Quick--before Noah's Birthday gets here again!

I try not to have too many blogging goals. Keep it fun and "organic" (whatever that means). Blog when I feel moved upon by random occurrences, I guess. But I can't just ignore real, actual, documentable events, can I? Of course not.

In the past six weeks or so, exciting things have happened in our house. Kaisa turned four (what a fabulous age to be--independent but still oh-so-lovable and snuggly). Emma threw her a great party (even invited a few of her own friends for good measure).

Emma turned eight--the big one! And the celebrations will continue all month until her baptism on May 1st.

We spent Easter with Grandpa and Grandma in Coeur d'Alene and got to party on the 5th (Emma's actual bday) at TriplePlay and Tomato Street with cousins, aunts, and grandparents (oh my!). Roland and I got to spend a long weekend in Banff, Canada, where Roland presented his research at the AOSpine conference. The kids got to spend a long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa in Wenatchee and "help" sell the latest litter of standard poodle pups.

Now we are all back at home busily back to the daily grind: Training for a half-marathon next month (Marci), working 42 hours straight on spine trauma (Roland--seriously, it's Wednesday and the kids still haven't seen him since bedtime on Sunday), lighting up the pitching mound with "the best slider of the season" (Noah), earning a yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do (Emma), and a little bit of everything else (Kaisa).

Life as a Ski Bunny

With Roland and I being the avid winter sports fans that we are, we have been quite unlucky in our attempted snow chasing move to Seattle this year. In the year that the east coast and even rarely-snowed-upon Virginia has been pounded with snow, our winter in the Northwest has corresponded with a dreaded "El Nino" conditions (milder temperatures and less snowfall). But no matter! The snowboarding/skiing must go on! Some of us have managed to crank out close to 20 days on the slopes already this season at famous resorts including Whistler, Mt. Baker, and the Summit Central at Snowqualmie:) Mind you, none of these days have been epic powder days, but that's okay when the primary purpose is teaching a 3 1/2 year old how to ski and convincing Noah and Emma that they love it too.

This is Kaisa's first year and she is the luckiest of all Kent children in her early skiing experience as she has unparalleled access to the ski slopes, no school obligations, and mom's undivided attention. She's on pace for olympic fame and glory . . . well, maybe not, but we are having a lot of fun. We have mastered the snowboard/skier combined chairlift dismount--an impressive feat on its own. We can be dressed and in the car with equipment ready in less than 15 minutes and on the slope in another 40. I love our chairlift conversations: "Mom, do you know what 'wonder-hangers' are?" "I think we should get some." Me too, Kaisa. Me too.

Noah and Emma try to join us at least on Wednesday afternoons (early-dismissal day) and Saturday mornings (with Roland, too, if we're lucky). We are trying to get the most out of our season passes and close ski resort proximity. And since its still only early March, I'd say so far so good. I have a really cute video of Kaisa in action but I'm experiencing an uploading fail. I'll see if Noah can help me. But since I started this post in February . . . I just needed to get something out there and hope that someday the world will see the cuteness that is "Kaisa's First Blue Square." You can find it on YouTube if anyone is reading this. Here are some cute stills.

Emma and Roland at Mt. Baker 2/27. Emma lasted the entire day with Roland without a break and even tackled the famous "bank slalom" course and her first black diamond. You would be hard pressed to find a prouder papa than Roland at this moment.

Closest we've come to a powder day. Too bad the visibility was extremely spotty. We all saw the Olympics, right? We are talking Women's downhill competition day conditions. I can't believe we even captured this clear moment in late January at Whistler.

And I have just realized that I have ZERO pictures of Noah snowboarding this year. Here he is making a snowman in Wenatchee on New Year's day.

Technically, this is Emma on a sledding day. But you've just gotta love that face!

Kaisa at Snowqualmie (February)--the ski bunniest of us all.