Winter

Two months have gone by and winter is STILL present.  Unfortunately we did not have a big snow storm this year.  We had lots of very small storms, 1-3 inches (maybe) that melted almost immediately.  The kids did get to sled a few times which made them very happy.  Ava went skiing 2 more times this season.  Daddy and her went up to Bear Creek for the day in February, and we all went back to Mrs. S's mountain house over President's Day weekend.  Ed, Ava and I skied together at BB and she did so well, I was just shocked how quickly she picked it up.  She gets on/off the lift with no help and the steeper the hill, the better.  Once she found out a black diamond hill was the most difficult, she was begging us to take her down!  We took her down a short black diamond (pretty easy) that was connected to an intermediate trail and that satisfied her.  She will ski all day and does not want to stop!   We had to set limits, tell her she has X amount of runs left and then we are done.  Leaving!

 
She still has many issues with the heavy clothing, uncomfortable boots and gear.  Getting her dressed and on the slope is a major challenge with breakdowns, almost making it not worth the struggle, but once she can get past her breaking point, she calms down and starts to enjoy herself.  I wonder how many more years we will have to go through this :(.

One very positive change this winter has been that daddy is HOME.  He has only gone away on 1 trip, which was a whopping 2 days!  It has been awesome to have him home every weekend, and every NIGHT for that fact!  I have help with homework, bathtime, and occasionally bedtime (although both kids STILL throw fits if I don't put them to bed).  We are working on this.

So, we continue to wait for the sun to come out and the weather to warm up.  Ava has stopped swimming lessons for now, but is taking gymnastics twice a week and loves it. 

Cameron started his first gymnastics class a few weeks ago.  He was very nervous about the class and told me on his way into the building, 'mommy, I'm not sure this is a good idea!'.  Poor guy.  He went in with his group and the tears started rolling right away.  It was hard not to take him out but I knew he needed to stick it out.  After 10 minutes of warm-ups and crying, the class moved to the trampoline, and it was instant smiling, ear to ear!  He LOVED it.  He could not wait to go back.  This week will be class #3.  I hope the enthusiasm continues.