Ringing in the New Year

Will - hiking up the sledding hill behind our house

Aunt Erin giving Will his first facial

Happy 2008! Is anyone having as much trouble as I am not writing 2007? The week between Christmas and New Years was so much fun! My sister Erin came to visit us the day after Christmas and stayed for five days. It was nice to see her. She was very helpful and the boys loved having her here. Our friend Sarah Spindle stayed with us as well, the boys loved helping her get ready to go out, they especially liked giving make-up advice. Also, Eleanore and her boyfriend Leif make it into town for a couple of days. It was great to have everyone here. There was lots of eating (some also drank), relaxing and catching up. Erin gave all of us facials, which was so nice. Even Will and Jack got in on the pampering (Doug didn't like hearing his boys asking for facials, but they're my boys too, so it's really not that surprising).

New Years Eve we spent at the Great Northern. We had a "reserved" table (it's great knowing the owners) and Sarah made us girls amazing crowns knitted out of paper-mache. I'll have to post a picture just so you can see how fantastic they were. The band was great and everyone in our group was well behaved. I made it well past midnight which I'm very proud of. I'm looking forward to this new year, we have so much to be excited about, we are truly blessed.

Extreme Sledding

Look for the little black dot, that's Will

Will and Tim

Will - the power sledder

Jack, Cannon & Will

Doug and the boys started out their new year with some extreme sledding with our friends Tim and Cannon. Tim had located a "serious" sledding hill near Columbia Falls. The dads packed up the boys and made a day of it. I'm so glad Doug took pictures, otherwise I would not have believed how big the hill was!

Christmas Pictures

Waiting for Santa

Christmas morning, playing with the toys Santa brought

Will showing off his new book

Jack taking a call on his Spider-Man phone

Checking out the new toys

This was our first Christmas (and major holiday) in Montana. It was definately different being away from all our family, but we all still enjoyed the day. Christmas Eve we celebrated with our friends Stef and Scott Larkin's families, which was really nice and fun. Christmas day we hunkered down and spent most of the day opening gifts, playing with gifts, lounging around and taking a short drive. Overall it was a great day. Next year we may even ski - it could be a Christmas tradition. Thank you to all our family and friends for the wonderful gifts!

Merry Christmas!

Another Christmas card option...enjoy!

Winter Fun

A few more Montana firsts - Doug and Will built the perfect snowman and thanks to the McAuliffe family for the fun snowman kit. It was put to good use. Also, ever tried to ride a trike in the snow? Here's Jack, trying pretty hard.

Check out the Loot!

Will received so many nice gifts and really enjoyed opening all his presents. Thanks again to everyone for making his day so special!

A Sea of Blue Goo

This story comes courtesy of Jack...
We've had a couple of days to reflect on the mess and what a pain it was to clean up, so I think I'm ready to tell this story with a smile on my face. Jack is mischievous, more so than his older brother which means I need to watch him like a hawk. The other day Will and I were both upstairs and Jack had gone downstairs to play. I was cleaning, but I would still hear Jack on the monitor and it sounded like he was playing in Will's big bucket of toys. I swear I heard him dump them all out. Then I hear Jack say "I've made a big mess. I'm cleaning it up." Of course I thought he was referring to the toys. Then I hear him say again, "I'm cleaning it up, with a towel." Of course there is no reason to clean up toys with a towel so I ran downstairs to see what kind of damage had been done.
Jack had poured an entire container of liquid (blue) laundry detergent all over the laundry room floor. Because there was so much a lot of it had traveled into the boys bath and of course under the washer and dryer. What a mess!! I cleaned everything I could reach. When Doug walked in the door the first thing he said was, "it smells good in here," I promptly escorted him to the mess and he went to work moving and cleaning under the washer and dryer. Between the two of us it took over an hour to clean up all the blue goo.
I've read dozens of stories/emails about the "creative" and sometimes naughty things boys do. So here's number one on the Peppmeier list. Hope you enjoyed the tale and will always make sure your soap is WAY-out-of-reach of little hands.

Will Turns Four!

What a fun day we've had! The table was loaded with gifts (as you can see) and Will was a great sport waiting until Doug got home from work to start opening them. Jack was at school today so Will and I baked and decorated cupcakes. We watched the movie Elf and started decorating the Christmas tree.

