Bloopers:

“Now it’s a ton more days until Christmas” – Jack

On our way into a large extended family gathering I questioned one son on his outfit choice and another son on how well he brushed his teeth… and then sent them off to greet near-strangers with confidence.

These cool plastic spoons were actually see-through!

The sleeping in was nice except that it sort of feels like a snowball to the face when the kids are up before me.

I’m not sure which is the greater blooper choosing to indulge like there was no tomorrow or choosing to weigh myself after😳

Jacks legs are not quite as robust as his ambition and they proved to be a little too short to be able to get off the ski lift.  He almost rode back down but tumbled off just in time.

Dave accidentally got on the wrong lift with Simon and Jack and then found himself at the top of a mountain with two very young skiers.  They only crashed once and got the questioning eye of the ski patrol but luckily made it down due to some awesome little -legged snow plowing.

Burton got stuck on a lift with a 30-year-old mean kid who never grew up.   “Do you need something?” he asked when Burton’s snowboard accidentally bumped his.  Oh and, don’t try and pull the safety bar down.

As Dave and I tried to guard Jack from hitting two trees on his speed sled, he whizzed past us and hit a different tree not even on our radar.

All of us tried Pickled Herring to honor a Buer family New Year’s tradition.

Highlights:

We don’t have a fireplace but we did enjoy the crackling fire of the Birch Wood Edition on Netflix (and a little Bob Ross).

Christmas was special.  The kids were most excited to give their brother presents first and have Dave and I open our gifts from them. We went to a nice church meeting and were able to help my sister that afternoon when her Christmas didn’t go as planned and her little girl was in the hospital.

Sledding nearly everyday!  These pictures do not reflect the to-the-death sled battles!

I was pretty happy sliding down on my slippery pants instead of a sled.

An oil change and new brakes and rotors makes me glad to have only one car!

Dave and I took a cat nap after dinner which meant after the boys went to bed we had new energy and stayed up playing Catan.

Going to see Rogue One and then eating out at Del taco together.

Tending cousins Luke and Kate while their sister was in the hospital (thankfully Annie is much better now💛)

New Year’s Eve sledding with my sister and her family and then laughing our heads off when we watched our runs in slow motion.

New Year’s Eve, Simon, Max and Jack polished the silver that’s been handed down.  We lit our candles and filled the silver pitcher with sparkling cider.

Kids performing Hamilton songs, jumping rope and workin’

Reading on the stairs, extreme sledding and playing Mario together.  Hurray for time, time, time.

Dave gave me a surprise 2016 photo album with best wrapping ever.

Great Grandma and Grandpas house for dinner and a drive through the Christmas lights. Also each child got to chose a special antique to keep.

Burton put his new wood burner to great work and Jack and Sy tried out the Green machines!

Ollie enjoyed learning to paint, Max worked on his log cabin and Simon worked on his sticker mosaic.

The wood stain that splattered all over the shutters and beyond came off with magic eraser!  Phew!