Peter is Eight-er

Last Monday, Peter turned the big eight. I took cookies into his class and he was super excited.

 Then we got to see him get his honor roll certificate. Go Peter!

 Benji always loves going to Peter's school too and hung out with his friend Olivia.

That night we had a little family party and he couldn't have been more excited.

 Peter got a magic set and has already given several magic shows.

He's a natural.

 Nora waiting patiently for the birthday cake.

Last Saturday we had Peter's big birthday party. He knew he wanted to have a spy theme and Travis and I had a blast coming up with some awesome ideas for Secret Agent Training. As the kids arrived they had to create an ID badge, complete with a code name and fingerprint, an don a disguise (mustache, sunglasses).

Nora showing off Benji's crime scene outline.

 They tried their hands at code breaking

 tested their agility in the laser maze (watch out for the bombs!),

 and worked on their marksmanship.

 Travis also took them outside to test their concealment abilities (hide n seek) and bomb disposal. The kids had to pop bombs (balloons filled with glitter) using remote control cars with a tack attached to them. It was AWESOME!

Then we served cake and told everyone it was time to destroy the evidence.

Spending the afternoon with 14 eight year olds, we were pretty exhausted but everyone had a blast.

Happy Birthday Peter!

Mammoth Mountain

MLK Jr weekend we went to Mammoth Mountain, staying with one of Travis' co-workers in their condo. Thanks to El Nino Mammoth has TONS of snow and the kids had an absolute blast.

 While we were exploring the town portion, they had a little parade and face painting and the boys requested camouflage and a skull. Basically Benji wound up looking like a homeless person and Peter like a deranged hunter. Good times.

 Turns out Peter is a bit of a daredevil on the sledding hills. He would find the highest point and careen off the edge without regard to trees or other people. One time he went a bit too high and sadly ran right into a tree. Luckily he was bruised but not down. After that he learned the very important concept of 'bailing out' and went on to enjoy lots more sledding runs.

 Below, a prime example of his new-found technique.

 Turns out Nora isn't a huge fan of the snow (or cold weather or getting bundled up or something) and had to be carried around most of the weekend. Benji was a good big brother and took care of her.

The last day we found this amazing sledding run that some extremely nice people had created down the side of a hill complete with lots of twists and turns and a jump down at the bottom. The best part was watching Benji decide to go down it without a second thought. I'll admit to being a bit scared to go down it myself at first. That kid was fearless!!

We came home a bit sore but we had the best time.

Trek to Utah

The day after Christmas we made the trek up to Utah to see the rest of our family. Our first stop was in St. George to celebrate with Travis' mom.

Look at how excited they all are!

We stayed with my dad who was kind enough to provide fresh snow almost every single day we were there! I don't think a single day passed where we didn't go sledding.

After getting some warmer snow clothes for the kids (apparently we aren't quite used to that kind of cold anymore!) all the kids thoroughly enjoyed being out in the snow. 

The last day with my dad, we visited Crystal Hot Springs - I didn't manage to get any pictures but it was so incredible there. They had various pools, each a different temperature, and with the snow falling all around us, it was incredibly perfect.

I'm afraid that we were a bit tired out however by the time we made it to Travis' sister's house to see his dad. Golden does make an excellent Santa tho! 

Even though we hadn't originally planned to stay, we decided to spend New Years Eve in Utah and actually went out on a double date to the Westerner with my sister and her husband.

 Oh man! what a fun night! We rode the mechanical bull, line danced, and Tracie and I did an epic Beastie Boys karaoke. We also remembered that we are total nerds and could barely manage to make it past midnight.

 We headed home New Years Day a little bit exhausted but we had such an amazing time.

Back home, we were greeted with CA's version of 'winter' -- a crazy rainstorm that lasted a few days and left these huge puddles everywhere that my kids had a ball playing in. They were COVERED in mud, head to toe, by the time they finally made it back inside.

Christmas!

Since we usually do our big, nice dinner on Christmas Eve (and enjoy leftovers Christmas Day so I don't have to cook), I may have kicked everyone out of the house for a few hours so I could get stuff done. This is what Travis and the boys came up with -- a 10 foot catapult from which they launched all our gingerbread houses. It was quite the thing.

For the 3rd Christmas Eve running, we've had our dear friend's the Novack's over for dinner and games. This year was probably one of the most fun we've ever spent together. Since she's from England, Barbara always brings Christmas crackers and it is no kidding my kids favorite part of the night (okay, mine too). We pull the crackers apart together and the kids all jockey for the best prize within and we all don our crowns to wear throughout dinner.

Meredith brought her selfie-stick and we got a bit carried away...

I swear Nora drank her body weight in Martinelli's -- how you resist that cute face constantly asking for more "Joo-cee" (juice)??

 After dinner, we played charades and had a talent show including carols by Meredith on the piano, sword swallowing by Travis and lots of shenanigans from our kids. Basically a hilarious night. 

Then we tucked all the littles off to bed and collapsed. Luckily the boys weren't up at 1am like last year, but apparently Peter did sneak out around midnight to sleep with Grandma on the couch because he was just 'too excited to sleep in his own bed.'

Christmas morning finally came!

Nora with her new little 'bunnies' -- a Calico Critters set that is the cutest thing ever and a new favorite toy that gets played with every day!

Peter and Benji both got night vision goggles from Grandma  

 stopping mid-present unwrapping to check out their new loot.

After thoroughly enjoying opening presents, we got a call from one of Travis' coworkers who lives in Tehachapi (about an hour north of us) to say they got fresh snow and inviting us to go sledding. Snow on Christmas Day?! What a treat!

 They had several inches of fresh powder perfect for sledding. Benji and Nora went on a few runs but quickly discovered that inside was hot chocolate and toys so they bailed after only a few runs.
But we practically had to drag Peter away. He was in heaven!

By the end of the day we were all exhausted and sore, but what a wonderful way to spend Christmas!