More Festivities

We officially had our first "good snow" of the season last week and Gunnar is definitely a mountain boy.  He LOVED the snow.  Spent hours out in it and any time he had to come in it was a major melt down.  Lucky for him his daddy is the outdoorsy type too so he had an excellent partner in crime.

Here is the view out the east side of our living room:

 G taking it all in as the snow fell:

 Daddy making a few mods to his sleigh:

 Me pulling the sleigh:

 Then we had a friend's Christmas party to attend.  It was a blast but I am pretty sure the highlight was that SANTA stopped by.  Here is my favorite candid shot ever as G squealed with excitement at seeing Santa:

 G and the big man:

 There was a pinata to wind up the festivities and of course all the kids were thrilled:

 Then, this weekend we had some friends over for a little Christmas celebration.  The highlight of the evening was the game we gave her son - "Doggy Doo" .  The kids were DYING over the dogs intestinal distress and the adults couldn't stop trying to imagine how the original marketing pitch went.  It was so much fun since G really was able to play and he was so into it.  We had a bit of a meltdown when it was time for the game to go to it's new home and he woke up still talking about "the poop in his shovel".  Hilarious!

 I thought this was also a great shot of G and his kitten.  They are both getting so big!

 We have done Christmas this year in a more Chanukkah fashion, allowing G to open a present a day.  It is really nice as the bribe is handy plus he really spends time with each new toy and acknowledges who it is from versus the total Christmas chaos we had last year.  Today he opened binoculars from Sophie and Keira in Tulsa and loved them!  Then of course we got to talking about going to see Sophie and Keira and now he is totally over the moon.

I am sure I won't be posting again until after Christmas so, MERRY CHRISTMAS from London Acres to your neck of the woods!

The Next Big Thing

As you all know, Nick loves his Vanagon. He looked for about 4 years before he found his and as the blog has documented, he has made a ton of improvements. Because older car karma is such a bitch, every time he upgrades something something else would rear its ugly head and need attention. Nick has long dreamed of simply doing away with his pesky engine all together and doing a Subaru conversion to really get the van in tip top shape. Of course that would mean the mechanical stars would have to align with the small finance stars and then he would be set. So he has looked and waited and looked and waited and ALAS he found his engine. A friend on the mountain rolled his 2005 Subaru and was in a bad way to get some cash so Nick grabbed the engine for a very good price. He was also able to grab as he puts it "every bit of wire in the car" and any random electronic components he may need.

Here is the engine: 

 And here is the wiring

Nick and his dad have poured over the wiring and have it mostly assembled in the new "wiring harness" he will need to make the whole thing run. I am in awe!

G and I are headed to Tulsa for spring break this year and Nick will be staying behind to try and get the engines swapped. Wish him luck!!!

A New Leaf For Both Of Us

Gunnar and I both have been stretching our comfort zones lately.  He is now officially in a big boy bed and I (wait for it) have been sewing.  The big boy bed has been a relative success (3 nights out of 8 with him sleeping in it all by himself all night) and I have managed to only cry during one sewing project.

Here is a combo shot of Gunnar in his bed holding the dinosaur pillow I made him:

And here are his new curtains:

Not going to be making any ball gowns soon but again, relative success for the both of us!

Christmas Rain or Shine

I had taken the day after G's tube surgery off to help him recover but it was soon evident that was not needed. It was a cold rainy day and by nap we all had cabin fever. We thought it would be a good idea to brave the elements and go get our Christmas tree. There is a "u-cut" lot not far from our house so we headed there. Of course , being a Tuesday there were closed but in true mountain town form they allowed us to get a tree anyways. We even ran into a friend doing the same! It was a soggy but great experience and we got a great tree that was even able to ride IN the van so Nick didn't have to mess with trying to tie it on top.

After we got the tree we went to dinner with Gigi and Pop Pop at The Resort where they had these adorable bears:

All Better

This past week was quite a whirlwind!  We started off on Monday with a trip to Randall Children's Hospital for Gunnar's ear tube placement.  The surgery was easy breezy and when done he let us know his ears were "all better".  So there you go! 

The hospital was so much fun he actually wanted to stay.  They had tons of ride on toys for entertainment while we waited and of course a t.v. right by the bed.

Here we were hanging out waiting:

And of course the after:

He was really tired after but really no more worse for the wear.  My car however has yet to recover from the purple popsicle exorcist vomit:)

He goes for his first re-check next Monday but so far so good and we are very hopeful this will provide him with some much needed relief.

Holiday Fun

I really do enjoy Gunnar more and more as he grows into such a cool little person.  Of course he is napping as I say that.  Ask me again tonight at bath time:)  He is really "getting" Christmas this year so he and I hit up the annual tree lighting in Sandy Friday night.  He had a blast playing with all the kiddos, thought the tree was cool lit up and REALLY fell in love with the Frosty the Snowman who made an appearance.  Here he is with the tree in the background:

Then on Saturday the whole family braved the crowds to attend Breakfast with Santa at the Sandy Community Center. G liked seeing Santa and did even manage to tell him what he wants for Christmas (a bicycle).

Hopefully we will be getting our tree soon. G already helped Gigi put hers up so he should be a pro!

Don't You Wish Your Vanagon Was Pimp Like Mine?

Last summer Nick and Ray outfitted the Vanagon with a custom cabinet in the back for storage and speakers.  Since then it has remained a bit, shall we say, unfinished.  Well, no more!  Last weekend we hit the sales at JoAnn's Fabrics and got some amazing deals.  Nick picked up some beautiful gray vinyl to cover the cabinets.  He was so inspired he built a table for the van and covered it as well as the cabinet and seat base.  It looks amazing!!

The table:

 The cabinet:

 Table in the "closed" position:

 New seat base:

 Table and bed out:

Nick's next Vanagon project is a biggie but top secret so stay tuned!