February

Phil's German Chocolate Cake on February 15.  His birthday weekend celebration also included an overnight getaway to Taos for some fantastic skiing.

The Smucker family sporting our Manning jerseys (well, except for Sasha) before the Super Bowl.  Unfortunately the Seahawks were victorious over the Broncos, but we had a fun evening with several families that we invited over for a party.

Sasha showing Jack some affection on the ski slope.  This was the first year that Sasha did the White Tornadoes youth ski program up on the mountain.  It consisted of 6 Saturdays of all day group ski lessons with the same coach and about 4 other kids her age.  She anticipated every Saturday with a lot of enthusiasm and really made a lot of progress over the season.  By the end she could ride the chair lift all by herself and ski down the greens.  Because we were already going up there with Sasha, Jack got to ski almost as many times too.  He is a natural and loves it.

An impromptu wedding ceremony one weekend.  Jack will participate eagerly in almost anything Sasha proposes.

Big man on a little bike.

A gorgeous morning hike in February through Tent Rocks National Monument followed by a picnic. 

All 3 of them with bandaids.  I felt compelled to capture the moment I guess.

Going crazy in the basement.  We spend so much time down there in the winters.

Sasha and I going up the mountain.

Pretending to be Tarzan.

January 2014

There was a mustache event at our Smucker Christmas this year.  It was the first time in 71 years that Phil's dad had grown facial hair on purpose.  Don't they look like a respectable crew?

I couldn't take my eyes off my man with a 'stache.

The cousins all had a great time together as usual.

One evening we got babysitters and took Jan out to dinner in Mishawaka to celebrate her birthday later that month. 

By some fluke, Joe and Teresa received extra jerseys in the mail when they ordered one for T.J., so all of the cousins represented the Colts QB Andrew Luck well.  One of the more memorable things about this trip back east was the blizzard we had to drive through in our rental car going back to Chicago.  It was one of the more harrowing driving experiences Phil or I have ever had.  Amazingly our plane made it out of Midway only slightly delayed.

Sasha had her 6-year-old birthday party at the Santa Fe Children's Museum after school on a Friday.  Most of her kindergarten class came and some other friends outside of school.  I made a red velvet cake with coconut cream cheese frosting in the shape of a swan at her request. 

I went to Pittsburgh over MLK weekend to see 6 of my best friends from college so  Phil and the kids were on their own.  One of the highlights for all three of them was going to "Cool Springs", a trampoline park in Albuquerque.  It's a huge warehouse with wall to wall trampolines and foam block pits--kid heaven.

For the winter recital Sasha did a lovely rendition of "Long, Long Ago".

December

One sign that December has arrived at our house is the kids rushing to the computer in the morning to check out the new display on the Jackie Lawson advent calendar.  If you have kids and haven't discovered these calendars yet, make a note to do it next year.  They are remarkable. 

A snowy morning made for a 2 hour hour delay in this neck of the woods.  It would have been laughable back in Indiana. 

Later that week we did get a substantial amount of snow and enjoyed the first snow day of the year.  After frolicking out in the yard, Sasha had the idea to make gingerbread cookies and luckily I had all the ingredients on hand.  She stuck with it from start to finish and Jack assisted for about half of them.

Another great idea of Sasha's.  Phil and I remark often these days how these two are such good buddies.  They rarely argue and are more content to be together than apart.  I used to marvel when other moms would say that it was easier to care for their 2 kids together than just one.  Now I get it. 

The first Saturday in December we had a "Christmas" day starting with a pancake breakfast with St. Nicholas at our church, going to pick out our tree, decorating it, having a family fondue dinner at home(oil, cheese, and chocolate--all of which was way to chaotic to capture with even a single photo), and lastly going to the Christmas Shop on the plaza where the kids pick out one new ornament each year.  It was a wonderful family day!

One of the stations in Sasha's kindergarten rooms is a "Create" area where there is a big bin of odds and ends that they can construct into something with using tape, glue, string, etc.  It is Sasha's favorite thing to do and every day she brings home her new lovely product.  Here she is using her "chocolate milk maker".

One of our favorite pictures from her Book About Me that came home at parent teacher conferences.

Mid-December we did an overnight trip to Durango, CO to ride the Polar Express narrow gauge railway.  We stayed in the Strater Hotel, an old Victorian establishment right on the quaint Main Street  and just down from the train station. 

We did some Christmas shopping before heading to the depot to await the arrival of the train. 

Just like in the book, we all wore our pajamas.  They had the music from the movie blasting from speakers as the train approached.  The kids were jumping up and down and squealing with excitement. 

We spent the whole weekend with our friends Joohee, Lee, Luke, and Jaden.

After the ride to the "North Pole" Santa Claus paid us a visit.  Jack requested an airplane for Christmas and Sasha a rainbow loom.

And it's off to the races again in our hallway.

Art in the basement.

Traditional oyster stew for Christmas Eve lunch.  Chicken and Stars for the kids, of course....

The kids got to open grandma and grandpa's gifts the day before Christmas.  They love their new towels, slippers, and storyteller dolls.

As if December wasn't busy enough, I played in the Christmas Eve and New Years Eve concerts with the Santa Fe Concert Association.  This is always one of my personal highlights of the year.  One of my lifetime dreams realized.....This year for the first time they had an open dress rehearsal right before the concert and Phil brought Sasha to it.  Apparently she fell asleep!

While I was playing in the concert, Phil took Sasha and Jack to the Farolito Walk on Canyon Road.

Sasha and Jack slept together in Jack's room the night before Christmas and actually watched the clock until it turned 6:30 am on Christmas morning before running to the living room. 

Sasha had picked out a lovely pair of earrings for me in Durango.

Christmas Day afternoon we drove down to Albuquerque for a delicious green chile stew meal with my Gingerich relatives at my mom's house.  I love getting together with this group because there are always so many good stories told, jokes (sometimes dirty) cracked, and amazing food.

The weekend after Christmas we set out to go tubing up on the mountain but were disappointed to find the tubing run closed so we continued up the mountain to the ski basin and went skiing instead for the first time this year.  Jack did awesome!  He skied down the whole bunny hill by himself several times and learned how to stop by himself.

Sasha mastered the bunny hill in little time and was getting on and off the magic carpet by herself, just having a great time.

Jack painting his first canvas to hang above the toilet in his bathroom.  He titled it "Our City".