Snow Fun

I remember loving snow when I was a kid. I didn't get cold and I could be outside for hours on end and never get tired of it. Now it's Dalin's turn. He loves the snow and loves to be outside whenever possible. The problem is that I don't like to be in the cold (here in Montana it's VERY cold) and Braden doesn't really care for the cold snow either. But we do the best we can to make everyone happy. Dan taught Dalin how to make a snowball and throw it at me, which quickly turned into throwing it at poor little Braden, who quickly discovered that a snowball in the face isn't very fun. However, he survived and then we went sledding. You have never seen a child love it as much as Dalin. This boy gets so excited over simple things. He thought that the huge hill was just a big slide (he loves slides) and the first time I went down with him he laughed uproariously the whole way down and as soon as we got to the bottom he said, between laughs, "more slide, more slide"! It was so fun to see him get so excited about it and Dan and I actually had a lot of fun sledding ourselves. Braden, not so much. But he'll have his turn one day I'm sure, when he's a little older. Dalin never stopped laughing.

Laughing so hard! He kept saying "sooo fast!"

Dan teaching Dalin to throw snowballs.

Braden not really loving the snow.

Zoe

Well, it's official, Dalin's best friend, Zoe, has moved to Philadelphia. This is soooo sad. Dalin loved to play with Zoe. She was his same age (two months younger) and she lived two doors down from us. They got along so well and Dalin always wanted to outside and play with Zoe. He would sometimes wake up from his nap and say "where's Zoe" - meaning let's go find her and play. There's a big-toy just down the walk from us that they loved to play on because it had a double slide and they could go down side by side at the same time. It's sad to lose a friend and now, for the first time in his life, Dalin has to face it. He loved his best friend. Following are some pictures of them playing in the leaves this last November.

Braden loved to watch them play in the leaves. Throwing leaves up in the air. Zoe would lay down in the leaves and Dalin would pile the leaves on her.

Then they would run around the far tree and come back and jump in the pile and roll around giggling together. It was very cute. GOODBYE ZOE!

Dalin and His Trains

Dalin LOVES trains!! I can't describe to you how much he loves trains. Occasionally you can hear a train here in Bozeman when the wind is blowing just right and Dalin will hear it even if no else can. He gets soooo excited. When we were down in Utah visiting we took him to Union Station in Ogden and he got to see the big engines. You've never seen such amazement and pure awe in a person's eyes as I did, that day, in Dalin's. Then we met my parents and took a ride on FrontRunner down to Salt Lake. You think a two-year-old would get bored with the 45 minute ride, but not Dalin. In fact, every time the train would stop at the various stations to let people on and off he would yell out "no, no stopping. Go fast!" Then we took Trax up the temple to see the lights and he loved Trax too. This kid is crazy in love with trains.

Grandpa Randy and Grandma Sylvia on the train. Choo Chooo!

The highlight of the ride on FrontRunner was when he could see the other trains in Union Station, while riding a train at the same time! What excitement.

This is the first toy train Dalin was given by his Daddy. Dan used his birthday money to buy Dalin a Thomas train and he was ecstatic. We couldn't get him to go to bed that night because he just wanted to play with his train. Now he sleeps with it every night.

Dan's Dad and his wife Charlene got Dalin this big train set for Christmas and now the world stands still for Dalin. He lives, eats, and breaths this thing. It's the only thing he plays with and every time he goes to sleep we have to kiss each car and the tracks good night and put them in the drawer. The engine, of course, has a place on Dalin's bed. The engine goes with us to the store, to the park, and it would go to church if I would allow it. I'm not sure what we'll do when the train goes the way of the earth. It's bound to happen with as much use as it gets, but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Braden's birthday

Braden is 1!!! I can't believe how fast this year has gone. He had such a good birthday. When we got up in the morning I said "Happy birthday Brades" and Dalin replied "Happy birthday, with fire?" He somehow remembered from Dan's birthday that when we say happy birthday that means we also get to blow out candles aka play with fire. So all day Dalin kept saying "get the fire". It was so funny. We went out to eat at Applebee's where Braden discovered my raspberry lemonade and thoroughly enjoyed it. When we brought him his candle on his cupcake, I taught him how to blow and he actually did it himself...after several tries because Dalin felt it his duty to blow out every candle I tried to light. Then I put the cupcake in front of him and he just looked at it. Most kids dig in, but Braden just looked. So after a while he finally stuck his fingers in the frosting and then got upset because it was on his fingers and he couldn't get it off, at which point I had to wash his hands. Then I let him taste a little bit off my finger and he finally understood this was really good. So very tentatively he stuck his fingers in again and then sucked it off, then he really got excited (which he usually does over food) and dug in. My little boys are growing up so fast! I have loved being a mother and we have fun every single day. Braden loves to go outside and go for walks, he likes to try new foods, he loves to play with Dalin and chase him, and he loves to give kisses. His favorite thing to play with is any kind of ball and whenever he spots one he says "ball" and hurries over to grab and throw it. He's always quick to smile and loves to cuddle. He's already very much attached to his blanket and will not go to sleep without it. He likes to pull it up over his head and rub it over his eyes when he's tired. He also really likes his bottle and I'm a little nervous to start weening him off of it. I couldn't imagine life without him and he makes life much more enjoyable. He can always make me laugh and loves to laugh himself. We love you Brades!!

A little nervous about the candle at first. Testing out this weird new food.

Sucking the frosting off his fingers.

Digging in.

Loving every minute of it.

What a cute mess.