Family Ski Trip

 

Second (annual?) ski trip with friends is officially in the books and we're making progress towards Ryan's dream of making us a "ski family".  This year we rented the same house we rented last year with Jamie and Zach/Chris and Brenna but we changed up the group a bit and included Betsy and Pat (and, Lauren and Brian were going to join us too but COVID...blah!).  

We pulled the kids out of school after lunch on Friday (they loved that!) and made our way up to the house in the Dells area for an evening of swimming and Friday night fish fry!  We learned last year that the pool area was perfect for the kids - big enough that they had room to get the wiggles out and nearly empty on Friday evening.  We had a few Spotted Cows pool side, ate some fish and headed back to the house in time to catch the opening ceremonies of the winter Olympics.  Betsy and Pat came up a little bit later - it's harder to pull the teachers out of school early than it is to pull the kids :)  

Saturday was COLD - I'm talking -2 actual temp when we woke up on Saturday morning.  We weren't sure how long all of the kids would last out on the ski hill, but we fixed up breakfast and packed up sandwiches for lunch and headed out for a day of skiing.  Betsy and family had just returned from a trip to Colorado a week or two earlier and we hoped that Bradley and Brennan's confidence would rub off on the girls.  Having been to the same ski hill the year before we were 100% more prepared and informed for how things went meaning that we knew where to park (or rather, where NOT to park) and where to plop all the kids while us Mom's picked up the lift tickets.  It probably saved us at least 45 minutes of screwing around trying to get everyone ready and moving which was SO much nicer this time around.  

We skipped ski school this year too, figuring we could do a better job ourselves, or, at a minimum we'd wouldn't be WORSE teachers than the college kids they had last year.  We did 3 or 4 runs down the bunny hill (using the magic carpet) and then decided it was time to rip the Band-Aid off and see how it went on a real green run!  I took Hazel in my chairlift (and Bradley but he just jumped in for moral support for Hazel) and she was all about it until she realized that she wasn't just going to ride the chairs in a circle and that we were getting off the lift and skiing down.  Hazel, of the two, is the braver, more fierce kid!  She's usually willing to try new things and much more of a sport when it comes to conquering her fears - but, today she was not in the mood and no matter how hard we tried (and how good she actually was at it), she cried herself down the entire hill, and it only got worse when she took one tiny tumble and "twisted her ankle" and, in that moment, I knew she was done for the day.  

Abby on the other hand was a champ.  Afterwards she told me she was most nervous about the chair lift and once she'd gotten off without incident the first time, she wasn't really even that afraid of that anymore.  I have no doubt that having the Cunningham's along helped play a role in her confidence and willingness to try new things.  The boys were such good sports helping her and Stella long during the day and I know that Betsy spent more than a little bit of time giving Abby pointers and helping her along.  I'm so grateful that they were willing to come along on this trip.  

Lucy didn't fair well either - she did a few runs on the bunny hill but by 11 am she and Hazel couldn't continue with life without a snack (mind you we arrived around 10 - LOL!) so Jamie and I took the two littlest girls back to the car and gave up on making them try to ski this year.  Before leaving we drove to the closest parking lot, right near the bottom of the runs the group was on, and delivered everyone lunch (and a few beers).  We hung around, let the kids warm up in the car for a little bit and then Jamie, Lucy, Hazel and I went back to the pool and waited for the rest of the group.  I'd have never guessed that they'd make it all the way until 4pm but the adults said the kids were having a great time and I know it was good for their confidence for future trips.

I'm not sure how we didn't manage to get a family picture of the Cunningham's!  Betsy - how did we let that happen!?  Next year we'll fix that!  All in all, I think the weekend was a success.  Funny because we had this very "winter" activity last weekend, and, just 6 short days later we're headed to Disney!  January was quiet for us...but February is chalk full of fun family goodness.  

Winter Crafting

 

I'm here with an official roundup of the crafts I've been working on over the past few months - including a lot of knitting and even some quilting thrown in there.

