We were given a most excellent gift for Christmas this year - a picture puzzle of our horseback riding adventure in Colorado. 

The other day the kids decided it was time to give it a try.

It's really interesting to see the different strategies people employ when working on a visual problem. Cole just picked up every piece that looked similar to the part he was working on and tried to fit it in every space. Isabel was a bit more refined, gathering only the pieces she knew belonged together before trying to fit them together. Needless to say she didn't last long on the parts that were more complicated, but Cole continued to chip away at it until the very end. It was quite impressive.

We had such a great time doing this as a family. The kids really enjoyed piecing themselves together and it was fun to watch them work at it. Our trip to Colorado holds many great memory for us and this is such a fun way to relive them. Thanks so much to Doug and Karen for giving us such an awesome gift. We love it!

This year the kids decided they wanted to try to stay up and watch the Ball Drop on New Year's Eve. 

We weren't sure if they could make it, but to give them a sporting chance we made them takes naps in the afternoon...and they actually did! It was amazing. Both kids slept for 2+ hours in the middle of the day which just goes to show how exhausting the holidays are I guess.

Anyway, my mom and I picked up some sparkly hat and blowers for the occasion along with some sparkling juice. We were celebrating the New Year after all and we wanted to do it up right.

The highlight of the evening was when PSY came out with MC Hammer and sang Gangnam Style. Both kids were dancing around like the crazy children they are. I wish we had our video camera there so we could have captured it and embarrassed them later in life. It was priceless.

The next day, we watched the football games and enjoyed spending time with family we haven't seen in a long time. If anyone doesn't believe that my family bleeds maize and blue...think again. We're raising another generation of super fans.

And I just couldn't resist posting this picture of Cole with my cousin's beautiful little girl. 

It was a great New Year's Eve/Day. I can't wait to see how the kids do next year. I see a family tradition forming.

The day after Christmas we woke up before the sun and got a move on, hoping to make it to Michigan before the snow hit. It was a long trip. It always is, but this one seemed to drag on forever. The kids were restless and Cole owes me a whole roll of quarters for asking, "How much longer?" every 30 minutes.

Upon arriving both kids were excited to hear that Grandma had planned a mini-birthday celebration for Cole. There was pizza, cake, presents and cousins. What more could you ask for?

The next day there was more playtime, more gifts, and more happiness - everything Christmas should be.

Clearly Cole is serious about his legos. Do you see that face? Thank goodness he had an assistant.

Isabel also had a partner in crime.

Although her cousin wouldn't help her scare away the geese.

But Isabel is fearless when it comes to these things.. and apparently oblivious to the cold as well. I would just like to state that I didn't let her out of the house like that. *cough* claydidit *cough* I would never be so irresponsible.

We had many days of fun with family while we were in Michigan. Next up, the kids first ball drop.

Merry New Year everyone! This year as a self-improvement resolution, Clay has resolved that I'm going to start blogging again so I'm trying to live up to my end of his resolution (though I never signed anything) and get back on the blogging-band wagon. My first order of business is to share a little bit of our holiday fun.

Cole turned 10 on Christmas Eve! We celebrated by doing all of his favorite things - playing with legos, checking NORAD's Santa tracker and eating hamburgers, french fries, ceasar salad and ice cream cake. 

When it was time for bed, Cole read Twas the Night Before Christmas.

The kids tried to start our Christmas festivities early this year, but when I rolled over and saw the clock said 5:00 a.m. I told them they had to go back to bed until at least 6:30. They came back at 6:32 a.m. Sigh.

Santa left plenty of Playmobil and Lego sets to keep us busy for the whole day, but a nap was in order.

After skyping with family and some much need rest the rest of the day was spent enjoying our Christmas gifts and each other before we packed up the car for our trip to Michigan. It was a wonderful way to kick off our holiday celebrations!

Isabel had her first real horse-riding lessons this past week and let me tell ya it was quite something to behold.

I was not at all surprised by her enthusiasm since Isabel lives most of her life with gusto, but I was so impressed by the comfort and ease she had while were were there. I thought she might be a little timid being around new people and gigantic animals (several of the horse were draught horse breeds) but she walked right into the barn like an old cowhand and struck up a conversation with the assistant. Go figure.

The assistant showed her how to brush her horse (Chico) to remove the dirt from his coat. After a few minutes of making sure his coat was clean and shiny, they plopped a helmet on Isabel's head, saddled up Chico and set off for the riding ring.

First, they walked him a bit.

Then, it was time to hop on and do some riding.

They started off with a nice slow walk.

And quickly moved on to learning how to move up and down in the saddle while the horse was in a trot.

It took Isabel some time to wrap her head around the movement, but eventually she found a rhythm that worked for her. I don't think she expected riding to involved so much work. Her little legs were tired by the end.

We can't thank Grandpa Doug enough for making these riding lessons happen. Isabel had such a good time and I had a wonderful time watching. It was a great experience and I'm certain more riding will be in our future.

My parents visited this past week and while they were here we finally carved the pumpkins that have been sitting in our living room for the past month. The kids began the process by drawing their ideas.

