Sledding

Here are some recent pictures of the boys sledding. The weather the last week has been warm, in the 40's. Most of our snow has melted and is a sloppy wet mess. Hopefully we'll get some colder weather soon and possibly some new snow?

Jack with his sled
Ready to go!

Will on the quarter pipe in the front yard.

Pink cheeks!

Doug's turn.

There he goes down the hill in our back yard.

The Little Reader

I love when Annemarie does this. She gets cozy with a blanket and a couple of books. Then she sits and looks through them for 5 sometimes 10 minutes. It always makes me smile to see her enjoying a book.

In other news, I downloaded my first book onto my Kindle. It's called The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I'm enjoying the book and loving my Kindle. Thanks again Doug for such a great gift!

Sleigh Ride

On New Year's Day we went for a horse-drawn sleigh ride at Gaynor's Ranch in Whitefish. It was really fun. It was snowing which made things a bit wet, but other than that it was nice to be out in the fresh air and taking in the pretty snowy day. Here we all are except you can't see Annemarie.

Annemarie

Dianne and Nathan, all smiles.

A small pack of dogs followed the sleigh everywhere we went. There were two HUGE St. Bernards and two other dogs.

Knights and Peppmeiers after our ride. We were treated to hot chocolate and warm cinnamon rolls, yum!

Another Perfect Snowman

Will and Evelyne with Doug's perfect snowman. Sure the kids helped but it's Doug that makes sure each snowball is perfectly round. The next morning the snowman was missing his head. It looked like someone knocked it off on purpose. After futher inspection Doug concluded it had been the deer. Their tracks were all around the snowman. We think the fake carrot from our snowman kit must have tempted them.

Visit from the Knights

Our friends Nathan, Dianne, Evelyne and Gilbert made it out to Whitefish for a winter vacation. They took the train from Portland and stayed with us from Dec. 29 to Jan. 2. We had such a great time. Last time they were here Gilbert was one. What a difference two years makes. The kids really enjoyed playing together. Will and Jack are still talking about how much they miss their friends.

We tried to keep our guests busy and act as if we were on vacation too. The boys had a great day of powder skiing, us girls made it to the spa, went out to lunch and got a little shopping in. The dads took Evelyne and Will skiing one afternoon (this was Evelyne's first attempt and she really liked it). We celebrated New Year's Eve and took a horse drawn sleigh ride on New Years Day. Knights, thank you so much for coming to visit us. We loved having you here. Please come back soon!

Dinner time! Gilbert (3), Will (6), Evelyne (5), Jack (4) Nathan entertaining ALL the kids.

Dianne and I took the kids to the bowling alley the day the boys skied. Next time we'll get two lanes so the kids don't have to wait as long between turns.
Annemarie trying to pick up a 10 pound ball, it matched her shirt. Annemarie also tried to run down one of the lanes. Thankfully I was able to catch her before she made it to the pins.

New Years Eve 2009

This is a little out of sequence but I wanted to post our pictures just the same. This year we celebrated at home. We had a few friends over including the out-of-towners, the Knights and John and Laura's friends Sonya and Erik. Only two pictures from the night and Doug and I are not in either of them! Just a well.
Gina and Baby Annalyse, Stef, Laura, Sonya and Dianne. The drink of the night champagne with a splash of pomegranate juice.

The boys playing an impromptu game of poker. John, Dan, Nathan, Doug (you can't see his face) and Erik.

Skiing on Big Mountain

While Chris and Mick were here we went up to the mountain one day so they could see the boys ski. Here are Doug and Erin giving Will and Jack a ride to the Magic Carpet.

A chilly Annemarie did not want to be held, she preferred running around in the snow. In another year or so she'll be learning to ski!

Jack ending his run with a little flair.

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a peaceful, joyous and happy 2010.

Much love, Team Peppmeier