Outdoor Play

Last week we had warm enough weather to do some riding and skating around the neighborhood. Nice to get some fresh air after a couple weeks of single digit highs!

using her new bike bell

new wheels for Mr. P!

Spelling Bee and Running Club

Elizabeth did an awesome job at the RCS Bee last week, placing second in the elementary school competition. She really enjoyed it and is looking forward to next year's bee already.

1 nervous girl, 4 nervous boys

She also earned her t-shirt at the 100 mile club this week, having completed 25 miles! Here she is with her coaches.

Pierced ears

I think this officially makes her a "tween" (sigh)

The silver stars can come out in 6 weeks

The Karaoke Machine

is going non-stop around here, to the tunes of The Muppet Movie and good ol' Taylor Swift. School starts tomorrow!!

Cute Kate

Such a princess =)

Sedona Trip

We had a great visit with everyone in Sedona. Enjoy the highlights!

Chapel of the Holy Cross:

On Thursday, we visited this beautiful church built into the rocks. It was a popular place and we waited a while to park. We walked up the steep walkway to see the great views.

at the top

pretty rocks

Aunt Beth and Lila loo loo

Evenings at the Whiffens
We spent our evenings with Chris's parents at their lovely home. On Thursday, Chris's sister Abi organized a fun craft for the kids using ice cream cones as Christmas trees. The kids frosted and decorated them with candies for at least an hour. Thanks Abi!

someone snuck into the frosting...

 I overheard the new reader in our family asking if Lila would like him to read her the new book she got for Christmas. It was very cute.

Grand Canyon 
On Friday, one car drove to the South Rim (Beth, David, Benjamin, Elizabeth and Cindy). It was spectacular and also busy. And much colder than Sedona! We were fairly well bundled and walked around for an hour through about 3 inches of snow and ice. We held on very tight to kids as we walked the parts of the rim that did not have rails. Breathtaking views!

Bell Rock

Saturday we hiked again near the Whiffen's house at Bell Rock. It is massive. You can reach the top by traversing along its marked paths. Beth, Sara and I stayed back and let David and Chris take the 4 older cousins higher. They got too high for us moms, so Beth was texting "come down!" as they looked to us and waved "Hi Mom!" We said "that's too high! Come down!" Fortunately they did so safely. Yikes.

Bell Rock

On the way up

The view looking out

 This is a close up of the top of Bell Rock. See the dots in the bottom center of the photo? That's Uncle Chris with Hannah. This is when the nervous Nellies were motioning "come down!" I don't have a picture of that though.

maneuvering the rocks as they came down

Cousin Time

There was a lot of it. Playing Minecraft, building tunnels with pillows and ottomans, and an effort to get a shot of everyone near the tree before we left. What a great trip!

Uncle Minecraft, dazed ERS

can you find Kate?

trying to situate six children near tree