It's not fair

Eliana laid on a thick layer of guilt this morning when I said I was headed to work. She said she wanted to play with me. She said it wasn't fair that I had to go to work.

I took that as an opportunity for a teachable moment to Socratically point out that everything that she was wearing and all the toys around her were paid for with money I earned by going to work.

It worked surprisingly well. In the end she agreed that I should go to work.

Oh how it is so fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh!!

That's how Eliana sings it, anyway. She gets going with the Jingle Bells and the Hey! and she just can't seem to get that other part down! I don't know how many times on Sunday we heard (over and over and over)....

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way...
Oh how it is so fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh! Hey!
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way...
Oh how it is so fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh! Hey!
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way...
Oh how it is so fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh! Hey!

I think you get the picture... But she really does like to ride in a one horse open sleigh, er... stroller, and here are the pictures to prove it...

From Holiday Fun

"Giddyup, reindeer!" She says, pretending to be Santa.

From Holiday Fun

Yes, oh how it is so fun to ride in sleigh like that!

Our House in Winter

My parents are here visiting for the holidays. The other day my dad got a picture of our house in the snow and I think it's one of the best pictures we've gotten of our house. Since there has been such a dearth of house pictures on our blog and we've been in the house for nearly a year now, I figured it would be best if I shared...

Ice Skating

Over the weekend we saw folks out playing on the frozen pond in front of our house. Since it's Bozeman, of course one person was playing fetch with their dog. Another group was practicing hockey. One of our neighbors cleared the snow off off a wonderfully large ice rink and was out skating with his young kids. That was too good of an outdoor, close-to-home winter activity to pass up.

Ellie and I went to the used sporting goods store and picked up ice skates for the whole family. After an initially wobbly start, Ellie skated gleefully from after dinner until well after her bedtime. Her favorite technique was to build up speed on the ice that had been cleared of snow and then dive into the snow bank at the edge.



(You can see our house in the background over Eliana's shoulder.)

I look forward to spending a lot more time on the pond as a family this winter.

Own Goal

I had been planning to take Ellie out for a donut breakfast date this morning before taking her up to Hyalite to play in the snow. When she woke up and groggily came to the dining room where I was leisurely enjoying a cup of coffee, I excitedly suggested we go out for donuts. She said she was hungry. I reiterated that we should go out for donuts. Again she replied that she was hungry. Patiently I replied to the apparently very sleepy child that we should go get a breakfast of pastries. Indulgently she explained to apparently quite dimwitted father that she was hungry and that she "should have some real food first," which is precisely the phrasing her parents use when she asks for treat-like foods at meal time. I was foiled by my own attempts to inculcate good eating habits.

December 1st.... Happy Holidays!!

Today Eliana and I celebrated the start of December by decorating the gingerbread house!! My job was to put the frosting on, hers was to put the candy on. Kindergarten certainly made its mark this year... Eliana put "A-B" patterns everywhere on the house!! We even got an "A-B-C-B" pattern going once!! We had a great time together! Hopefully we will have some more fun activities all month long together!

From Deck the Halls

From Deck the Halls

From Deck the Halls