N & J's Tea Parlor

This past Sunday, our kitchen was transformed into N & J's Tea Parlor. Nicole and Morgan had a play date with Jenna and Julia Knepper and the girls decided to open shop in our kitchen. We, the girls and I, had a fun time writing up menus, serving the guests and eating the snacks. Mike and Rachel were in on the action and enjoying the service of Nicole and Julia. Jenna and Morgan had to get all dressed up for their "afternoon out". At the end of the event, Nicole and Julia agreed that serving the guests was hard work. Until....they saw the "tip" left on the table by Jenna and Morgan a $1 a piece. Then the work was all worth while!! Enjoy the pics.

How three year olds play cards (Rachel and cousin Drew)

Michigan winter wonderland

Well from the slide show below you can tell our family had a fun time up at Boyne Mountain. My brother, Chris, and his wife invited us to tag along on their vacation. We had a great time, with great company and stayed in a beautiful spot. We had snow all weekend long which made the trip even prettier. Mike and I broke out our skis and did some runs on Friday. The sun was shinning and the conditions were nice. The slopes were not that crowded and we were able to walk right up to the lifts. Friday night we all went to the indoor water park and rode on the "toliet bowl","alpine racers" and played in the hot tubs. Nicole and Morgan were so brave. They went on all of the big slides, Nic all by herself at times. Rachel even got to go down a big slide on mom's lap. Rachel was content to run around in the sprinklers with cousin Drew, keeping me on my toes. Nicole, Morgan and my nephew Jacob all went to ski school Saturday morning. A first for all of them. They did fantastic. They learned so fast without any fear. I stayed and watched the whole time with my brother Chris, drinking hot chocolate, and it was a blast. The girls did so well at ski school that Mike took them on the ski lift and down a green hill a couple of times. He said they did so well. They never fell off the ski lift and came down the mountain like pros. I am just amazed at how they learn skills so fast and have no preconcieved fears about things. They really surprised me. I had a tear in my eye watching Nicole learn a skill I never thought possible for her early on. What a blessing!