Squeaky Clean Smooch

Saying "CHEESE"

Birthday Snuggle

Sweet Pee

Potty Pin-up?

I'll give you the full potty update later. Until then I wanted to share this sweet picture of the Cate on a potty break at the nordic lodge. Have any of you ever looked this good while sitting on a toilet?

TWO!

It's hard to believe that the girls are two. Well, hard to believe until you have a conversation with them about wild animals and colors and numbers and fruit, join them for potty time, and put them down in their big girl beds. Somewhere in all of that you're also sure to get a hint of their two-year-old sass (although that's been brewing for most of the last year). 

Cate and Lela had their second annual Bogus Basin Nordic Lodge party on Saturday. Patrick, SaraRita, and Alex were kind enough to bring the girls balloons, something every birthday kid should have and something I didn't even think of. The girls were thrilled...

Until Lela's broke free from her string just a few minutes later. For the better part of ten minutes, every photo of Lela looked like the one below as she pointed up toward her balloon and pleaded for someone to take notice. No tears though. She's super tough!

Our guests were promised cupcakes so I did an internet search for carrot cake cupcake recipes and (accidently, I swear) came up with a healthy apple sauce/whole wheat/low fat cream cheese version that I decided C and L might actually get to indulge in this year. They were more like muffins anyway, and I knew it would be a lot harder to chow down two dozen cupcakes right in front of them like we did last year.

Cate blew out her candle right away and jumped right in.

Lela didn't get much further than this. Evidently she's not a fan of carrot cake or the little bit of lemon in the icing. Cate didn't mind, it just meant more for her as she snuck Lela's unfinished cupcake and polished it off.

 Amidst cake and presents and fun with friends, we finally managed to get outside for a quick ski.

Bundled and ready...

It's hard to see in this picture, but Boise has been socked in for over four weeks now. The "inversion" means that the clouds sit low in the valley and without any major weather pattern to push them out, they are stuck. Meanwhile, at higher elevations (ie. Bogus Basin) it's all blue skies, sun, and temperatures sometimes 15-20 degrees warmer than in town. This year has been especially bad, but thankfully weekend trips up the mountain offer a slight respite.

Blue skies :)