Making Cows out of Pigs

This video is pretty silly.  Matine was innocently coloring with markers and her paints and when I turned around she had (pretty neatly) created a bowl of goo with the paint brush water, paints and paper.  I let her play in / with it because she was having such a great time.  The cutting refers to the day she gave her paint brushes haircuts with her scissors.  I have no idea how cows are created out of pigs .... Enjoy.

For the Love of Skiing

It would be impossible for me or Peter to imagine having a child that didn't love to ski.  It has been a large part of both our lives for a long, long, long time - before we really even remember.    But let me tell you, even with these high expectations, it is impossible to describe the pure joy we have watching our little gal LOVE the mountains, the snow, the feel of a slope beneath her feet, the FUN of playing in the snow with us and her friends.  It is just awesome!  

At 2.5 years old, it is her favorite thing to do!  The sound of her squeals and shrieks and "can I go down one more time?" is music to our ears!  We have been about 5 or 6 weekends this winter and plan on being up at Bridger Bowl until the snow is gone.  She LOVES it.  We are excited to see what each new season brings as she just gets better, stronger, more confident, and more free to ski with her own style!  She has graduated past the little bunny lift and now skis on legitimate "green" runs on Virginia City and Powder Park!

Check out these videos of her skiing this weekend.  We are quite the sight to behold right now.  The little tyke shredding it up on the mountain, the harness, the 8-month pregnant whale of a mother wearing her husbands oversized clothes, poor Peter trying to "pizza wedge" at a near snails pace behind Matine and not run her over... It's a WHOLE lot of effort and gear to lug around for a day, but all worth it as soon as we see her big grin take over her face.

I am trying all my old ski instructor tricks to get her to turn her skis across the hill, keep her hands in front of her, look up, and try to slow down on her own.  MOST are working.  Her favorite game yesterday was "Polar Bear rescuer" where we were looking for lost baby Polar Bears in the "forest/trees" and she would ski from side to side to look in the woods to find polar bears that needed to be reunited with their mamas.  It was all she would talk about and eventually we had snow balls that were Polar Bears (of course) that we had to transport down the hill and back to their mamas in their caves.  She loved it and was VERY determined to find them and "save them."  She is so freaking sweet I can't stand it!  She even wanted to take her snowball Polar bears some hot cocoa when we took a small break.

The new set up... harness and BIG hill... NO more bunny slopes for this kid. 

Loving Powder Park lift with Mom and Dad 

You can't say it was a great day until you produce "helmet hair" like this!  

Here's a fun little snippet of Mattie being cute and motherly to her "baby puppies."  Her Nona got her these at separate times and she hasn't let them out of her sight since.  They have been sleeping with her, watching her bathe, doing crafts, and as you can see ... just playing with her.

More video

I am adding a bunch of videos to our "video" page link above.  Nothing flashy, just kind of cute and stuff I don't want to forget ... More coming.  Check back often.

Here's a simple "Tea Party for One" - an everyday occurrence in our home.

Bathtime Talk with Mattie

Funny Matine in the bath last night.  This is 4 minutes long but well worth it... Pretty typical Mattie conversations ....

Easter Rabbit

This whole Easter thing is quite timely.

She can spin too!

Just like her best friends, the dogs.  Matine can jump, spin and even bark for treats!

Video Time

Thought you might enjoy hearing that angelic voice again .... This is a typical day.  Reading to herself and then collecting and hoarding multiple objects close to her.   Dang, I love this little gal!  When you think things aren't going your way in life, just remember .... they do go your way .... just look at that! 

Get ready to be turned into a pile of mush

This WILL melt your heart.  And yes, I proudly claim that we have the cutest, sweetest baby on the planet.



You are welcome.

Matine: LIVE in the bathtub

This was just funny to me. This was taken about 1.5 months ago. She was in some weird zone in the bathtub. It started out as this silent washing of herself and turned into some sort of meditating tai chi.

This kid LOVES her baths. Every night - every single night we get in the bath. She knows the sign for it and she always gives it to me when she's ready. Like clockwork at 6:00pm.

Unfortunately, she is now in a fun phase where she points out and makes a VERY BIG DEAL of dirt and specks of anything on the ground, on clothes, in the tub ... So, bathtime is a blast until she sees the dirt in teh water that just came off of her. Then it's over. "Up," "All done" and we are outta there!

Enjoy.

The Bird in Action

Holy Cuteness!

If you haven't heard about Matine and her obsession with elk yet, well you must be living in a hole.  It is THE "thing" around here, and if you are around her for more than an hour you will find her making a very cute (and surprisingly real sounding) cow elk call, reading a wildlife book with her, or her dragging you by the hand to the computer to play one of her favorite YouTube elk videos.   No cartoons for this kid, just real wildlife ... elk, wolves, bears, owls... But elk are by far the favorite. 

Here's a typical morning  ... waking and communing with elk as we drink our coffee and milk.

Baby Babble

Please take a look at the latest post on our new crazy person purchase (31 foot traveling Airstream), but I also posted a new video of Matine under "videos" at the top.   This is some of her "conversation" "words" and "signs" lately.  She knows all the things I asked her to say, but didn't necessarily do them on cue - shocker. 

Scary!

This is really fun to do while: in a quiet restaurant, skiing downhill on dad's back, in the bathtub, while eating, and in bed.

Baby Genius - Idiot Parents

About 2 minutes into watching our child do "supernatural" and uniquely genius stunts at 7.5 months old, we realized we created a monster!

Below is Matine, not a stunt baby, excitedly eating, by herself, with a spoon, her own lunch. For you baby food junkies out there - it's fresh avocado & pear puree - yuummmm.

As quickly as we were cheering her on, we realized that she now DEMANDS that she feed herself and that creates massive messes. What kind of parents would we be if we encourage an activity that is so fun and satisfying and then tell her she can't do it anymore? I figured since it's harmless (sans the mess), encouraging her development, and she's not wielding knives or beating the dog, we have to just let her explore her newly developed feeding skills.

Here we go . . .

Videos of the Day

She is a ham-bone and SO BIG!

Enjoy.

Finally -- Matine in Real Time!

I have been trying to figure out how to upload video for quite some time... I think we may have done it. For those of you who have always wondered what a cute chubby baby playing with her diaper and making cute sounds looks like -- here you go.

Real Live Hunting Moment to Make You Laugh

This is not staged or a joke. This was really taken by our hunter during our last week of Hunting Camp. Our very own Keegan Isaly is the guy/guide "taking the picture" in the video and hunter Steve is well, you will just have to watch. I hope you have an empty bladder.