I don’t know if we will be able to convince PB to go snowshoeing again. We decided to go on a quick hike Saturday. I had noticed a small side canyon barely up Perry Canyon that looked perfect for a bit of snowshoeing. So we went. We tend to go up very steep hills while snowshoeing. Inaccessible hills in the summer are changed by the snow, and small deer tracks are the perfect snowshoeing trails. PB wasn’t so sure going up the side of a mountain was fun…it was more terrifying. But he hung on to me and made it up and back down the steep slope, even if a few tears were shed. I was enjoying myself immensely, it was beautiful day.

On the way back was the worst part. He fell in a puddle soaking his boots and feet, and most of his pants. Luckily we were almost back to the car.

I’ve watched this video a lot, and when I saw that they had ice castles a half hour away from my grandparents, I had to go. Great place for some good pictures and fun exploring.

This sad little boy had cold hands. Luckily Mom had better gloves for him. 

The kids were amazed at the ice lighting up with different colors when it started to get dark. 

PB did try to eat much of the ice. And the really gross snow on the ground.  There wasn’t a panda there…just my sister in her panda hat.

This is a bit on Mr. C. He has been good at making good stories for his mom to tell lately.
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When I had a bunch of family over, C destroyed a roll. I had to vacuum that up. Soon after he pulled out all the games upstairs. I even had put the game shelf in the closet to avoid such messes, but he was a having a blast in the closet that someone else opened up for him.

I ignored the mess until the next day. While I went up and cleaned up all the games, PB came up and informed me that C was making a big mess. (I’ve asked him to tell me.) He had emptied sprinkles all over the dining room and stairs.

I vacuumed that all up, and was just about done when I looked over and there he was with a ripped cereal bag spreading cereal all over the hall. The little vacuum was very full when I was done. He finished out the morning with a very full diaper.
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At a final family Christmas party, C was very easy to get to come eat. I showed up with a brownie and he shouted,  “Cake, cookie!” and came running. Later on, I found him with seven cookies in a bowl, all excited and ready to eat. He is a little cookie monster, but I’m glad he’s not picky and eats just about anything. Joe made some cookie dough and left it in the fridge. I have gone around the corner into the kitchen several times to find him sitting on the floor with the bowl between his legs eating as much cookie dough as he can. He was very distraught over the makeshift fridge lock soon after. 
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C will say, “Watch this,” or more like “Waashiss”,  before doing a little stunt–going down a slide, jumping on the bed. It is cute. He copied PB, as PB does it all the time. I don’t mind the invitation to watch.
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C got out the potty and wipes and said poopy. He sat on their for a while. Ten minutes later after his diaper was back on he actually pooped. I think this kids is going to be much easier to potty train that PB who took until he was over 3.5

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this year:

• Joe passed his board exam and found a job working as a Physical Therapist in the nursing homes.
• We moved in February, after a couple of months at my Grandparents.
• PB finally caught on to using the toilet. He also started to learn to read, and became an avid fan of numbers and unanswerable questions.
• Mr. C learned to walk and started to talk. He also started sleeping through the night. Currently he loves balls, and trying to be like his big brother.
• Spent lots of time at home doing various art projects, learning activities, and playing outside.
• Made lots of new friends and spent lots of time with family.
• Grew a mildly successful vegetable garden.
• Didn’t go on vacation, except a small trip to Nevada to see my sister, and a one night camp out.
• Had a few garden design clients, also updated/worked on a lot of my resources, and started studying permaculture.
• Bought a house, three blocks from our old apartment. And we love it.

I love our town. There are great sledding hills and snow. And when you go out sledding on a Saturday morning, there’s only a few people out. We went with some friends. Incidentally, last year, just a week after we moved here, we went sledding at the park, and this same family was there. Didn’t know each other then, but I thought they looked like a fun family, and now we know each other quite well. Smallish towns are fun, I like to bump into people over and over.

I got this picture through a window after PB was playing by himself outside for awhile. He was sitting in a fresh snow angel eating snow, I love kids happily playing by themselves. Sometimes it needs to be documented, as a reminder that they are not dependent upon me for everything.

I mostly like the snow. Growing up we went sledding all the time on the hill in our backyard, so I love that now my house has a small hill, perfect for little kids to sled on.

PB crashed once, and then preferred shoveling snow and making snow angels to sledding. I kinda do too. (I actually love to shovel snow, just being outside working is awesome and in the winter there aren’t as many opportunities, so I’ll shovel nearly every chance I get.)

We went to the art museum after getting cold outside. This is PB making a pie. It was actually a pretty cool museum for how small it was, lots for the kids to do.

It’s snowing! I opened my blog and found the wonderful WordPress surprise of falling snow. I like Christmas time, especially when it follows a mild fall. We got the tree up, and with modifications over a few days it looks beautiful.

The fake poinsettias are turning out to be a toddler-friendly choice for ornaments.When I started to put the tree up, our hanging light was in the way…or maybe it was just in the perfect spot to top the tree. No need to buy a star.  Now I just need to get all my presents under the tree. We are having a simple Christmas, unless you decide to count the house as a Christmas present. One afternoon on Amazon and $100 later, I finished most of my Christmas shopping–just one present a piece, and a big fun gift from Santa.

I invited all of my family over for Thanksgiving. It was wonderful–all four of my grandparents came, along with all of siblings, spouses and their children. We had a full, happy house.

My brothers organized a Walker Family Decathlon. Joe won. (He is very athletic and doesn’t really try that much. Lucky.) I didn’t do too bad, at least beat out my sisters. We did a flexibility test and I was happy to see that years of yoga are paying off. I’m still not flexible, but I can touch a bit past my toes, which is far better than most of my life. We also did a limbo contest–the only one that the little kids won out.