Wednesday, April 29, 2015

More Sledding!

That's a pic of him after our BIG sled ride down the hill to the lake. 

That's the hill behind him.

This is what I looked like after the ride down.

This was our view at the bottom of the hill.

Here we are on the lake bed

"Ice skating"


Singing Jingle Bells

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Wench

I love Stan B's lack of Rs and Ls in his language which means he pronounces the word wrench, wench. I have heard him say, "Where are all my wenches?" and "Look at my big wench!" Ha!
wench from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Friday, April 24, 2015

Bath Hair


Something I don't do enough is play with his wet bath hair. So much fun and so much potential.


And then comb it into sleek styles afterwards.
You can see his great, expressive eyebrows in these pictures.

These are his bath companions:

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Christmas 2014, Part VI - Big Snow

Grandma pulling the Bear in the sled
 The snow really fell after everyone but me and the Bear left. Grandma did some sled pulling with us.


And when we weren't freezing our tootsies off we were lounging and making a mess in the house:

Here is the view from the house looking down to the lake:

Here are Grandma and Grandpa getting some good quiet time in:


We left Stan B's mittens and my snow boots in the car that Mike drove back down so Stan B either had someone elses gloves or his socks on his hands.
Wearing Gramps' gloves


The dock

On the snowy lake bed

Making snow angels

This sweet dog came running down to us and gave Stan B lots of kisses.
Here is Grandpa reading a book to the Bear:

reading from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Christmas 2014, Part V - The Lake

Lake Pend O'Reille is a beautiful lake. 
They lower the lake during the winter. You can see in the pic above and the pic below how low the lake is. Usually we can just jump right off the dock and into the water. You can see summer pictures here.

Even with it low it is still quite lovely. Walking over the lake bed is quite fun. It's muddy and rocky and icy. We walked all the way around the bend. We threw rocks into it.

The lake edges even froze, so we could skim rocks across it's surface. It was fun. You can watch video of that here.



It also froze and then shattered at the shoreline making for some beautiful sounds and visuals:
Here is a fun compilation of all of the winter stuff: Sledding, ice skating and listening to him say, "I'm ice skating!", walking in the snow,  skimming rocks on the ice, being pulled in the sled, him crying, "Go Back Home!" because it's soooo cold, and laying face down in the sled and singing Jingle Bells as a coping mechanism for the cold:

xmas snow from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Christmas 2014, Part IV - Christmas Day


How cute are those three? This was the first Christmas where Stan be kind of knew what was going on. This was the Christmas where he will remember it for next Christmas...he will be prepared for next Christmas because of this Christmas. It was so fun to watch him that morning.  The morning after Christmas he ran to the tree thinking there would be more presents. HAHA!
I think they are waiting for the Bear  to get in the picture.


"One of these things is not like the other!" I feel pressure to get him something more Christmas-y to wear next year.
The kids opened stockings first. Stanley could have been thrilled with his little grabber claw if that was all he got. He loved and still loves that thing. I've even used it to grab something that fell behind our bed!

 Auntie Sue got Mike beard bobbles:

This was a very big hit:

Here he is saying "Santa Claus Ho Ho Ho":

ho ho ho from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Our Beautiful Backdrop


We have been borrowing Grandma and Grandpa's car while they winter in the tropics. So we do a meet-up in Spokane for the drop off/pick up. Last November it was a beautiful winter wonderland while we drove through the Palouse and up to the airport.



The landscape here is just gorgeous. Right now the hills are either brown or a brilliant emerald green.

And since you don't come here for the landscapes here is Stan B snuggled up in his down comforter that I made from our old one and then sewed up this dino duvet cover for it.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Christmas 2014, Part III - Snow and Ice and Warmth

I was getting snowballed.
We finally did get snow! It was a smallish amount at first, but it was lovely!

Walking with H and L

L to R: Jen, Lucy, Erin, Henry, Klindt, Bear, Mike
Frozen ice on the lake bed.
H and L's gingerbread houses

Opening a Christmas Eve present from H and L - birds in a birdhouse. He loves them still!
Someone is always ready for dinner before everyone else.
Reading, The Night Before Christmas.
The youngest and the oldest face off.