It was fun to be able to be home with the kids over the holiday. We had fun and tried our hardest to stay busy. I was not as organized as I was this summer with our time at home. Poor organization = chaos. So, I start my spring break preparations for activities.
One of the few snow days we had over the holiday we stayed home ALL day - that is so unlike me - they kids were so excited to go spend some time outside. I was excited for them!
We decided New Year's Day to head down to see grandpa in Hurricane. While we were there they had a wild west shoot out. These groups of people (sort of like a bowling league) go around to different sights and put on these competition things. The public is welcome and we had a good time watching them in their costumes and using their old time guns and such.
The Silver family version of the Polar Express.
My mom put together a gift extraviganza for the kids. They got to open one gift a day, they were little toys, crafts, and goodies. This was one of the gifts.
My 5th grade students were learning about electricity, they built a Christmas Village by making a circuit with a battery. Van was so intrigued he wanted to build one too. His is the one with the green outline around it.
Most blogs I have checked seem to have this same tradition - Christmas Jamies.
One thing I can say that many of you know who know my dad, he loves his cowboy boots. He got a pair for each of the grand kids, except the two small ones - maybe next year?
Finn is all tuckered out from our morning of present opening.
Van likes to be like his dad anytime he gets a chance. Aaron got a few new supplies for work and Van wanted to try them on.
After Finn has been crying he will often tell us how his eyes hurt, or his nose hurts. If his nose hurts he asks for a tissue, and if we don't have a tissue he will get upset again and cry more. While we were driving in the car, there was an episode. I did not have a tissue, nor did I want to hear more crying - so I did what any parent would do to make the crying stop. Offered a band aid. The crying did stop, when we got to our destination we found Finn like this. If you can't see it, look at his upper lip - the bandaid. 
Ever since Van was little we would refer to Salt Lake as "the city". He could recognize when we were near "the city" and he knew what we meant when we said "we're going to go to the city". He is always excited to go, no matter what the trip entails. Last weekend we needed to return a few items, so we headed down to the gateway. To get the kids excited about going we told them we would ride trax while we were down there. It was fun, Van likes to stand in the middle where the cars connect so he can turn as we go around corners. Finn just likes being on the train - although he is starting to understand there is a difference in the types of trains: I can not verbalize in words the way he says front runner, but it is so cute, he also knows about the train at the zoo and all things things we see on that train. And now Trax is also in his train data base. I have always known I love spending time with my kids, but sometimes the struggles out way the fun times. Lately when I am out doing things with friends or I am away from my kids for a time, I get anxious to spend time with them. They really are the funniest to be around.
