Peter Hits The Slopes

Yes, finally, at the ripe old age of 2 1/2, Peter gave skiing a try. Up until this point, Peter has accompanied us skiing a few times and been snuggled into the bjorn or the backpack, but this time, he's riding his own sticks. He has been asking to go skiing for weeks now. (The subject of skiing is something that comes up pretty early in the season around here - generally long before there is any snow. - Not that there's any snow now, but still, it's been on his mind.) I'm not sure that he really even remembered what skiing was, but he knew he wanted to go. Once he had his helmet and goggles on, he didn't want them off, and rode most of the way up to the ski resort that way (until they got in the way of eating his bagel.)Skiing with a family of 7 requires just a bit of equipment. 14 skis, 14 boots, 10 ski poles (for now), 7 large bags full of 7 coats, 7 helmets, 7 goggles, at least 14 gloves, plus a few more pairs of liner gloves for some, and 7 neck gators. Plus long underwear, ski socks, snow pants, and various other clothing layers to clothe the 7 skiers. My, there's a lot of work involved in getting everyone ready to ski.
And once we reach this point, Shawn is ready for a nap. But finally, everyone was dressed and buckled securely into boots and skis, ready to hit the slopes.

The wee one:

And with his ski buddy, Duffy:

It was awesome. The 4 older kids are all 100% self-sufficient as far as getting on and off the lift and getting down the mountain. I was amazed that Duff didn't require help after the first "reminder run". She did great. And Peter was awesome, too. Other than being upset to leave the little hill I had been dragging him up and having him slide down, once he got the hang of it, it was pretty cool. I think Shawn almost saw a little glimpse of his ski dream. Everyone still needs to learn to get all of their own equipment on by themselves, but this was a pretty good start. And I saw how maybe one day, skiing with the family could actually be fun for the whole time.

Did Peter like it? See for yourselves:

Holiday Happenings

We have been busy the entire holiday season, it seems, and despite being asked repeatedly if we could make a gingerbread house, it just hasn't happened. Thankfully, Amelia was able to make a small one at school and she asked me to please take pictures of it and post them on the blog. So here they are.

Also despite repeated attempts to go and see Zoo Lights early in December or even into mid-December, or at the very least, before everyone was out of school, that didn't happen either. Just too much homework and too many other activities/lessons to work around. We finally made it to the zoo the night of the 22nd with all the rest of the Salt Lake Valley. It was freezing! The lights were really cool and everyone had a great time despite the crowds and the need to duck into every available building to warm up a little bit. But this was the only photo we took:
This was at the very end as we were leaving. It was just too cold to take my hands out of my gloves and take pictures during the event. It was more important to keep everyone moving. So the little girls were about done at this point and not too happy about having to stand there for a picture, but at least I have proof that we were there. I think it's something we will do again (especially since Peter thinks that going to the zoo is about the best thing there is to do,) but hopefully we'll get there a little earlier in the month and avoid the crowds - and if we're lucky end up with warmer temperatures, too.

A Christmas Tea

So, Shawn, being the good guy that he is, followed through on his plan to host a Christmas Tea for the girls. Of course, originally, he thought there would be about 8 girls there, but the guest list grew quite a bit and we ended up with a houseful of girls (and that's not counting the 6 that couldn't make it.)

He and the girls delivered invitations to their guests inviting them to a tea party at half past four on Saturday the 17th, and asking them to dress up and wear a fancy hat. (Thanks to Shawn's Grandma Phoebe, we had plenty of extra hats for those who didn't have one.) First, they were invited into the sitting room where they discussed proper etiquette for young ladies at a tea party. There was quite a long list of rules, but they had fun discussing them. (Didn't realize the camera was on the wrong setting until after the fact, so the photos aren't great, but it's what we've got.)

As you can see, they all sat very nicely in a lady-like fashion while they listened.

I took a few shots of the group before they were escorted to their tables.

You'll notice that Peter decided to join the group although he clearly wasn't dressed properly, nor was he wearing a fancy hat. We had hoped that Jonas would entertain him elsewhere for a bit, but once the party set-up began, Jonas couldn't get out of the house fast enough, saying something about too many girls. He escaped to a friend's house for the duration. So Pete got to be part of the tea party.

Shawn then walked each group to their places. Duff and her friends, Avery and Ainsley:

Amelia and her friends, Hallee, Caroline, Katie and Ellie:

And finally, Samantha with Mary, Clara, Emma, Lila, Maren, Abby, and Tatum.

Everyone began with cups of hot chocolate and marshmallows. I'm not sure if toasting is a regular part of a proper tea, but it was part of this tea party. The big girls:

The medium girls:

And the little ladies in training:

Hot chocolate was followed by a large assortment of finger foods to choose from, all served by the host and hostess.

This table had so much fun. They were speaking in British accents the whole time and speaking so "properly," it was very entertaining to listen to them.

The medium girls gave it a good try, too. Everyone seemed to be happy and smiling the whole time. And they were so polite. We may have to pull out fancy table cloths and candles more often!

The host and hostess. (One of the girls had asked to trade hats with me at this point.) Who knew that throwing a tea party could be so exhausting?
After the food was all eaten, they returned to the "sitting room" and most of the girls played something on either the piano or harp. This is a very talented group of girls.

There was some time spent admiring hats and outfits.

And some time spent listening to others perform.

We took our girls to the London Market so they could each choose something to share with their guests. Amelia and Duffy each chose Happy Hippos which Amelia is munching on here.

(And still munching on here.)

Eventually, the tea party morphed into a dance party which probably isn't the norm for the end of a formal tea, but it worked in this case.
The host and hostess survived the party. It is still to be seen whether this was a First Annual, or just a blip on the radar of Christmas memories.

Christmas Performances of the Dance Variety

And the final performances of the week were Duffy's and Amelia's ballet class demonstrations. Like I said before, this overlapped with the band concert, but it was a tender mercy that the 5th grade band played very first and I was able to still hear Samantha play and make it to Duffy's ballet performance. Duffy was so excited to have me come and watch her.They showed us all the things they do in their regular classes, from warm-ups,

to leaps and jumps.

Then they had a little dance all choreographed for us. I took video but didn't have the patience to wait for it to load onto the blog. Maybe I'll add it later.

It's definitely a bonus to have your best cousin in your class with you.

These 3 girls are so silly together. It was impossible to get a decent picture of them. (Ainsley, Duffy and Lulu.)

I got to come back the same evening to watch Amelia's class demonstration.

She's in the same class as Ellie - which was really the whole point for her.

It was the same routine - demonstrations of their warm-ups,

and then their usual class activities.

Then they had a quick change and performed their dance for us. It was really cute - a Spanish dance done to a song from Ratatouille. I thought I had taken some pictures of it, but it turns out it was all video, so this is her and her class after the fact.

And of course, a picture of the 2 amigas.

Ah, and now a few days off from kids performances although we have a couple of concerts to attend before the week is wrapped up.