Play 'Till You Drop

We LOVE the mall! I wish I could say it was because we love to shop and find killer deals, but my odds are stacked against me when I take a preschooler and a toddler to the mall with my med-school budget. We have discovered there is much more to the mall than merely shopping!

Cole loves the train (and the Annie's Pretzels behind it),

Elise loves the slides,

And mommy loves to take two worn out kids home to naptime :)

Much better than finding the perfect outfit for a killer deal!

Trains

The Des Moines Train Club was at the West Des Moines Library today, so of course we had to take Cole. There were four huge train layouts. Cole was in heaven!

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

Oh, what do you do on a snowy day when all the world is white?

We build a geotrax town,

Do a little cooking,

And play a song or two

Once There Was a Snowman Tall, Tall...

Tall as Daddy!

The one benefit of Iowa winters is that our snowman won't melt small, small, small for a long time!

Beary Sweet

Monkey Joes

We went to a really fun bounce house for a friend's birthday.

There were BIG slides...

Little slides...

And even littler slides

Pirate ships...

And every animal you could think of!

We bounced and slid until we were too tired to laugh anymore. What a fun day! Thanks for inviting us to your party Addalee.

Basketball

Cole had his first day of basketball clinic at the Y today. He was so excited to go with his girlfriend Anna! Luckily, Cole and Anna ended up on the same team, the Cyclones.

They donned their too-big red t-shirts and their coaches led them in some drills: passing, dribbling, and shooting. Cole may have been the shortest one there, but he was a natural! It must be in the Green genes :)

It was so fun to watch. The kids were all so cute and funny!

Ellie even got in on the action! After the clinic we got to stay and play for awhile so Cole taught El everything he knows :)

Cole had a blast playing basketball and can't wait until next week!

Oh What Fun It Is To Ride

We got dumped on today...with snow that is.

We thought we would take advantage of the new powdery snow and take our sled down the hill in our backyard. Luckily, all of our neighbors had the same idea so we had a big sledding event for FHE. There were lots of sleds and lots of dads to give the kids a big push.

Ellie LOVED going on the saucer. We would just lay her down, give her a push, and when I caught her at the bottom she would be giggling :)

Cole thought it was fun for a minute, but he was more interested in making snow angels.

I went crazy taking pictures and video and lost all feeling in my fingers for awhile.

Ben ended up getting buried by our neighbors...they made him into a jump for the kids.

Oh what fun it is to sled in our backyard!

To Swim or Not To Swim

Cole had his first swim lesson this morning. He has always been hesitant in the water, but he was really excited to go. He got in the water, but he didn't want to leave the steps. The teacher strapped a floaty belt around his waist and gave him a floaty bar...and he still just sat on the steps and watched the other kids swim around in the pool. He finally ventured off the steps when the teacher took him by the hand, but his feet stayed on the ground as long as they could.

This wasn't a really productive lesson, but at least he said he had fun and wants to go back!

Rockin' New Years Eve

The weather made us stay in Utah for New Years Eve. We were going to be home by New Years, but due to blizzards I-80 kept closing. We weren't too sad though because we got to go to the Coombs Rockin' New Years Eve Bash!

Cole was excited to play with Grandpa's train one last time

Elise fell and got her first fat lip

We put the kids to bed and the real party started! Cole and Ethan were the lucky ones who got to stay up until midnight with the adults. We played pool, played games, and rocked out the whole night with Guitar Hero.

Happy New Year everyone!!

We left early New Years day and made our long, slow drive back home to Iowa. It's good to be home, but we sure miss Utah!