Over the Hills They Go

This past week over 12 inches of snow has fallen. Yesterday & today were quite warm, so we took advantage and headed to the hills of a nearby park. 

Not surprisingly with these two, after a few trips down with mom & dad they both decided they were ready to go by themselves. They each fell off a couple of times, but squealed with joy every trip down. And each time he reached the bottom, Andrew would declare "One More Time". 

Christmas '12

I cannot believe Christmas has already come & gone! Usually the season seems to drag on a bit, but this year it went so quickly! We were incredibly lucky to be able to spend time with all of our family and as always, it reminded us how blessed we are. 

 Sledding at Grandma & Grandpa Vogel's.

 A few quick photos before present opening began. 

 Both Kate & Andrew took the job of passing out presents very seriously. 

 Posing with his new backpack from Aunt Angela. 

  We spent Christmas Eve at my parents'. After mass we went their house to eat dinner and open gifts. Andrew really enjoyed the eggnog this year (which made it tricky when he kept trying to sneak some of the "adult" versions of the drink!)

 Loving a "baby bear" from Uncle Tom

{Our Best Gifts}

 I didn't get any good photos of Christmas morning, but the kids had a ton of fun opening gifts from Santa. Kate got the headbands she asked for, and Andrew loved his balls that he can hit with a hammer. Overall, it was a perfect Christmas...each year they seem to get better & better!

Wizard of Oz

This evening was a girls' night to the theatrical production of one of Kate's favorite stories: The Wizard of Oz. 

 Rockin' the ruby red slippers.

The girls!

  Waiting for the show to start. She sat wide-eyed the entire show and only got wiggly towards the end. Her favorite part was the storm, because "she felt like she was in the storm too" {a future theater critic??} The minute the show ended she said, "I want to watch it again!" which is the exact same thing I always say once a  show ends.

 Afterwards she got to meet Dorthy and got the autographs of all of the other characters. She loved this!

Hoping this is one of many shows we can go to together. 

First Snow

The kids were SO excited when they looked out of the window this morning and saw the ground covered in snow! It didn't take long before we were bundled up & out stomping around...which was a good thing because most of it had melted by noon. 

  One of the favorite activities was throwing snow balls.

 Andrew and his baby snowman {real men wear their sister's old pink boots}

 Next came the "Frosty" (or Woppy as Andrew calls him) building.

 Our little snow angel. 

 Kate talking to the little bunny who lives under our rocks.