February 2013

February is already upon us and we are cramming in all the fun winter activities we can.  December brought our first ice skating experience of the winter (Irelyn's first ever!).  Brooklynn did amazing, making a few laps around the rink with our assistance before declaring she was ready to skate alone.  After that, Jesse and I would alternate laps on the ice as Brooklynn went round and round.  She is such a determined little girl.  Now Irelyn on the other hand, decided after two laps that she really liked sitting on the bench and cheering for her sister.  Well we now know that ice skating isn't her thing at this point.
The following weekend we bundled up and headed out for some very exciting sledding.  OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS, after the first run down the hill I swore Irelyn was going to be an only child!  The plan was for Jesse to help Brooklynn up the hill, aim her towards me and then I'd catch her at the bottom of the hill.  Well Brooklynn came booking it down the hill so fast that she flew right by me, towards a wooden fence which she was able to duck under and then out into the busiest street in our neighborhood.  Yikes.  I seriously thought I'd had a heart attack before she came to a stop in the middle of the street.  We decided not to repeat that plan and aimed her a different direction down the hill.  Once again, Brooklynn made numerous trips up and down that hill while Irelyn decided she'd rather sit with me and cheer for her sister.

January 19 we made our way over to Opa and Oma's house for Brooklynn's first adventure on the ski slopes, a.k.a Bunny Hill.  We decided that Jesse and Opa would take her out for a half-day while Irelyn and I hung out in the ski lodge with Oma and watched the action.  Brooklynn was so stinkin' excited, she had been talking about going skiing for months.  She once again attacked skiing and made run after run with Jesse and Opa.  The last few runs involved Brooklynn making it down the second half of the green run by herself.  We were so proud of her and she is already looking forward to our next trip out skiing in a couple of weeks.

My little buddy in the lodge.

At first glance one might think Jesse mistakenly thought he was going hunting that morning.  Nope, that is his best ski outfit.  Even with that crazy gear, Brooklynn still has the coolest Dad around!

Now notice what Opa is wearing, yep, the same camo ski pants :) These two guys did a great job teaching our young lady how to ski on her first day out.  Thanks guys!!

This is our happy skiier enjoying a cookie and cocoa after her day out flying down the hill.

A few cute, random pictures from the last month.

We stopped by to see Dad at his office but he was in a meeting.  Brooklynn decided she needed to leave him a note.  This big girl will be starting kindergarten in August.  Thats crazy.

I planned 2 years ago that I would be trading in my VW Jetta before it hit 100,000 miles.  So I found it ironic that when I pulled into work one night it had hit 111,111 miles. My new motto is "I'm not making anymore plans. I'm just going to let the universe surprise me" Thanks John Cusak for those words of wisdom.

ADORABLE!

75% of the time these two cuties are best buddies.  The other 25% of the time is to be expected.

Our yummy Valentines Day cookies.  The girls and I love to bake together and I'm hoping these are some of the memories they'll have when they're grown.

Lots of love from the Beaudettes!!