I came across this pattern and yarn in late September/early October and I knew they'd make perfect Christmas gifts, but that I needed to get working or I'd never finish them in time.  I have a rule about my craft projects.  I'm allowed one knitting project and one quilting project at a time and I can't buy NEW supplies until I finish the projects I've started.  It keeps me moving forward and stops me from having piles and piles of supplies for projects I never start because the excitement passes before I can even start the project.

So, even though that's my rule, and I still had a blanket on my knitting needles, I put that aside for a few months so I could work on these mittens.  They turned out great, and actually knit up pretty quickly.  I made a total of three pairs - one for Mom (blue), one for Jennifer (purple) and one for Sue (green).  

The pattern and yarn are by Purl Soho (one of my go to brands).  The pattern was called Celestial Mittens and had the option for fingerless (which I chose) or a full glove.  The colorwork is beautiful and keeps you thinking (and counting) as you knit.

I finished these sets just a few days before Christmas so they were ready to gift without me having to give out one glove and an IOU - but, this year I'm starting earlier!  In fact, against my rule for the second time, I just ordered 4 skeins of yarn for what just might end up being Christmas presents for next year.  We'll see how the first one turns out but I sure will feel smug if I've already got hand made items tucked away 10 months before Christmas.

And, on the quilting front - above is the first quilt I've made since 2020!  In 2020 I quilted soooo many things that somehow I lost my steam.  I remember that it took me a long time to find an inspiring pattern and fabric, but I bought the kit for this quilt back in the summer of 2021 and it sat in the basement waiting for a moment of inspiration that just never came.  Back around Thanksgiving I started cutting fabric and then I packed up this project for the holidays (because my quilting table became the train table for the Christmas season).  But, in January I finally decided I was in the mood to quilt and honestly, this might be one of my all time favorite quilts!  The pattern is made almost entirely of half square triangles (HST) which are a relatively easy block to make.  It's the layout and the wide array of colors that makes the quilt so interesting.  I liked it so much that I actually just placed and order to make another, in a totally different colorway.  

The pattern for this quilt is called Begonia and the fabric is from a line called Speckled by Rashida Coleman-Hale.  The finished quilt size will be 72x72 - PERFECT for a lap blanket.

But, before I can start on that I have to finish this second quilt I had planned (see, I've been breaking my one project at a time rule quite a bit lately and the guilt is pushing me to finish some things up!).  This quilt will eventually be for our bed in the summer time - our second bed quilt.  I love the colors (light greens and creams) and while it's really hard to see in the pictures below it's a mix of solids and prints.  The block themselves are pretty slow going.  Each color combo makes 2 blocks and it takes me about an hour to piece together a color set.  The entire quilt has 30 something blocks in it and right now I'm about 1/3 of the way through them.  The good news is though, once the blocks are done it'll be quick from there.  Each block is around 16 inches so I'm working through the time consuming piecing now, but once all 30 blocks are assembled it'll turn into a big queen sized bed quilt pretty quickly.

I'll fully finish this quilt before starting on the second Begonia quilt I have on order.

And - last but not least...the knitted blanket I've been chipping away at since we returned from Yellowstone.  And, guys, it's not like I haven't been working on this!  Other than the few months I took off to knit up those Christmas gloves, the blanket has been my crafting focus for nearly 6 months!  It's going to be perfect for summer.  It's light, knitted on size 3 needles, I'm currently in that stage where it feels like you knit and knit forever and the blanket never grows and the yarn doesn't disappear.  But, I think I'm about to turn the corner where all of a sudden you're nearing the end and you can see all of your hard work coming to life.  

It's admittedly slow going, but come on!  It looks amazing!  I'm really proud of this one.

1 Family x 12 (Jan-ish)

 

While technically this picture is from this past weekend (in early Feb), we're going to call this our Jan family photo because sometimes (often) when Jan rolls around, after the go go go of the holidays, I just want to do less!  So, January was relatively quiet for us.  But February!  We've got a lot going on this month and I can wait to share all of our adventures.

