Hittin the Slopes

We have done some skiing this year. Well... not really me. I can only muster up the courage to ski about once every couple of years. But I like the idea of it! I LOVE the mountains, the scenery, the snow, the people watching, and I really love to get all dressed up in the warm clothes and chill by a cozy fire with a glass of wine or an Irish coffee reading a book or magazine. It's just that I can think of about 50 or 100 things I'd rather be doing than skiing. It's too much work and so hard on my bones!

So, when I say "we went skiing" that really excludes me. So here "we" are skiing in Beaver Creek, CO with our friends Jason, Allison and Carson Kidd (little sister Charlotte stayed back home in Arkansas with grandma.) We stayed at the Osprey Hotel, which is an amazing ski in, ski out hotel. Lucy even took a full day of lessons at 4 years old! She wanted to - I don't think she realized what she was getting herself into, though.

My family also took a day-trip to Copper Mtn. in January so that "we" could ski. There are a couple of pics from that trip too. Maggie is becoming quite the skier!

Ian skiing with Maggie

Carson and Jason Kidd

My friend, Allison Kidd, with Lucy and Maggie

Maggie, Lucy and Carson Kidd

Maggie tubing!

Me tubing!!!

The Kidd Family (minus 2 yr. old Charlotte)

My lovely family on the tubing hill

Ian about to ski with Maggie in a blizzard

at Copper Mountain

This is how I entertain Lucy (with a giant brownie)

December 2010

Maggie is a Trooper

Bless her little heart, Maggie broke her arm! She was at a sleepover and they were playing chase outside in the dark and she tripped over a bush and landed on one of those metal landscape edge things! Ouch! We kept ice on it the whole next day and the swelling went down quite a bit. That night was her very first basketball practice of the season so I made her go, just hoping that her hurt arm was just a sore muscle or something. She was so excited to be starting basketball again. But it took no time at all before she was almost in tears from the pain. So we headed to the doctor the next morning and sure enough, it was a broken arm. Boy did I feel like the worst mom in the world - making her play basketball with a broken arm! She got a bright pink cast. She's been so good about not being needy or relying on us to do things for her. She can pretty much still do everything with one arm except get her shoes on and tied. She is a trooper!

Fall 2010

Here are some pictures from some of the fun stuff we did in September and October.

San Diego Bound!

Sea World

Shamu Show

Lego Land

This is made out of Legos!

Girls Scout outing to Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey Circus

Cog Railway Car that took us to top of Pike's Peak

On top of Pike's Peak

Giant S'more Muffin Tops

I was looking at someone else's blog and read about a muffin top pan. It looks like a muffin tin but only wider and more shallow. So, I found one at Home Goods and bought it. Then I borrowed this recipe from that blog for giant s'more chocolate chip cookies. They're huge and fluffy and really easy to make! S'mores are my absolute favorite dessert so this is right up my alley.

Apple Jelly Weekend

I'm pretty sure I've turned into a granny because I actually made home-made crab apple jelly this weekend! I'm not sure what compelled me to make home-made jelly, maybe it was the giant apple tree in my yard with hundreds of big apples just looking neglected. So, I googled recipes for jellies and decided that was my goal for the weekend. My first attempt did not turn out so good, then I tried again the next day and I think maybe, just maybe, it was a success! It seems to be jelling and I should know for sure by tomorrow. By the way, in previous years this apple tree produced tiny little green apples and all my neighbors said it was a crab-apple tree. Well, this year it produced some pretty big red ones so now I'm wondering if it isn't a real apple tree?

Lucille

Lucy told me the other day that she wants to start being called Lucille. She has all sorts of nicknames at her school. Somehow, I don't think she will want Lucille to stick with her for very long.

I haven't had a Lucy posting in a while so here she is wearing her pre-school uniform and all smiles. Her classmates look so darn cute in their uniforms and school colors, I can hardly stand it!