Hot chocolate face (plus the bonus black eye)

Snow

We lost a lot of our snow the end of last month. We had a relatively thin layer of really crunchy stuff for a while...not real great for playing outside. But we've been getting out here and there. Maya loves to swing so much....which is possible in the winter but not easy when it comes to trying to get that little puffy jacket-ed, snow pant covered, big snowboot body back out of the swing!
Alex had started on a snow fort before the thaw but I think we have to just start over at this point. We do have more snow now, got some fresh this week so maybe that should be our job for the weekend!

Ahoy Matey's!

Maya likes wearing Alex's old pirate costume from the year he was 3. This also shows the beginning of her shiner she got from falling face first into the train table. It got more colorful over the next few days.

Snowshoe hike at nature center

Festival of Trains

New Year's Eve pics

Time to catch up

Sorry we've been so slow with any updates. After the holidays it took us all a little while to get back into our regular routines. Alex had a hard time adjusting to going back to school every day and it took a toll on all of us I think. It took about 10 days-2 weeks and now he is totally thriving. He got his first progress report the end of January and is doing very well in all areas, plus I have heard rumors that he is even goofing off a bit and getting in some minor trouble which we think is great because it shows he is comfortable there and fitting in just fine :)
Maya has been growing a lot lately and with that has come some clumsiness resulting in a lot of falls and her first black eye. Her other big news is that she is OUT OF DIAPERS! She asked for princess big girl underwear the last week of January. We bought a package and she really took the idea of learning about the potty seriously. Within a week she was keeping them dry all day, part way into the next week she was wearing them all day, every day even on car trips and errands. Now she is sleeping in them at nap time and is trying really hard to keep her diapers dry at night so she can sleep in her underwear. She realized right away the underwear are far more comfortable than her big bulky diapers!
I haven't been taking too many pictures. Alex and I went on a guided snowshoe hike at the nature center at the beginning of Jan. and I have some pics from that and then a few random ones from around the house but that's it. I will post them in the next few posts and hope for a more photogenic month this month!

the quiet

Christmas night Ben and I had to drive back to Traverse City so I could make it to work at noon on saturday. Alex and Maya spent the night with Matt and Amy in Green Bay and then they all went back north to Rhinelander on saturday. Mom and Dad are driving over here with the kids today (tuesday). So that means we've been kid free here sat, sun, mon and most of today. At first it was a little exciting. Now it's pretty quiet and lonely! We'll be so happy to have them home today!

New London!

It's so much fun to watch all the cousins of all ages play together. Alex looks forward to air hockey for months!
Maya and Annalea were both really into the rocking horse and did a good job of taking turns.
Maya really gravitated towards Uncle Paul and cousin Mike this year.

Christmas morning

Maya didn't want to get up quite as early as Alex so it took her a few more minutes to get excited but they were both pretty excited about Santa coming. They both seemed to like everything they got. I love how excited and thankful Alex is about everything he gets, whether it be a cool toy or a pack of white t-shirts!

Christmas Eve

I'm starting to think that woman who took the kids pictures at Sears was magic because I had a heck of a time getting them to cooperate at all!
We had a fun Christmas Eve as always. Alex always enjoys playing with his cousin Katie and this year Will seemed to really like following Alex around too.
We put carrots outside for the reindeer and cookies inside for Santa and the kids fell asleep pretty quickly.

The Nieto Traveling Circus

It was time again for us to hit the road. Due to me working the holiday season at Kohls this year we had a smaller window of time for traveling/visiting.
We spent a little time in Green Bay and New London first, then went to Rhinelander on the 23rd. The kids got some sledding in that day (thank goodness since it started raining the next day) and it turns out that Maya is quite the daredevil. None of us was overly surprised by that. Alex is really into sledding this year too.

We have snow!

Actually after yesterday and today we have much, much more snow than these pictures but this was the first snow we've been playing in. Maya is much better at walking in it this year and is really into it - she dives right in without hesitation. Alex is seriously excited about sledding this year. He's already been trying in the yard!

Yeah Baby!