A Spa Day Birthday Party

 

This past weekend we celebrated Stella's 8th birthday with a hotel/spa day party.  When we were kids there were a few years when our two families booked hotel rooms "in the city" (read: probably Schaumburg) during these cold winter months.  Our parents found a hotel with a pool and us kids were so excited to go somewhere where we could swim and get the winter wiggles out.  

Stella has a January birthday so I think it was only a matter of time until Jamie planned a birthday party this this.  She rented two adjoining hotel rooms and we put the littles in one, and us two adults in the other.  She picked up face masks and hand creams and foot masks for us adults.  We painted nails and did temporary tattoos - you know, what little kids think of as a spa day!

The kids swam until they were cold...we ordered sushi and chicken fried rice.  They watched a movie and stayed up late and all in all, I think they had a great time!  

Hazel was particularly excited about her "pickles" which she kept on her face for roughly 1 minute before she asked if she could eat them.  

The next morning we let the kids swim again - mostly to waste some time before breakfast and also so we wouldn't a second call from the front desk asking us to quiet down.  After swimming and packing up we headed to brunch and then to get Stella's ears pierced.  Both my kids thought she was insane for wanting to get hers pierced.  Originally Jamie thought they kids might all do it together, but I knew there was exactly zero chance that either Hazel or Abby were interested in that.  They are scared of it and I'm not pushing it!  I'm fine having one less thing to manage (for now).  

All in all, I think Stella had a great time and it'll be an evening the kids will remember for awhile.  

Hazel's next two teeth

 

 About two weeks ago Hazel came up to me saying "Mommy I have a new tooth!"  And, sure enough, right there behind her other teeth a little shark tooth had emerged.  The trouble was, the teeth in front weren't even the tiniest bit wiggly.  So, to the dentist we went!

This sweet little peanut is very much the opposite of her sister when it comes to losing teeth and the dentist.  Two years ago she was already mortgaging her future tooth fairy money so that she could buy things.  She pulled out her first tooth within 24 hours of realizing it was wiggly.  So, when I told her we had to go to the dentist and they might pull out her tooth so there was room for the new one to move in her response was "Yay, now I get more money".  Keep in mind, we're about 2 weeks out from Disney right now and the kids are already dreaming of the things they'll be able to buy there, plus we just implemented a new chore list with allowance so the kids are very coin focused right now.  LOL!

Hazel did great!  The dentist pulled two teeth, the one on the bottom where the shark tooth came in and a wiggly one on the top that was hanging on by a thread.  I figured as long as we were there, just get it out so we could move on!  They had to numb both her top and bottom gums and she didn't even flinch when the poked her!  The top tooth came out and they might not have given her enough numbing medicine up there because she asked "Can we be done now?" so they gave her a bit more on the bottom and a few minutes later the second tooth was out and not a single tear to show for it.  She didn't yelp or whine or anything - I was so proud of my sweet Hazel.

The tooth fairy pays extra for teeth that the dentist pulls - so Hazel had a big fat $10 bill under her pillow the next day and a new lisp to show for her two missing teeth.  Now we just have to convince Abby to be less worried about the dentist.  If only!

A New Year's Eve Supper Club

This year for New Years we opted for a small group and a re-do on last years theme which was a Wisconsin Supper Club.  We made a stab at it last year, but when we started planning for this year we decided to double down and make it even better than last year, complete with costumes, a printed menu (thanks Erin!), adorable Schlitz glasses and of course, a delicious, high calorie meal that was sure to clog all of our arteries.  

When we tried it last year we missed the mark in some ways and tended more towards 90's than actual supper club...but this year I think we nailed it!  We had surf and turf with lobster tails and filets, old fashioneds (of course), a cheese and relish try, a blue cheese wedge salad, brussel sprouts, and crème brule' which turned out amazing!

I have no idea how people pull off these big elaborate meals with only one or two people in charge.  At one point I think every adult in the house was manning a part of the dinner to get it all done and plated at the same time.  I surely could not have done it alone!

The menus might just have been my favorite part of the table setting.  I mean...look at them, they are beautiful.  I kept a commemorative menu - who knows, maybe it'll resurface in 10 years and we'll recreate it!

