Birthday

So...we have had the Chuck E. Cheese birthday experience. Hogan had the night of his life and Troy and I left exhausted, with our ears ringing and our child hyped up on cake, tokens, and soda. The greatest part of the evening was the big Chuck E. show. When Chuck E. finally came out (after all the parents stood by uncomfortably watching the interminably long countdown), Hogan's face just lit up. He was so excited and he really boogied down. It was hilarious. I took about 50 pictures and about 3 of them came out focused. Everyone and everything moves way to fast at Chuck E. Cheese for a slow mom trying to capture moments!

We are so thankful for all of our friends and family who are a part of Hogan's life and who helped us to celebrate his 4th birthday!

Skiing

Sad to say, but these are my only action shots of Hogan skiing. And I had to be undercover about getting these few. The first day of ski school Hogan cried most of the morning and Nana and Papa had to go pick him up at lunchtime. The second day after we had bribed and convinced him that ski school was super fun, he skeptically, and with a few tears, went in. BUT he ended up having a great time and got a lot of skiing in. We wanted to get pictures of him, but we didn't want him to see us- hence the far-off shots here.

It was amazing to see someone so small skiing straight down the hill, hands on his knees, with no fear. It made me wish that I could be 3 again. When I look down the hill all I see is fear. Hogan's new year's resolution is to ski with mommy. It's so great that he thinks that skiing with me is the pinnacle of skiing. I'm going to let him keep this illusion while I can, but oh, he'll be so disappointed when he realizes that mommy stays on the beginner hill all day long. The fun skiing is with daddy!

Glorieta

For Christmas we went to Glorieta, NM to go skiing with Nana, Papa G., Tia, and Carlos. When we arrived in NM just days before Christmas we were greeted with this beautiful snowy view. And at any time we could open our cabin door and see snow and trees. For Hogan, the snow was a full-body experience. He tasted it, tromped in it, made snow angels in it, and slid in it. In fact, I think it's a perfect picture of how he approaches life in general!