As the person who probably spends the most time with Will, I really shouldn't be surprised that four years have flown by. Wow, so this is what four looks like. I'm seeing glimpses of a sweet little boy who loves to help out and on occassion has great manners. Three has been a year of learning, developing independence and the daily temper tanturm. Right now Will loves going to school and asks everyday if he can go (he only goes two days a week, half day). His creative play is pretty amazing. There are a lot of trips via train, plane and auto. Will's interaction with Jack is great and even though they fight they play together really well and are good friends. The snow has created another fun form of entertainment - Will loves using the snow shovel, climbing through piles and making snow angels. He keeps asking Doug when he gets to go skiing. I'm pretty sure he'll get to try out the mountain at least once this year.

We are so thankful and blessed to have such a healthy, smart and fun child. Thank you to all our family and friends for making Will's birthday so special. We missed celebrating with you in person!

Our First Snow Storm

Don't worry we'll get a grip soon enough and stop all the postings about snow. We're still getting used to it. All weekend it snowed! From Friday night to Saturday it snowed 5 inches (per the measurement we took, first picture) and continued snowing through late Sunday night. The first two times Doug went out to shovel the driveway he came back and exclaimed "I LOVE it here!" Last night when he came in from shoveling the driveway he told me he needed a snow blower...that didn't take long : )

Also, Will is much more into the snow than Jack. Jack ususally is telling us he's "freezing" even before he gets outside. The snow is beautiful - Jack mentioned the other day that the "snow was too white" not sure what that means, but he's right it's very white. Also, it's very light and powdery unlike the snow in Oregon. That makes it pretty easy to shovel.

Somehow this picture was left out of our last post. A picture of the four of us tends to be rare so I wanted to make sure and post it. While visiting for Thanksgiving we spent some time at my mom's house. Friday night we walked over to see the lighting of the Christmas tree. It was so cold we decided we didn't need to see it after all!

Thanksgiving 2007

Chis & Mick's beautiful "cabin" in Prineville where we celebrated Thanksgiving

Will & Jack helping Grandma stuff the turkey

Marcus, Gus, Molly & Penny - who all behaved perfectly during dinner


The entire Peppmeier family
Sara, Jason, Chris, Kelly, Steve, Stacey, Matt, Mick, (the back of) Will, Caleb & (the back of) Jack
(Doug took the picture)



The grandkids (including Sara and Jason's "babies")

Let It Snow!

Our first snow of the year! Our drive home from Oregon was nice and clear, even sunny at times. We arrived in Whitefish Saturday and it snowed Monday night. It was very exciting for all of us. I even shoveled part of the driveway (Doug shoveled the other part). School (for both boys) now requires a whole other set of clothing for outdoor time - snow pants, boots, hat, gloves and of course a "weather appropriate" coat. Snow with small children requires some extra planning each time we leave the house, we're getting the hang of it.

Check out the clown - just like dad, don't you think?

jack-in-a-box

Another Montana Moment

Wild turkeys in our front yard. How fun it that?! We've seen them more often, usually walking along the side of the road. Only this is the first time they've stopped and had a snack in the front yard. Overall, there were 10 of them. Will saw them and thought they were pretty cool. Gus was taking a nap so we didn't have to deal with out of control barking (usually happens when any sort of animal walks by or is in our yard). I wonder if they know Thanksgiving is just around the corner?

Halloween 2007

Our first Halloween in Montana, I think it was a success. It wasn't too cold and the boys were thrilled with their costumes. We did a little bit of everything...stopped by friends' houses, trick-or-treated through the neighborhood and even when to our tiny local mall for some indoor entertainment. It was fun. The boys were completely exhausted by the end of the evening.

Surrounded by Super Heroes

It's Spider-Man and Batman for Halloween this year. I had my heart set on Batman and Robin (perfect height difference, plus I'm a sucker for duos) but it wasn't meant to be. I've learn when it comes to negotiating with a two-year-old there's no way I'm going to win. Halloween festivities include school parties and trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Everybody's looking forward to it!

and then there were walls...

We've had the pleasure of watching Stef and Scott's house being built. Easily the boys and I drive by the house once a day, if not twice. The boys love seeing the changes and it's fun to watch the progress.

Smile? Anyone?

