Our Royal Family...

Once upon a time King Daddy got the flu over the weekend.  Queen Mommy had to keep the kids occupied so that the King could get lots of sleep to feel better.  They went sledding lots, and luckily the royal family had been saving various rolls and other supplies to build a castle after Caden had found the idea in one of his craft books.. they were just waiting for a package to arrive that would give them a box the right size so that they could complete their project.. luckily Queen Mommy loves to shop, and one came at the most convenient time!

Their fortress was strong with a great wooden drawbridge..

Princess Ivy visited from across the land for afternoon tea!  But got very frightened when the evil troll brothers banged on the box with their swords (in their defense they didn't actually know Ivy was in there, she had snuck in when we weren't looking!)

When they weren't being trolls..the royal brothers manned the operation...

We had a large cast of characters guarding the grounds... my favorite was R2D2 (or R2-1 as Cole refers to him)

Luke Skywalker watched from the roof..

There was a Princess locked in the tower of her own home by the evil witch.  A spell was cast and no matter how hard anyone tried they could not get her out... Caden suggested she grow her hair like Rapunzel.

The enemy (me) rode in by night... but the Royal brothers played and played and protected the palace with all their good.

.. and eventually after lots of play, the Ogre sister awoke from her nap and the castle was demolished, unfortunately I did not capture the aftermath... but it was fun while it lasted!

The End

And then there were Five...

Five baby teeth!  Caden lost his fifth tooth on Friday!  Three of those have started growing in already, it' not the big gaping hole in front....

... there!! now you can see which one!

Someone was getting a little tired of trying to get an actual shot of the hole without my help holding his lip down :)

That's better..

Caden actually lost his tooth at school!  On the way to the drinking fountain he tells us.  He came home with this snazzy key chain...

.. and what was inside? but his tooth!

He wrote a note to the tooth fairy.. I guess he thinks she is is a bit like Santa.  His initial note said "Dees Ples"  Translation.. 'DS Please' (Nintendo DS)  I thought he did a fabulous job!  He's really catching on with phonics and doing a great job sounding out his reading, and trying out writing on his own.  When he asked me if it was right I told him what a great job he did, and told him how the words were tricky that he had written, and told him why and how the words were actually spelled.  He ran off and came back with the note below which he put with his tooth pillow for the fairy.  It must've been hard for the tooth fairy to resist such an adorable plea!   But a dollar was found in the morning, with a nice note from the tooth fairy herself... understandable reason I thought!

Lucky for Caden that Poobah had a DS he wasn't using anymore, which he will get from him wrapped up on his birthday.. only a couple more months to wait!  We will have one VERY happy birthday boy on our hands!

Hitting the Slopes...

Thursday was the boys first ski lessons of the season.. Cole's first ever ski lessons!  Cole's preschool gets a group together to take lessons together to get a group rate.  Caden being able to switch to morning kindergarten was a bonus, because he gets to do ski lessons that day too!  It was hard to narrow the pictures down.. I did the best I could, but there are still a bunch!  Sorry for the chaos.. making sure I was getting all the important pictures of both of them on two different hills (granted they are right next to each other) kept me on my toes!  and thankfully I was able to remain on my toes as the parent viewing area was basically a big ice patch. 

We were a bit worried that Cole's lack of attention span would render these lessons useless, but he showed us who was Mr. Amazing!  He was so adorable in his get-up carrying his skis around!

The groups are spread out across the base of the hill.. Cole was group 1, Caden was group 10 on the complete opposite side.. it was a challenge running back and forth getting each boy set up in their groups and making sure they were comfortable in the new situation (and getting their pictures before they started!!).. but they were rockstars!

 Each group gets a different color balloon.. Caden (obviously) was red.. Cole was orange.

For beginners they start them off on one ski, to push themselves around and get used to the sliding motion...

Caden was off to the magic carpet with his group... and up they went! (the magic carpet if you recall from last year is a "moving sidewalk" that gets beginners up the hill.. a very cool invention and I'm a bit jealous I missed out on this!

It was time to dawn both their skis, and the beginners got a helping hand over to the bunny slope..

Caden's first run down!

Cole's first run down!  (They just walk up a gentle slope at first) He made it!

.. and Mrs. Mellet his preschool teacher congratulates him!  She is so great, she comes each week to cheer the kids on and help on the lifts.

A semi-artistic shot of Cole's group getting a "lift" up the slope.. I just love the balloons!.. perhaps because they are my favorite color :)

This kid means business!  I'm not sure he cracked a smile the whole lesson!  He was so serious!  Not something we are used to.  And he followed the instructions to a 'T'.. keeping his hands on his knees for balance.. he told me all about it after the lesson.

I guess I tied his balloon string a bit too short as it kept bopping him in the head while he was standing waiting!  It was very comical to watch because he kept batting it away from his face with his hand.

At last!! There's a smile!  faint, but it's there!

Cole's first trip up the magic carpet.. they got them off 1/3 of the way up.. here Cole looks down the hill looking as though he is thinking "I have to make it all the way down there?!"

.. and there he goes! 

More Caden.. it's times like these where more zoom would come in handy!  I'm thinking 80-400 or 200-400  either one would do :)

Wipe Out!

Caden's group had been sufficiently evaluated and they headed to the chairlift!

I was a bit nervous at this.. Caden's group is the threesome in the center.. Caden is the blip at the top left, Caden was on the ground.. I was afraid he was hurt!  I learned after the lesson from his instructor that Caden likes to speed straight down!  So he had held him back and they were working on big wide controlled S-turns.. and I thought he was my cautious one!

The instructor giving him tips.. and Caden off and running for more ski time!

... not too fast!  on the ground in no time!

Looking around to see if anyone saw him :)

Lessons are done for the day!  Two tired little boys!  How adorable is my tiny man Cole?!  When I talked to the instructor about his "pizzas" (snowplow) she said he got the hang of it a couple times, but she said he didn't really need it because he had developed a natural turn to get himself to stop.. Get out of here!! He is now completely mini-Rob!  Rob is a natural athlete and anything he tries he is good at.. back before Caden was born we went skiing, him for the first time, he had zero lessons and was bombing down the hill perfectly in control right off the bat.. not fair!