Next came the scooping part of the process which neither of them wanted to be involved in. Apparently the insides of a pumpkin feel squishy and gross. Thank goodness Dad and Grandma were around.

Isabel decided to have Grandma draw a cat face on her pumpkin and then they carved it out together.

Cole also had Grandma draw the face on his pumpkin (he wanted his pumpkin to look like a Lego mini-fig), but he did most of the carving himself.

Dad decided he didn't need Grandma's help. He drew the face and carved his pumpkin all by himself.

I didn't do a pumpkin this year. Instead I opted for picking the pumpkin seeds out of the slime to be roasted into a tasty cinnamon-sugar snack.

It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad we were able to do it while my prane were visiting.

We also had lots of fun Trick-or-Treating on Wednesday night. We had dinner with some friends and then went out to collect a bounty of candy. The weather was even kind enough to hold off the rain until we got back home.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween as much as we did.

I haven't had much to say recently which is why my blog has been unchanged for the past few weeks. Sure, things have been happening - you can't live life with two children without things happening it seems. I just haven't been motivated to put those things in writing. One of my many moods I guess. Forgive me.

When we were out in Colorado, our Grandma Karen bought us a fabulous new cookie cutter! So we spent one evening creating these beautiful Cowgirl Hat cookies. It was my first adventure using royal icing and I have to say they turned pretty nice.

We also made flowers, butterflies, stars and pumpkin cookies to go along with our hats. The hats were by far the cutest though. Isabel said that now we need find a cowgirl boot and a horse to go with our cowgirl hat cutter. Would you believe that I can't convince her to go as cowgirl for halloween?

The royal icing experiment was really the first step toward this gingerbread house. I've never made a gingerbread house before and I needed to know that I could successfully make an icing that would hold a house together...and be tasty. Now I realize this house leaves a lot to be desired, but it's still standing upright and nothing has fallen off of it...despite the questionable construction. Mostly I just wanted to see if I could make one. Why you ask? Because we're getting ready to host a Gingerbread Open House at school as a fundraiser. No...I'm not making any of the houses. I'm leaving that to a woman that has been making them for years. But this little starter project has at least given me a clue into the process and I'm hoping I can be more helpful if she needs me to do anything.

What is it about running...

I despise 
starting again
enduring the slow burn of dormant muscles
reshaping themselves 
pushing forward

breathing hot, heavy air 
ripping fire through my lungs
panting, gasping, gulping

aching in my side, my knee, my calf
chanting in my brain
telling me to stop 
agonizing that I will

I love
the sights
the colors of the world overwhelming my vision
blue, green, red, orange, yellow
purple-skin, rainbow-mohawk, kilt-wearing freshmen 

the sounds
the noises of the world bombarding my ears
chirping, crashing, mowing, talking, driving
purple-skin, rainbow-mohawk, kilt-wearing freshmen laughter

the smells
the pungent odors of the world filling my nostrils
dirt, water, garbage, flowers, gasoline
purple-skin, rainbow-mohawk, kilt-wearing freshmen sweat

the magic
the ability to keep moving
through the world, through the pain, through the chanting
and find peace 
(even in a sea of purple-skin ,rainbow-mohawk, kilt-wearing freshmen)

What is it about running?

Here's how it's gone so far...

7:00 a.m. - Alarm goes off. I actually get out of bed.

7:00 - 7:20 a.m. - Pack 2 school lunches. Make mental note that I need more tupperware.

7:20 - 7:55 a.m. - Make breakfast (hashbrowns & scrambled eggs)

7:45 a.m. - Send Clay to wake kids up. Isabel already on her way out with her tooth box. The tooth fairy gave her a loonie.

8:00 a.m. - Eat breakfast. 

8:15 a.m. - Beg Isabel to eat more.

8:20 a.m. - Get kids dressed. Brush hair, teeth, etc.

8:25 a.m. - Finish packing school bags. Get shoes on.

8:30 a.m. - Snap first day of school photo. 

Not quite excited enough for me...let's try again.

Apparently, the phrase "big smiles" means just open your eyes wider to Isabel.

8:35 a.m. - Out the door and walk to school.

9:10 a.m. - Return home to empty house and sleeping cats. Do yoga.

9:45 a.m. - Check email.

10:00 a.m. -  Decide to go for a run and try out my new shoes as well despite the threat of rain.

10:40 a.m. - Return home to empty house and sleeping cats. Blog.

10: 55 a.m. - Shower...????

Tomorrow is the first day of school...

Isabel will be going full-time now, no more half days of Kindergarten. She's a first grader.

Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday we taught her how to sign the word "potty" so I could stop changing messy diapers. 

To make me even more emotionally unhinged, she went and lost her first tooth tonight.

She was so excited. She squealed. It was a very Isabel noise, so full of excitement. Her joy is always so infectious. I wanted to jump up and down for her.

She's all prepared for the Tooth Fairy to come.

She'll lose her next one before I know it because that's how Isabel works, from zero to sixty in less than 3 seconds. (It also helps that both of her front bottom teeth are already coming in, pushing the babies out of their way.)

I was so looking forward to school starting. So ready to have a little time to myself again. Now, I'm just hoping I make it out of the school yard without losing it.

Where does the time go?

Sigh.