Have you ever seen this look? I get it all the time! Especially if I pull out the camera. Will usually looks away and Jack refuses to smile. Thank goodness for digital cameras! Today was warm and sunny. We haven't had a day like that in quite a while. Thankfully we were able to get outside and enjoy the weather.

Fall in Whitefish

This is a gorgeous time of year in Montana. I'm sure you're all wanting pictures of the boys, but this is the best I could do. The pictures above were taken in our backyard. One of the Whitefish River, the other of a creek. We're really enjoying the trees changing color. There's lots of gold, orange and red. The mountain is lightly dusted with snow, I think it may be here to stay. The ski resort opens December 8 and Doug cannot wait.

In other news, all Peppmeier boys are doing great. Both are really enjoying school and all other activities. We finally completed the basement which means they have a playroom and new bedrooms. I love having a living room not covered in toys and the house just feels so much more comfortable. Except for painting our bedroom and a den I'm very content with the house and looking forward to enjoying the rest of the year in cozy comfort.

October has been the month for visitors. My mom was here earlier in the month. We really enjoyed relaxing and spending time together. This past week our friends the Knights visited for five days. We had such a nice time. The kids had a blast and we enjoyed catching up and having a few adult evenings out. We went to Glacier Park and even took a short hike. The pictures below Doug took along the way.

Glacier Park

skipping stones at Lake MacDonald

Grandma, Will and Doug skipping stones

searching for stones

rocking at the lodge

Doug's parents and their friends are up here visiting Glacier National Park. They arrived via the train in Whitefish on Friday morning and will be staying until Tuesday. They're touring the park, and staying in West Glacier until tomorrow morning then moving on the East Glacier and possibly the Canandian portion of the park. We had dinner last night in Whitefish and then went into Glacier this afternoon. The boys loved throwing rocks into the lake while Doug, Mick and Chris took turns seeing who could skip a rock the furthest. It was a great afternoon and the weather was really nice. The trees are starting to turn yellow and the drive through the park was beautiful.

First Day of School

I love posting a series of photos, that way you can see how many times I try to get just the right shot. Anyhow, both boys have started preschool. Will is at Christian Community Preschool two days a week in the morning and Jack is at Whitefish Community School two days a week in the afternoon. Both are great programs, Will's you need to be three to attend and I was really hoping to find a school for Jack. So even though they're not at the same place, I think it will work out for the best. Each has an opportunity to be on their own, which I don't think they really care about, but I think is important when it comes working on independence and meeting new friends. These pictures were taken on Will's first day in our backyard. I think Will has truly grown about three inches since last winter because all of his pants are too short. There's only two pairs that currently fit, we're anxiously awaiting a much needed shipment from Old Navy.

In other news the carpet for the basement was installed and it makes such a difference! The boys were running around screaming and I could hear myself think. It's such an improvement from the white tile echo chamber we had down there. Doug's trying to wrap up all the details. It will probably be another week before we can move the boys down there, but we're close, I cannot wait!!

Four Weddings, In Three Weekends

Phew! You may not think it's possible but between Doug and I we accomplished this task. Four weeks ago my cousin Chelsea and her husband Orly were married in Sisters, Oregon. I drove Will and Jack to Oregon and we spent the week visiting with family and friends (and attending the wedding). Doug was in McCall, Idaho for our friends Mike and Danielle's wedding. Then my sister Corey drove back to Montana with the boys and I. Doug and I headed to Colorado Springs for our friends Chris and Sarah's wedding. What a fun and rowdy weekend! One of the groomsmen got into a fight with a guy at a bar and tore all the ligaments in his hand, he had a cast for the wedding. By the end of the wedding I think my friend summed it up best by saying "welcome to a Kappa Sigma party at Montana State", that's exactly what it felt like and I realized I'm too old for them.

The following weekend Doug and I traveled to Portland with the boys. Doug's mom met us at the airport and took the boys. Doug and I continued on to Tahoe with my mom and sisters for my cousin Eric and his wife Lindsay's wedding. What a wonderful way to end our wedding streak! The location was gorgeous and it was so fun to be with family. We attended the rehearsal dinner on Thursday, my aunt and uncle hosted a cocktail party at their home on Friday, Saturday was the wedding and Sunday there was a brunch. Doug played golf and I visited the spa. We came home somewhat rested and thankful for such a fun event.