Hittin' the slopes

We sure picked the coldest winter ever to introduce Walter to winter sports. It seems like every day greets us with a negative number. But we're not going to let a little cold weather get in the way of our fun. Walter has been begging to go skiing all winter, so we took advantage of a day off school and headed up to Granite Peak. We bundled him up and sent him off to a ski lesson. When we picked him up he said, "Guys, can I do some REAL skiing now?" Apparently he had had enough of shuffling around on nearly flat ground and was ready to move. He had a few crashes, but it didn't take long for him to have it all figured out. He's able to ski the easy runs and stay in control – turning, stopping, and avoiding crashing into people, trees, and anything else in his way. And he's hungry for more. He asked, several times, if he could go down the hill with the jumps, but that's going to have to wait until he's had a little more practice. 

Green Bay Grandpa joined us for a day. He taught me to ski when I was a kid and it was fun to have him around to give Walter some pointers. Thanks, Dad. Walter's lookin' good out there!

8 years!

Molly turned eight years old today. She celebrated with some snow play, a couple of races with Walter's sled (she let him win), and a couple of birthday tater tots - a real treat for a dog who never gets fed from the table.



Happy birthday, silly puppy!

Front-yard sledding

Our front yard is a hill. Steep enough that it's impossible to get a car up the driveway on snowy days. And steep enough to make a pretty great sledding hill. I love that we can walk right out the front door and get to it. And walk right back in to mugs of hot cocoa when we're done. We've been taking full advantage of the convenience this winter - on days when the temps are above zero anyway.

LEGO Sunday

It's become a little Sunday morning ritual. Nate gets up early and goes for a run. Walter and I roll out of bed around 7, make some coffee and a bowl of cereal, and build with LEGOs. I help sort and find the pieces he needs. And then I noodle around taking photos of LEGO men, often invading my coffee cup, while he builds. It's LEGO Sunday. It's a good way to start the day.



(These are Instagram photos, #legosunday.)

Happy New Year!

I have a couple of things for you on this second day of 2014. 
Thing #1: My Instagram feed. Rather than putting together a recap of last year, I invite you to browse through my Instagram photos. It's a pretty good overview of how we spent 2013. I love looking back and remembering all the awesomeness of the past year. Vacations, new bedrooms, delicious food, and good times. You are welcome to follow me on Instagram if you'd like.

Thing #2: It's resolution time, and while I haven't exactly made any resolutions this year, I am sort of constantly striving to be more organized and on top of things. One change we made this past year was putting together a dinner menu each week. We've been sticking with it for about 6 months or so and it makes our weeknights so much easier. It also really cuts down on our last-minute, fast food dinners, which I am very happy about. So today I'm sharing my printable menu/grocery list with you. Because it's more fun to be organized when being organized is cute and colorful. 

Just click on this link  to download and print out the pdf on letter-size paper. Cut or fold in half and you are ready to go.

We wish you a very happy 2014!

Christmas skates

It's not too often that Nate pulls off a surprise, but he surprised us on Christmas. All three of us had new ice skates under the tree! YAY! We went out on Christmas afternoon to try them out. There's an ice rink right by Gramma and Grampa's house. (The same place Walter showed off his bike-riding skills last summer.) I was surprised how easy it was for me to remember what to do. It's been many years since the last time I skated. Walter spent as much time on his butt as he did on his feet, but he had fun. He said, "I think I'm getting the hang of stopping. You just fall down!" That's one way to do it. I can't wait to go again.

Christmas skates from Stephanie Billmeyer on Vimeo.

The Santa visit and other "things to do"

I started the month with good blogging intentions. I really did. And I got exactly this far:

That is day one of Walter's advent calendar. I filled each pouch with a Hershey's Kiss and a "thing to do." I was planning to post a few of our activities, but here it is, day 16...
The lack of posts is simply because I've been having fun doing rather than documenting. And we've been doing all sorts of good Christmas-y stuff. Making paper snowflakes, stringing popcorn, decorating cookies, shopping for gifts, making donations, looking at lights, and so much more. Day 14 was "Visit Santa." I couldn't let that one go undocumented. 


Walter made some verbal requests, then stopped to write it all down as well. Best to cover all the bases.


I know the holiday season is already full of "things to do," but we've really been enjoying having a little something each day to do together that puts us in the Christmas spirit. I hope you've been able to enjoy some holiday "things to do" as well.