Christmas Eve 2011

Oh were to start?  Considering the amount of pictures I have from our holiday week (thanks to my NEW camera from my parents!) we will have to break it up into multiple posts.  Let's start with Christmas Eve - My parents, Ryan, the kids and I headed up to Sun Valley to stay with my Aunt KE in her beautiful home.  Also staying with us was 3/4 of the Detwiler clan (the other 1/4 and Granddaddy were sorely missed) so our stay was fun chaos from the start.

Drew wasted no time checking out the huge Christmas tree when we got there:

I don't blame him, it was a beautiful, big tree with lots of large ornaments to pull off:

That evening the entire family was invited to a beautiful house in Sun Valley owned by Roger and Lisa Anderson to watch the fireworks and torch light parade down Dollar Mountain.  Isla, Papa and GiGi waited anxiously for the fireworks to begin:

The fireworks were well worth the wait:

Cousins Krista and Erica strike a pose:

After the firework display and torch light parade we headed back down to KE's house for dinner and drinks.  Isla, Erica and Papa enjoyed reading "The Night Before Christmas" by the fire:

Isla and Drew checked out the Christmas tree . . .again:

Isla and Mom enjoyed some snuggles by the fire:

The family enjoying a late dinner after the kids went down to bed:

Santa Party 2011

The Hamilton's hosted a holiday party the Monday before Christmas and Santa Claus came to visit!  I was so surprised when Isla sat down with all the other kids awaiting his arrival.  She even stayed put when Santa made his entrance:

Unfortunately Drew wasn't as excited about Santa this time.  He broke out in tears when Ryan handed him over:

I got a poor shot of Isla on Santa's lap, that is her behind the present, I promise:

The kids, and adults had a great time.  Thanks Hamilton's for including us!

Stay tuned as there are much more Christmas and New Year's photos to come!

R House Christmas Program

Isla and Drew's daycare, R House, put on their Christmas program last week and it was a big hit! The kids got to sing songs, eat cookies and get a gift from Santa himself. What could be better?

Isla was very excited to get dressed up:

Drew, or Mr. Snaggletooth as we like to call him now, got to wear his Christmas-y sweater:

Isla was very excited to hang out with Payton:

To our surprise, Drew actually participated in the singing part of the program. Ryan and I were shocked that he sat there the whole time and didn't move.  They even put a vest and reindeer antlers on him:

Poor Miss Isla got a bum pair of reindeer antlers and they were in her face the whole time.  It didn't stop her from singing every song though - Ryan and I were very proud of her.  I couldn't stop laughing every time I looked at her:

Here is a little video clip I managed to get.  I couldn't get a good shot of Isla due to my vantage point and her silly antlers, but she's in there if you can spot her:

After singing, Santa came and gave every single kid a gift!  Ryan and I are so impressed with the show that R House puts on, they do such a great job.  Isla actually sat on Santa's lap, but she is still a little leery of him:

Better get used to him sweetie, we will be seeing him again soon.  Drew just stared at him:

And here is the shot at the end of the night - Isla looks like she is on the verge of tears and Drew has no idea what is going on.  Pretty typical:

Third Annual Pub Crawl

So I think I am just now recovering from our wild third annual pub crawl this past weekend. Due to my lack of camera (see previous posts) I didn't have any pictures of the trip. Ryan did manage to take some late night ones with his iPhone, but I think I'll spare our fellow pub crawlers potential embarrassment. I did steal a couple from Molly's blog who in turn got them from our good friend Brooke (thanks Brooke & Molly).

Molly, Amy and I at the beginning of the night:

All of us pub crawlers getting ready to enjoy the finer bars of Meridian and Kuna:

Such a fun night . . . just wish I could remember the last hour.

Oh (tiny) Christmas Tree

Due to this one:

and his mischievous, yet cute ways we made the tough decision of not getting a big Christmas tree this year. I love my Christmas trees and can't wait to get a real one next year. The pre-lit three footer just isn't doing it for me. On the other hand, this three footer was pretty cute decorating the tiny tree:

Thanksgiving 2011

The rest of the Thanksgiving weekend was filled with lots of food and family time. I got Isla and Drew outside in the sled:

We went up to Ketchum to visit the new Starbucks and I was very impressed with the remodel (they have toys for kids and iPads and TV's for the adults AND they serve beer and wine in the afternoon!). I know we will be spending a lot of time here during Christmas:

Poor Mr. Drew cut two bottom teeth while we were there, but he wasn't too fussy and slept fairly well. I think the wine helped:

Hanky had a good time too:

I didn't get any pictures of dinner as I was too busy feeding kids and trying to eat myself. I can tell you that Drew thoroughly enjoyed his mashed potatoes, at least the ones that didn't end up all over his clothes.

Isla Skiing!

For Thanksgiving we went up to Sun Valley to stay with Grandma and Papa Randy. Grandma and Papa Randy were not only busy preparing our Thanksgiving meal, they were also busy getting everything ready for Isla's first time on skis! It was quite the process getting Isla prepared for her first time on the snow hill. We didn't want to rush her nor were we expecting much as she is only three years old. Isla is a thinker and doesn't like to be surprised so we prepared her as best we could. We first introduced her to her new skis so she could get a good look at them:

She seemed to like them:

The next day we went up to Dollar mountain so Isla could watch all the little skiers go up the magic carpet and ski down. She was very interested in what was going on. When we got back to Grandma's house we put Isla in her snow boots so she could get used to walking around in them:

So far so good. We waited a couple more days and then took her up to Dollar so she could try it out herself. Getting ready with Papa Randy:

Finally we make it outside on the snow and we manage to get a smile from her:

Getting her skis on:

And off she goes:

We were so proud of her! She probably was out there for a total of ten minutes before we went into the lodge for hot chocolate. I know we may have went a little over the top getting her prepared, but at least it worked. We are so excited to get her back out there over Christmas!