Christmas 2011 Part Five, 2nd Christmas

Because we were in Montana for Christmas proper, we planned a second Christmas with Grandma Joyce to open her gifts as well as the ones from Canada. This all took place on December 31st.

We started with what looked like a big fun present from Grandma Joyce.

Turns out it was a new snowsuit. You can see how excited Matthew is about it.

A present of little cars was much better received.

The plumber's crack we got glimpses of all afternoon.

We made Grandma Joyce wait until the very end to open her gift. We knew she would be excited and wanted to build the anticipation but I think she was trying not to get her hopes up and seemed very calm until she saw what it was.

Yup, she even did a little dance in it.

The end of the gift opening. We made quite a mess but its nice and clean under the tree!

We finished off the afternoon sitting quietly reading/listening to the recorded book from Claire and Daniel.

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful gifts, we have been enjoying them immensely.

Christmas 2011 Part Four, Ranching

The big excitement of the final day of our Christmas visit to Ennis was: RANCHING! At about noon (after a morning of: are we going ranching?, is it time to go ranching?, can we go ranching now?, is it time now?) we all piled in the truck and drove a couple miles to Jack's to get hay for Grandpa's horses.

That's me on the right in the red toque.

Resting after all that hard work. Notice there was no car seat required on this trip either!

Now that we were back in the pasture, the boys had to get the bale out of the back of the truck. After several attempts at gunning it in reverse then slamming on the brakes, which resulted in a lot of sliding backwards, Aaron hopped in the back to add some muscle.

One good shove...

And off it went.

Taking a bow after a job well done.

Farm boys.

Howling like a wolf/"doing the big eye". The big eye is a particular expression that Rick taught Aaaron when he was ittle that has been passed on to Matthew. Matthew added the sound effects.

Snuggles with Grandma.

Christmas 2011 Part Three, Christmas Day

On Christmas morning I managed to keep Matthew in bed until about 7:30. We all knew it would be an early morning just like always.

We started with the stocking.

Then Matthew got to dig into the pile of presents.

Which included two big trucks and two smaller but beefier trucks from Grandpa and Grandma. He kept saying "Holy Macaroni" over and over again.

One of the hits of the day that continues to please is the magnifying glass i picked up at the dollar store.

After a nap, Matthew and Daddy headed outside with the bat from Grandpa and Grandma to play a game of "baseball" with snowballs.

Daddy pitches while Matthew swings.

Matthew makes contact.

Then Matthew takes a turn throwing the snowballs.

Success!

Happy being outside.

After the baseball game we hopped in the truck for a drive . Matthew was very excited to go because in rural Montana at Sunday drive speeds Grandpa says you don't have to use your car seat.

Enjoying the wind as it rushes down the plain.

Sitting on the console.

One of the fellas.

Reindeer, Christmas 2011 Part Two

I think the highlight of the trip for Matthew was the small herd of mule deer that gathered in the yard for their morning and evening feeding. Each morning and afternoon Matthew would wake up asking if the reindeer had come back.

There they are all gathered in the yard just outside the kitchen.

There were three bucks who were more skittish than the does.

Aaron getting up close and personal on a trip to the car.

There they are coming right up to the porch.

Some of the deer that Aaron got to walk through when he went out to the car.

The does would even come right up to the window to try to smell the people.

Christmas 2011 Part One

On December 22 we drove the 14 1/2 hours to Ennis, Montana to spend Christmas with Grandpa Rick and Grandma Ida. It was a marathon journey but we made it all the way over the mountains with very little trouble.

Matthew's first order of business on the 23rd was to get outside and play in the snow. Ennis usually doesn't have a lot of snow but we got lucky and they got about a foot a day or two before we arrived. The weather was perfect: just below freezing so the snow stayed but warm enough that Matthew could happily play outside.

As soon as he was out the front door (and had managed to navigate the ice patch) he was into the snow.

Pick it up and throw it was the order of the day. He is wearing sunglasses because we discovered on a trip to Alberta that he is really sensitive to the glare off the snow.

Throwing snow at the house because I told him he couldn't throw it at me.

Throwing snow at Daddy who was happy to throw it back.

Sissy and Beau Grandpa Rick and Grandma Ida's two 7 month old golden retrievers we got to spend the holidays with.

Following the dogs into the deeper snow.

Daddy rescuing Matthew from being overtaken by the dogs.

So happy to be outside throwing snow.

Until he got a little too much on his face. This is completely self inflicted.

Happy to be inside again eating sugar cookies.