Fun in the Sun and Snow

We've had Christmas at our place for two years and we have truly enjoyed being home...but Dave was pretty sure someone else should enjoy it here too:) So, he insisted that people come up to relax and hang out the week of Christmas and Mom and Dad took us up on it! Later on Christmas Day, they drove up and stayed through the weekend! A much longer visit than we normally have, so that was exciting. The other main excitement was the snow! We had the best snow to ski and snowshoe in and inexplicably we had some nice "warm" temps as well. Perfect to get out and enjoy it! 

I love how this looks, so cozy!

This was exactly what we were hoping for. Some laid back time to play and enjoy the winter in our "cabin." Christmas night we just enjoyed a beautiful fire, Thursday we were up and ready to ski, we would take turns cuddling and playing with the kids and the others would play outside:) On Friday, Mom and I escaped for awhile to the outlet in the Dells and did a little shopping, such a refreshing experience without little ones! and we had some good luck:) Saturday was another snow day and we attempted to get a family picture and a kiddo picture taken...I will call it semi-successful (not going to post yet as it might....be coming as a Happy New Year card. If I can ever get that accomplished)

Grandpa and Kate snowshoeing
Kate got snowshoes from Gma & Gpa Lenninger and she is a natural!

Our winter front porch

The temps were higher on Saturday and the snow melted enough to make the snow stickier --we could finally make a snowman! I can't believe how much fun we had and how perfect the weather was. 

First time really playing in the snow!

Beginning the snowman..

Kate and Gpa made a heart in the snow (on the pond actually:) 

Playing out front, I think they were pirates?

Mom and daughter skiing:)

There is no complete snowman picture, unfortunately he was never completed! We were waiting on the carrot and stuff to make a face and then it got really cold...so, the poor thing is faceless, oops.

Kate Update!
Okay, I have been pretty bad at writing down some of the crazy/brilliant/sweet/ridiculous things Kate has said lately, but here are a few from yesterday...

We were in her room getting her dressed and I noticed her pajamas were way too short, no fighting it anymore, they needed to get moved to her "too small" bin in her closet. I wondered what she would think seeing her clothes on a sibling in the future and asked...

Me: Do want Mommy to have another baby? (assuming she would jump at the idea, she loves taking care of all her babies. And oh yeah, smothering Collin with love:)
Kate: No.
Me: Really?
Kate: Yeah. We should just have a garage sale. 
Wow, alright....

When discussing supper (a coworker gave Dave some canned venison and we were making it last night)
Kate: I LOVE deer! Wait, are the antlers still on it? 
and later: I want a real deer, not one in a jar...

I'm going to have to get better at this again, I'm positive that I will want to remember these things when I am old! 

As I try and write this, I am sitting at the kitchen island and Kate is on a stool beside me, in the pantry pretending to be a chef and talking. Non. Stop. Those of you that have been around us lately understand what I am saying. She never. stops. talking. As I think Andrew said, it is kind of remarkable that she can come up with something to say, constantly. In every moment. I know I can't really complain....hmm, some of you might say she gets this endearing quality from me:) And I can tolerate it better than Dave can. Though I suppose that could be because he is listening to two chatty girls! 

Let's see, a little update on Collin...
Umm, Collin "Mischief" Lenninger is doing quite well:) He is eating with gusto (well, compared to his earlier months) and I love it! I love the mess, I love his face, I love having to make the food and grind up our supper. I know this may not last, but I guess I was pretty worried about him not eating before! 

As babies do, once he learns something he can do it with lightning speed in about three days. He crawls quickly! He pulls up and gets back down with ease and reaches way further than we give him credit for. We ended up blocking the Christmas tree with our ottoman and a tub that I put a bunch of toys in. The last few days, he will cruise over in his walker and reach for ornaments. 

He has a great laugh. I mean, I know you are all on the edge of your seats, waiting to hear if (terrified that) he gets Dave's laugh:) We get lots of giggles when changing his diaper, throwing him in the air, peekaboo, etc. Last night, I was chopping vegetables and he ran over in his walker, when I looked at him, he just started laughing. I would turn away and then turn back and he would just lose it! Apparently, Mommy's face is super funny! Awesome for me, I love hearing that sound:) 

Collin wears 12 month and 18 month clothes, he is pretty long but the 18 month pants are still a bit long, which is kind of a hazard when he is pulling up and cruising along the furniture! He is starting to fill out in the middle more, I guess makes sense as he is eating way more food now! He has a lot of hair, by Kate standards, and it seems to be coming in mostly on top of his head, kind of looks like a mohawk sometimes. He also just started getting bed head:) When he wakes up, it sticks up all crazy, super cute but hard to fix! I'm going to have to douse him with water to get it to stay down. I was having some flashbacks to my little bro - Tony's spiky hair in the mid 80's, we are not quite there, but I would love to spike it like he did:) Doing anything with hair before the age of 2 is foreign territory to us here!

We are sleep training Collin, which means that I officially hit a wall and had to do something. I am planning another post on this and it is very much ongoing. As I felt like I tried everything else, I did a modified Cry It Out, the same as we did with Kate. It worked so brilliantly at the beginning...I was just in shock. We have taken some steps backward and messed it up a bit with traveling, but I have hope. I hate it - I don't like him crying, but it seems to work, so I just focus on that. Bedtime is no longer super stressful for me, I put him down awake and he goes to sleep without a fuss. We are just still working on the waking in the night, it varies, but he is still getting up a bit. I'll write more later on that (hopefully!)