back since.  So, we decided to take a trip over there, and had lots of fun playing together. What silly, crazy kids I have!

On the slopes

I've been wishing and hoping to go skiing for the last few years.  We haven't gone skiing since Dylan was probably about one year old or less.  I love to ski.  I love the feeling of zooming over the snow, and turning back and forth, going in between the trees on the tree trails, ahhh, I just love it!  This year I convinced Devon we should really make the time and money to go, and to take Dylan and Jayden along with us.  It would have been fun to bring Ethan as well, but we figured the first time taking newbies, and having never taken children skiing at all, we better just start with the two.  Dylan actually got to go skiing once in December with his school, so technically it wasn't his first time, but his second.  We signed the two boys up for ski school in the morning.  Devon and I brushed up our skills while they were in their classes.  We had so much fun, and were surprised at how quickly the skiing came back to us.  It really didn't feel like it had been about 8 years since the last time we were on the slopes.  We were a little nervous, though, and stayed on the blues and greens.  We almost took one blue that had a temporary sign posted on it saying it was a double black diamond.  A guy we rode up the lift with said we should try it because it had some good ungroomed trails.  He didn't say anything about the new classification for it.  We debated whether to take it... could it really be a double black??  The main sign declaring it as a blue was still there next to it, but we decided err on the side of caution and just have fun with the "easier" blues.  It was a blast! 

In the pictures Dylan has a multicolored scarf on and black coat, and Jayden has the grey scarf and green coat.  

Jayden on the left, Dylan on the right

We picked the boys up at lunch time and they were so excited at how their morning went. (As a side note, I had totally forgotten how nasty the food is at the Brighton Lodge.  Total waste of money. We bought cheeseburgers, fries, and a grilled cheese sandwich.  All were not very good, and totally over priced, even if they had been good.) As we started to eat, Dylan fell apart, though. I think he either was exhausted, or had a bit of altitude sickness, I don't know.  He couldn't eat because he was slightly nauseated, and his head hurt and was little dizzy.  Luckily we had some essential oils with us.  I put some DigestZen on his tummy, and peppermint on his head, and while Devon and Jayden went skiing on the bunny hill for 20 minutes or so, Dylan rested his head on the table.   I was so worried our ski day wasn't going to end good. I figured if we had to, Devon and I could take turns with Jayden on some runs.  The sad thing was that Dylan had been so excited to try something other than the bunny hill, so it would be such a disappointment if he didn't get to ski anymore.  Luckily before Jayden and Devon even came back, he started to perk up and was able to eat a little bit of food.  By the time they came back, he was great, and off we went!

Dylan, Jayden, and Devon

Dylan

 We rode up the Majestic lift, and skied down Mary Back, and Lost Maid two times, then skied the bunny hill many times, then went back for one last time down the other two trails.  The first two times down the bigger hills, Jayden and Dylan wanted to go mostly straight down.  They did pretty good at keeping things under control, and would do a controlled fall when they needed to.

 We decided to practice some more on the bunny hill and have it feel a little easier for a bit.  Jayden totally would go straight down the hill.  One of the times I challenged the boys to count the number of turns they made.  I expected to see Jayden make some nice S-turns, only to find myself chasing after Jayden as he went straight down the hill.  At the bottom, I asked him what happened, and also asked how many turns he made.  He told me he did something like 48 turns.  I laughed.  I'm really not sure how he figured that one, but the next time, I had him follow me again, and we worked on some bigger turns.

Jayden and Dylan on the bunny hill lift.

Our last hurrah down the hill, both the boys did better at turning and keeping their speed under control better.  Dylan exclaimed "This is so much easier!"  Its always nice to see those little successes!

Jayden

Jayden

Jayden

Dylan

Dylan

We came, we skied, we conquered!

Ethan got to participate in crazy hair day at school while we were off skiing.  How does he look?

And, last but not least, a big shout out to my Dad for taking my two little ones for the day while we played.  Mom helped some too, but she had meetings most of the day.  She came home at lunch time to help put them down, only to find he had just finished getting them down for naps on his own.  They are both so awesome to be willing to help us out so we could have some fun with the big boys.

Happy Valentine's Day

I thought I would put this together to send to Devon and Uncle Ben on his mission to brighten both of their days.  The first one is the one I used after doing them individually, and using the computer to paste them together.  The doing it all together just didn't work as well, but gave a funny picture.

Shoes

Lauren has a little obsession with shoes. It was one of her first words (so was "pretty"- she must be a girl). For the last few months, one of the first things she wants to do in the morning is get her socks and shoes on. Now, she often just wants to sleep with them on. She also is very particular on which shoes she wants to wear, although luckily on Sundays she has always cooperated on what shoes to wear to church. I probably just jinxed myself there. :)

Girl's Night

All the Gibson girls (except for Kim who lives in New York) got together for a night of fun. We went out to dinner, and shopped around Sheel's, where we had fun being silly, got treated to a new outfit and bought some yummy fudge. Then we went back to Mom's house to spend the night. It was a spoiled version of a sleep over - we all had our own room and bed.  I slept until about 8, and then worried I'd slept too long and hurried and got ready, only to find I was like the 3rd person awake.  Should have slept longer!   Then we all went to breakfast at IHOP. It was so much fun and nice to get out without the kids and be with my fun family. 

We took this picture for Johnny - Girls with Guns.