Chocolatathon

Uberthons put on their "Chocolatathon" at Cook Park on February 11th this year.  They did it in May last year and I thought they might have fewer people with the cooler weather this time of year, but nearly 500 people registered and ran either a 5 or 10k.

It's a narrow course for a stroller so I didn't really want to go, but Spencer was anxious to see if he could beat his best time, so we went.  As I kept getting stuck behind really slow people, I just had to be patient and remember that I wasn't really racing.  :)  Spencer didn't wind up getting a PR, but still enjoyed the race.  Well, at least up until he spilled his really hot cocoa on his hands afterwards.  Thank heavens for nice ladies who help when they see a mom juggling a toddler in a stroller, plates of food, and a possible burn!  Thankfully, Spencer wasn't burned - just embarrassed.  At least he still got to eat his chocolate cheesecake.  That much sweet sounded terrible to me that early in the day, so Mason and I just had yogurt.

Scooter

I forgot to post this video in my previous snow days post.  We went up to the Church building one afternoon to shoot hoops and get out of the house for a little while.  We took Mason's scooter and he rode it around a tiny bit.  I bet he would ride it a lot more if Spencer had one too.  Hmm, maybe a birthday idea!

January Snow Days

December and January were crazy snow months for our area.  We wound up with a total of eight full snow days and two late starts.  That hasn't happened in the last decade that we've lived in Oregon!  We got about the same amount of snow in 2008, but most of it fell over Christmas break and didn't affect school the same way.  The first few days were exciting even though there wasn't enough snow to play in.  But then we all got bored and started worrying about how long into June school was going to have to go to make up for all of the lost time.

The first snow storm in January fell over the weekend and Stake Conference got cancelled for us.  We set up Alan's ping pong table in our living room on Saturday and had a family tournament.  Not surprisingly, I lost to Spencer.  I didn't even attempt to play Alan.

On Sunday, we had "home church" in the morning where Alan, Spencer, and I each gave a little lesson.  We also made cinnamon rolls and watched a few church movies.

We went out to "play" in the snow for a few minutes in the afternoon, but there really wasn't enough to do much with.

The big storm rolled in the following Tuesday night and left us with five inches of snow in our yard - definitely the most we've had since living here, but many places around Portland had 10-12 inches.  And, it was even good snow for playing.  Usually our snow is so dry that it won't pack at all.  I was super glad that Alan didn't have to try to get to work.  Most of the metro area was shut down, but some people still had to commute and it was awful.

Spencer and Mason had a fabulous time playing with the neighbor kids and Alan built a snow man by himself.  The boys were too busy doing other things. :)  I followed Mason around and tried to keep him safe!

We wound up having the entire rest of the week off school.  The snow got hard and icy after the first day so it wasn't as fun to play in.  We were all rather stir crazy by the end of the week so we decided to splurge and take the boys to OMSI on Saturday.  OMSI is a super-fun, hands-on science museum that we hadn't been to since Spencer was about four.  And back then, we just kept to the parts that were geared toward little guys.  I had no idea how much was really there.  We stayed for about four hours, but could have easily spent another two or three there playing.  Both boys loved it and it was well-worth the money that day!

I have pictures of Spencer playing with this when he was three or four.  It's still his favorite!

We finished our day off with dinner at Sweet Tomatoes thanks to the gift card Michelle (and Mom and Dad!) gave us for Christmas.  It was a really good day.  We were all really glad when Monday came with just a two-hour delay and we could all get back to our normal routines though. :)  We were also glad that our school district decided to make up the lost days by taking away our President's Day holiday and each of the two early-release days every month.  That is much less painful for us that having to go to school until the very end of June.  We were already scheduled to get out on Friday, June 16th so any added days make June a very long month!

New Year's Eve

This New Year's Eve was one of our lamest yet.  We had come home from our big trip just the day before and I didn't have the energy or the desire to plan anything great for New Year's Eve.  Plus, it was on a Saturday night and we had Church at 9:00 the next morning so we didn't want to stay up too late.  We wound up letting Spencer stay up a little late and playing a few Minute-to-Win-It games.

This one was the favorite.  Spencer had to see how many fuzzies (pom-poms) he could catch in a minute.  After the first round, they discovered that you could get a whole lot more if the thrower tossed handfuls of fuzzies instead of one at a time.  Kiki went wild over all of the fuzzies on the living room floor.  They are her favorite toys and she never gets tired of chasing them around the house.

I'm actually glad 2016 is over.  Not because of the political drama like so many other people have complained about, but just because it was a hard year with my migraines.  I'm excited for a new year and the possibilities for better health.

Lindsey's Christmas Pictures

I'm posting some of Lindsey's pictures because she is such a good photographer and I want these for my blog book.  Maybe someday I'll take good pictures like she does.  Enjoy!