M.i.a

We have been missing from the blogosphere these last few weeks. Why? Well I guess you could say life has a way of flying fast when the normal schedule is back in session.

After a much needed holiday break we are back to the grind of work and preschool. Grad class started , daddy's busy schedule at work is in full effect and Bridger is bouncing from the walls!

The inversion has stuck around for far too long and makes for cloudy days! Although I enjoy a nice white winter I'm not such a fan of foggy days. Bring on Spring! Besides the grind we have enjoyed our weekends with friends and family. Looking forward to turning the big 29 next weekend!

Happy New Year 2015

It's a new year.... 2015!
Wow! Time sure flies.
We didn't get all wild and celebrate the new year, rather we rang it in by 8:00pm last night with a little boy who didn't take a single nap and played hard all day. He was asleep by 5:30pm which left Ben and I some quite time before we headed to bed. We watched the Boise State game and by the end the neighborhoods surround us were showing their excitement with lots of fireworks! Pretty exciting.

We welcomed the new year this morning around 6:00am (very typical) and watched the sunrise while daddy slept in. Lately I have been waking around 4am and the tossing and turning continues until my little alarm clock wakes me up (Bridger that is).

Once daddy got up we ate a yummy breakfast that we all contributed too; English muffin breakfast sandwich with scrambled eggs, cheese and maple sausage. Bridge was in charge of the cheese placement, I had scramble egg duty and daddy made the sausage patties! Delicious. I absolutely love slow days when we can stay home and snuggle in the day in our pj's and watch great football, hockey and movies! Lazy but O so NICE!

After breakfast I got started on one of my projects of taking down and boxing up all the holiday/Christmas decor. I struggle with this day, I love how festive our home becomes during the holidays and the warmness that I feel when we light up the house with our Christmas tree and all the holiday cards that we receive throughout the month but then there is a part of me that likes to start fresh, decluter and feel the new year upon us. Either way it has to be done so today was the day. There are still a few things left that we will leave up (like the Christmas tree) through the weekend though!

Ben has been hard at work ever since Bridger received some hockey gear for Christmas on building a ice rink on our patio. The boys headed to Home Depot last weekend to stock up on supplies and built their rink by Sunday. With a few minor hiccups along the way (one being the overflowing of water because he didn't set his timer correctly) and then (the board on the backside busting because of pressure) he finally got it set up and the weather froze the water by Wednesday. We were set! Surprisingly it is difficult to find toddler size ice skates to purchase so my go to... craigslist. Once again we lucked out and found the right size and made a deal with the person selling them and got not only a toddler 9 but also the next size up all for $40. Score! Bridge and Ben picked them up today, stopped by gma and gpa's house for alittle while since they were on that side of town and by 5:45pm the boys were home and ready to skate!

Bridger was thrilled! I mean the excite on this kids face is ridiculous. If he could he would skate all night. The amount of energy and the lack of the cold weather does not seem to bother him at all. Myself, well I was freezing trying to capture these precious moments. There were some bumps and falls and some shakiness but he kept at it and figured it out. It seems our rink is much slicker than the one at the Village in Meridian. Possibly due to the fact that it is just him out there and daddy seems to think he needs to be the Zamboni and smooth it out each night and in the morning.

I love my boys and I look forward to what 2015 has in store for us! Have a blessed New Year!
2015

a natural...ice skating

After weeks of begging us to take him ice skating we headed out today so daddy could help him learn to skate for the first time!

ice skating (Enhanced) from Alanna on Vimeo.

We had a blast. Bridger is a natural according to our friend Ms. Molly who has two boys in hockey! It started off a little rocky but there were no tears till the end when we told him it was time to leave. He loved it and didn't want to stop. Daddy was getting quite tired bending over and picking him back up but he sure picked up on the technique of "step step"

By the end he was running across the ice to daddy. Super cute.

Daddy has this crazy idea that he is going to build an ice skating rink on the patio outside. We will keep you all posted on how that goes! Ha.

It was a great afternoon and know we know that mighty mites is in our future. Look out hocky, here comes Bridger!

Christmas 2014

We are coming down from post holiday celebrations. Enjoying lots of down time with family and of course Bridge is busy playing with his new toys!

It all started on Tuesday the night before Christmas Eve when daddy got home. We talked him into a fun night of pizza at Messengers and then headed to Caldwell for the holiday light show. We have been doing this for three years now. It was cold! But Bridge enjoyed walking through all the lights and of course there was even a Santa hanging around. It was back home soon after to go to bed and prepare for the next day.

It was bright and early Wednesday morning for us. We headed back into Boise for a doctors appointment and had breakfast at our favorite... Blue Sky Bagels. Yum! We turned back around and headed home to change and get ready for Christmas Eve at grandma and grandpas. The only nap Bridge took were in the car rides back home and to gma and gpas house.

We arrived shortly after 1pm in time for cousin time and dinner. Oyster stew for daddy, turkey soup for mommy and crackers and an orange for Bridge. I was in charge of the vegetable tray after mass! Much needed after wrangling Bridger during church. Only one trip out to hallway to explain that his choices (option 1 sit quietly during church or option 2 out to the car and head home). He understood and chose option 1. After that we didn't have any more issues.

When mass ended I got my wish of a white Christmas! It was down pouring snow as we walked out of church. It was picture perfect! Back to gma and gpas to finish unwrapping gifts! The kids changed into their christmas pjs and the adults were busy cracking jokes with the funny gag gifts this season! Sailor hats from bill and Becky in time for the boat rides this summer and nose aerobics glasses from us (Bridger). It was pretty hilarious!

It was truly another great Christmas Eve and amongst all the hustle and bushel leading up to. It it is something that our family looks forward to each year! We were so glad uncle Brian was able to make it despite the weather.

We headed home to our house shortly after 9pm and we didn't even make it out of the neighborhood and our sweet baby boy was fast asleep! We got home prepared for Santa Claus to come and tucked our boy into bed. It was truly a special night! Calm and quiet.

7:00am Christmas Morning- bridge woke us up and we headed out to watch his reaction when he saw all the gifts under the tree. This year Bridger wanted to open every one's gifts and each time it was his turn he would unwrapped the gifts and insist that daddy needed to open the box and set every toy up. This lead to a very long drawn out process since he also then would want to play with each toy before he moved on to the next. Santa gave him new running shoes and a pair of hockey sticks, there was lots of spoiling from all the grandparents and of course the overall theme was sports! This year he did get the games memory and don't break the ice . He loves don't break the ice and this was one of my favorite games growing up too.

We skyped with Gaga, Auntie K and baby Kal. It's great to have technology for my family, doesn't make me feel as far away when we see them over the computer!

Around 10am we headed to Dan and Barbara's to spend sometime with them. Auntie B was busy the night before baking away in the kitchen lots of cookies. Shortly after visiting with the. We teased back to gma and gpas house to have Christmas's dinner and a nice long nap for mommy! Much needed! The boys played and ate big slices of pumpkin pie while Bridger helped gma make the whipped cream.

We had a great Christmas and many memories were made. This weekend we are looking forward to down time and maybe a little ice skating for Bridger later on this afternoon.