After dinner we released some paper lanterns with our wishes for the new year.  I'd purchased these for LAST new years but they were delivered a day or two late so I tucked them away for this year.  That may become a tradition we keep, it was very fun to watch them float away into the sky.  The kids loved it too!

All in all, after a relatively busy holiday season, I was thankful that we had a low key evening to bring us into the New Year.  Everyone made it to midnight (though, I was certainly in bed before 12:45), we toasted the new year, had a lot of laughs and we're ready for whatever 2022 has in store for us.

Christmas 2021

 

And, just like that, Christmas has come and gone, but what a great Christmas it was!!  This time of year is so full of family and fun that it's hard to not have a holiday hangover when it's all over.  But, I ward that off by making sure we've got fun stuff planned for the months ahead and this year is no different.  But, before I turn my sights on what's next, I want to sit in the glow of the holidays a little bit longer.

This year's Christmas saw the return of some traditions we missed out on last year (thanks COVID) - we had McGrath Christmas on Christmas Eve (thanks to Uncle Tim and Aunt Lynda who had rapid at home tests for anyone that wanted them).  We staged ourselves in the garage at Tim and Lynda's new house (with a beer of course) while we waited the 15 minutes for the rapid results to come back.  After 4 green lights we knew we were good to celebrate with the group (it made me feel better knowing that we'd just been together with such a large group for Ryan's party less than a week before).  

Christmas Eve we had a nice full house!  Erin, Dan, and my parents were all here with us this year and again, we went to bed that night with full hearts knowing we were surrounded by the people we love, and Santa wasn't too far away!

Sweet girls!  They are always so good on Christmas morning.  The rule is that they can't go downstairs without us, but that they can open their stockings while the rest of the adults get themselves up.  Then, as soon as they set eyes on the presents I make them take a few pictures before we start opening and these are always some of my favorite photos of the year!  I have years and years of pictures just like this one, in their grandma jammies (Hazels are somehow missing...I know it's around here somewhere), in front of the tree.

This year we even managed a group picture before the chaos began!  I love these people so so much!  Santa was very good to all of us this year, but the biggest hit of Christmas was the hamsters!  Introducing Fern (Hazel's) and Olive (Abby, who originally named her Cookie but she had a name change a few days in).  I didn't expect to enjoy these little rodents so much, but they both are really quite sweet.  Poor Fern will be a WELL socialized hamster because Hazel loves that thing more than just about anyone else.  I asked her last night "do you love me or Fern more?" and she answered "both".  LOL!  Sweet girl!  I think that's a compliment to Fern :)

Since we did Ryan's party on the weekend that would traditionally have been Ritterbusch, we pushed our Christmas with my family back a few days and did it right after Christmas.  Of course, in true McGrath fashion we also hauled the dump trailer out and cut a load of wood while we were there.  But, more importantly, I made my first batch of dumplings!  I've helped before, and watched plenty of times, but this year I made the dough start to finish - of course Mom still helped- - it took a LOT of rolling to get them to this stage.  We made this batch using 9 eggs instead of the normal 7, meaning we almost ran out of counter space to roll the batch out!  

Pencil Nose was a big hit and nearly distracted the kids from the BIG gift which was suitcases for each kid to pack when we go to DISNEY in February.  All 10 of us, plus Erin and Dan (I think) will be down in Florida for a week in mid-Feb and I know I'm not the only one that is looking forward to having a warm vacation in just 6 weeks from now!  We rarely do big trips in the winter, it tends to be the time of year that we hibernate at home and get lots of home projects done...but this year we're headed to Florida for sun and theme parks.  I'm excited for the kids to have these memories with their cousins!

And, just like that, between Ryan's surprise party, Christmas and this big trip to Disney I feel like the cat is finally out of the bag on so many topics I've been keeping secret for months!  It feels great to finally come clean on so many subjects. We still have a small NYE gathering here at the house tomorrow night (we're doing a fancy Supper Club themed dinner, complete with costumes), but we're closing out 2021 with a bang and looking forward to everything 2022 has in store for us.