BIG girl!

Eloise lost her 1st tooth and had her 1st sleepover last week! I literally can not believe it and could (almost) cry just thinking about it! Love this girl so so SO much.

Skiing

We had a really fun MLK long weekend skiing, sledding and swimming in Wisconsin. The kids LOVE skiing. The ski day was warmish and sunny. They both had a complete and total blast and could not get off the bunny hill fast enough and onto the chairlifts and bigger hills.

Our newest little Hamm niece was born on Sunday of MLK weekend, sharing a birthday with my sister. Welcome Baby Ellen - we are so excited to meet you!

*Notice how bored Eloise looks on the bunny hill indulging her little brother.

I have a stream of photos with eye rolls and yawns on this hill - hilarious. 

 Slalom skiing through poles and nailing it.

 Pull, pull, pull

Simultaneous wipe out!

Hamms on ice

We ice skate, a lot. I toot around on the ice in my shiny white figure skates, Andrew has been working on his hockey stops, Eloise is working on gliding, and George takes weekly lessons (indoors).

The Hamm Famm 2013

December 2013

We met Santa and told him what was on our Christmas lists

a sewing machine for Eloise and a booby trap for George

Cousin Jane and her parents came for an early Christmas celebration

(Jane's going to be a big sister any day!)

Horse drawn carriage ride through the village

Winter Wonderfest

Eloise was Molly in Annie!

Here she is after we applied copious amounts of make-up at home

Here she is singing on stage

The cast posing for photos after the show

Flowers from her adoring fans

The Joffrey Nutcracker

Nonna and Grandpa came for an early Christmas with us

Grandpa in plaid on plaid

The Field Museum

Eloise was an angel in the pageant at Church

George was a (naughty) sheep

We wrestled him into this costume and chased him all over the church

This photo sums up his pageantry

Eloise, however, was angelic

 Cookie decorating

Berry the Elf decided to start switching spots on us after Eloise spent days and days begging him to start moving around like the other kid's elves. Apparently he's no longer afraid of Maize and willing to move a bit, at least according to the note he left for the kids. Most days he still forgot to move, but the two nights before Christmas he went really wild - that sneaky twerp even built a lego car...

and zip-lined from our chandelier

Christmas Eve

Two kids and one Dad

Plus one Mom

And a Hamma and a Boppa

Christmas morning

Toys!

My favorite gift of the year from my favorite girl

Christmas dinner with family

Hamma on ice skates after almost 30 years

Merry Christmas to All!

Happy Thanksgiving

Feeling inspired after Pretty Horse's Pow Wow, our family stood around the table before Thanksgiving dinner, held hands, and passed around a talking stick, telling our Native American name and also what we were thankful for. I am thankful for this new tradition - it was a beautiful highlight to our Thanksgiving weekend in GR. And like every year, we are so thankful that our families blend together so beautifully and celebrate happily as one. 

Oh, and we were so thankful that there was enough snow in EGR to sled! Our first sledding of the season was a complete and total blast.

UM-IOWA

Andrew went on a man weekend with his besties. They all look like pretty cute thirty-five year olds, if you ask me.