Taos New Mexico Ski Trip

We took off spur of the moment on a ski trip with Ben's business partner's family, the Teachouts. 

We love that we live in San Antonio where the snow doesn't fall and the sun shines all year long. However, a visit to the snow once a year is exactly what we need to satisfy our want to play in a wintery white wonderland and to remind us that we don't want to live in it.

So, we packed up our car and drove about 7 hours to Lubbock, Texas where we spent the night. The drive was terrible, Finn would cry and wake Fox and Fox would cry and wake Finn. No one got any sleep until we stopped at our motel. The next morning we were off for a 5 hour drive through winding roads to our destination: Taos Ski Valley New Mexico. The town is charming and beautiful. The mountains are towering and reach an elevation of 12,000 ft. We stayed in a cabin/condo on the bottom of our mountain; it was the perfect place with easy access to the slopes each day.  

The Teachout's have three little ones 6 and under, so it worked out for us to trade off watching each other's kids while we went skiing or snowboarding. 

Snapped this shot at a rest stop where we let Finn get all his wiggles out. He would have stood on that pole all day long if it meant he didn't have to get back into his carseat. (road trips with a toddler and a baby… doable but I do not recommend!) 

Finn isn't quite big enough to take snowboarding lessons yet, so he spent his time in the snow sledding. He didn't like putting on all of his snow gear but once outside he was interested in the snow and the sled until he flew off his sled and then he had a love but mostly hate relationship with the snow.

hahaha! My babies are saying "what's this uncomfortable, puffy, immobilizing clothes I have to wear!? And, what is this cold, wet white stuff!?" They clearly are little Texans. 

Fox at Six Months

December 30, 2015

6 months old

Milestones

recording all the firsts

• Fox had his blessing day on Sunday, December 13, 2015. 
• Fox may not be sitting up real well yet but he is a natural at standing on daddy's hands. He stood on daddy's hands for the first time Christmas eve.
• Fox is eating solid foods-oatmeal, avocado, banana and peach. He seems to like it all!
• He jibber jabbers more and more, and it sounds a lot like "dadada!"
• Fox celebrated his 1st Christmas! He liked the tissue paper more than the actual gifts. 
• Fox met Grandpa and Grandma Capson for the first time!

some of Fox's

Favorite Things

• Fox will quiet his cries when sung to. He especially loved it when Grandma would sing "the ittsy bitty spider" to him. 
• Fox loves mommy's i-phone, ipad and the tv remote control… uh-oh, let's not grow up too fast baby boy!
• Fox's favorite toys are his brothers toys but he does enjoy his Christmas presents-- rubber rolling animals, eric carle caterpillar and a noisy soft book. 
• Fox will giggle when you play peek-a-boo with him.
• Fox and Finn got swings on the tree in the backyard. Fox loves it!
• His brother, Finn. Fox will stare and smile at Finn as he jumps and plays all around him or if he is lucky sometimes Finn will play with him or give him kisses.
• His mommy. Fox will wiggle in excitement when he sees her and if she walks away he will fuss.
• His daddy. Fox likes to hear his daddy's voice and will smile at him until he smiles back. 

some of Fox's

Not so Favorite Things

• Riding in his carseat, although he is becoming much more tolerable to it.
• Being alone.
• Being away from momma. 
• We joke that he doesn't like daddy because every time he hold him he tends to fuss… it's likely because daddy plays rough and swings him around and it can be quite scary for a 6 month old.

 

Just  with his friend, Thane.

     

Such a good little eater!

Rolled his way to his toy basket.

Standing on daddy's hands for the first time… he makes it look easy!

Meeting Santa Clause for the first time!

Opening his presents Christmas morning!

Fox Motel, found right by the Pearl Brewery.

With a name like Fox, it is hard not to notice or buy all the fox stuff…

Texas Christmas

This year was the first year in the seven years we've been married that Ben and I spent Christmas in our own home. Since we just moved into this home and since Finn is at an age where it is fun to see his excitement over the Christmas tree, decorations and gifts we thought it would be a good year to enjoy Christmas at home. 

Our Texas Christmas was sunny, green, festive, fun, meaningful and full of family and friends. We had a wonderful time celebrating.

We took pictures with Santa Clause at the Pearl Brewery. Finn had to be coaxed onto Santa's lap with a candy cane, and it was still hard to catch him smiling. Last year he cried, this year he whined, next year…? Hopefully I can finish that sentence with smile! :) Fox sat nicely but it was hard to turn his attention to the camera with so much going on around him. So, the pictures didn't turn out "perfect" but I wasn't betting on "perfect." Ha! I'm smarter than that. 

The pictures of my cute boys with Santa turned out great.

Fox, telling Santa what he wants for Christmas. I wouldn't be surprised if he's asking for his very own cell phone… since he loves to play with mine. (They want them younger and younger these days!)

We bought a 9ft Christmas tree and decorated it with all of the ornaments we've collected on our travels. Everywhere we go, we buy an ornament for a Christmas tree. We were surprised that our ornaments filled the Christmas tree so well.

Our culdesac exchanges Christmas gifts. We made pecan brittle, a tradition we started in Fort Worth, Texas. Finn had so much fun being our little elf and helping with the deliveries. He carried the gifts to each house, knocked on the door and handed the gift to each family.

On Christmas Eve we invited our next door neighbors, the Cardons, our neighbors, the Clarkes, our Bishop and his wife, Cindy Ellsworth, Spencer and Dawn and a man, Michael who is investigating our church. We reenacted the nativity, did a candle lighting, ate turkey and ham sandwiches, and sang "happy birthday" to Jesus. 

Later in the evening we ate s'mores around our fire pit and read the Night Before Christmas. Since we don't have a fireplace, a fire pit will do! 

The Nativity actors