last day with grandma and grandpa

Last day with grandma and grandpa. Aran and I got to walk the dogs by ourselves , it was beautiful outside, a little cold but just gorgeous .then we all went skiing and snowshoeing . Lilja had a little blister from yesterday but was a trooper . Just a little shorter trip today and went back home earlier . Then we all went out to dinner for my birthday . Wonderful dinner plus when we got home we had home made cake made by lilja and grandma . Lilja was so excited to show me that she picked up the cake and it fell upside down on the ground ..so we had cake with some dog hair decorations, but it was made with love !!

Daddy came to the rescue after a blister put a damper on our skiing adventure 

The girlie girls ..

Trying to make a heart 

Momma make a picture of the view without me in it.. yeah right !

Not into it today too much, but she still went down and back up the mountain !!she does not like splinters she calls them.. blisters . I guess we are taking a little break to heal ??

Ok, just one .. how gorgeous is this ??

skiing princess

day three skiing

Day three of skiing and wow what an improvement. She just keeps going and has no fear , really loving to ski and skate . This winter is going to be fun !

Merry xmas everyone !!

Wishing each and everyone a wonderful holiday season. We sure are having fun !! Santa came to durango and lilja got all she wanted from the old man: a trampoline, a mermaid barbie, a pink cat and...a golden gem. Yes a gem.. believe me I raked my brain, but I ended up at the beads store and found a crystal that was golden (!) And sparkly !! Well she loved it and said it is her favorite. I however think her favorite is the trampoline, she has not stopped jumping and now is jumping to katy perry music simultaneously. The next day grandma and grandpa joined us to make the season complete, with lots of toys in tow : art supplies, books, games and lots of clothes .. so much that she told grandma and grandpa that she got too many presents !! Only my daughter would say that ! Tiday we ended up skiing and snowshoeing with grandma and grandoa. Grandma's first snowshoeing experience and she did great ! Grandpa was excited that he could borrow some of aran's equipment and they had some fun. Well, tommortow is another day . We will keep you pored on the adventures .

The trampoline us a huge hit . She has not stopped jumping 

Her little golden gem in a little glass bottle in a little golden bag in a little square box ..

First img for grandma.. she did great 

Grandpa is so proud of her 

Lilja and grandma and grandpa 

Merry xmas from the Johnsons !!

Grandpa was really sick last year, so good to see him joining his son in their passion of skiing 

The three of us .. loving the snow, loving our family, loving life !!

too high

much better

one more

Second day !!

We had to go again !! This time we put lilja on her skis that we had for her and they seemed to work even better . We went early at 9 am, not many people around and to our surprise they had just groomed the trail. It was so fun ! We did realize that lilja likes to do both, skate and classic ..so after our morning we rented classic skis and poles for her for the season and so she can do both . And for us when she does classic she goes farther and faster so more exercise for us !!!

nothing better than...

Lilja was a little chatterbox. Listen closely to their conversation..

Second day skiing

skate skiing

This year we rented lilja some skate skis. We wanted to make sure they were small enough and see how she did the next step up. Well she did great !! I am realizing more and more that this little 6 year old has some big determination . She never gave up eventhough it was a lot harder suddenly with poles and longer skis and skating instead of shuffling back and forth . But she wanted to "make her own tracks like momma" and do it by herself to the top .well, we had to help her a little bit but when we got to the end, she let go and finished strong and by herself .. so excited to go again tomorrow. We will probably have to buy them now .

first day skate skiing

snow fun !!

We had a great snowstorm this week and the very low temperatures are keeping the snow around . Lilja is so excited to finally start sledding . Lilja's friend violet is also a little snow bunny , so after school they played for an hour in the snow .

We have these snow scooter that you sit on and slide down. We got two, so it was a big success 

I had to make the slide as lilja's attempt got her waist deep in the snow 

Two snow angels 

I think I have one picture like this ever year 

These two can bicker like sisters anf laugh and make up in the same breath 

This one's for my mom 

They earn their turns to walk the sled up the little hill each time 

the polar express

Polar express 2016

We figured we had one more year of a magical, really believing in Santa Claus year. Lilja has always been wary of all those santa's walking around, but she always said the real santa is the one on the polar express. So we figured let's do it one more year . Lilja was so excited!!! The photos will tell the story , sorry that they are backwards again . That's Blogger ' s fault !

This is the best santa ever. He took his time talking to the kids and is so real looking !! 

Love lilja's body language.. but at the end She did give him a hug 

Some real reindeer

Waiting to start the magical journey 

Yep, all the photos gad this smile from lilja. But ever bahumbug  daddy had fun and actually sang the loudest 

They start the journey outside , just like the book.. then the conductor  says...all aboard!!

There is a festival of trees at the end of the journey with about 10 beautiful decorated trees.. 

Waiting to see the train arrive 

I am so excited 

No really mom, I can't contain myself.. daddy is worried 

Soooo excited !!!

It was so magical .. we git hot chocolate and a cookie, sang lots of songs, saw santa's workshop full of lights met santa and talked to him and got the beautiful first gift of x-mas.. the Sleigh bell.  It was worth it again..

Saturday fun

What a great Saturday we had ...first we woke up to snow.. yes real snow. Then we went to a breakfast with santa fundraiser of lilja's old school, where lilja talked to santa and did lots of arts and crafts. Then we came home and ofcourse had to play in the snow and make a koala snowman of all things, THEN.. we hiked up a big hill to find the perfect x-mas tree and decorated it THEN we made a gingerbread house and THEN matt, aran's best friend came for the weekend plus we got him to play a game of bingo.. yes, we are tired and yes it was so FUN!!!

We found our tree

Our perfect tree.. and aran is definitely very particular !

Yes, the perfect tree was way up there 

Some snowfights along the way

We're do you think that snow ended up 

My two loves 

Momma koala and a little joey. Do you see her way down there ?

Just love this girl

Arts and crafts 

Little elf and lilja 

Lilja really talks about Santa's helpers and the real santa.  Well, I thought she would say something Bout this one.  But this santa was very good in his words so I think she liked him 

Waving to santa.. suddenly so nervous 

Santa really like lilja's toy lilli, the rain deer 

Love this photo.. suddenly so serious when she saw santa