addison's first time skiing

jimmy and i took addison out for her first skiing experience yesterday. well, he did at least. i was just there to capture it on camera and video. :) i wasn't quite sure how the day was going to go. for one, she gets scared really easily. it took her a very long time to gather up the courage to just go down a slide on the playground. i was hoping that she didn't inherit my fear of heights, speed, and anything adventurous. basically, i'm just a big wuss and i was hoping she wasn't too. and then there's her not-so-good attitude lately with receiving instruction (especially from me or jimmy). she thinks she can do everything on her own. and also, her ability or lack thereof on handling her frustrations. she has this tendency to just want to throw in the towel (or literally just lay on the floor) and give up if she is not able to do something. we are continually trying to teach her the "i can do it and i'm not gonna give up" attitude. but with a 4 year old, that lesson sometimes is very hard to teach and the situation ends up teaching US a lesson on patience!

we got to the ski place which was so super close to our house. maybe like 15-20 minutes! we, i mean, they suited up and hit the snow. they have this lift on the bunny hill called the magic carpet. you just step onto it and it's like a little moving walkway that takes you to the top of the bunny hill. we didn't have to deal with a tow-rope or anything. it was very easy for kids. the first part of the morning, she was just getting acclimated to her skis and walking around in them. she was wearing this harness thing so jimmy could easily hold onto her or pick her up... that was a good purchase! after a while, she started getting more and more comfortable with going down the bunny hill (if you can even call it that!). i was at the bottom to meet her and shouted with joy every time she came down. i wanted to build up her confidence. and then we would occasionally point out other little kids coming down on their own. after watching them and after feeling comfortable on her skis, she excitedly exclaimed that she wants to do it "all by herself!". so by the end of our time there, she was coming down on her own!... well, with jimmy running along side of her. though i was a frozen popsicle (since i wasn't really doing any moving around out there), i had an absolute blast watching her progress! she looked so ridiculously cute in her ski get-up! i'm so glad that she enjoyed it and hopefully, skiing will be a regular activity in our household during the winter months. :)


"yes! we're finally here!"






i see a little nervous excitement/anticipation on her face



who's that handsome guy in the back? hehe



jimmy was doing a lot of this at the beginning.. pushing and holding her up



the magic carpet






"hi mommy!"



"i think i'm liking this!"



"me and my teacher"



this was her position for the first half of the day



"addison, lift your head up!!!"



daddy's tired already



"whew!"



"ahhhh..."



coming in for a well deserved snack!









mmm, hot cocoa!









round 2 and getting better!









woo hoo! and there she goes!

for those not on facebook, here are a few of videos...

christmas day

now that addison is 4, she is more aware of christmas as a holiday and the traditions that come along with it.... the most important, of course, is Jesus being born on that day, then there's celebrating family and friends, the gift of giving to others, being thankful for all the blessings in our lives, and probably the most exciting in her little eyes was that santa comes and drops off presents! it was fun to experience christmas through a child's eyes again. the night before, we watched rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, we made cookies for santa, she wrote him a note, and she went to bed with so much anticipation for the next morning. when she woke up the next morning, while still upstairs in her pajamas, she looked down below from our second floor balcony to see that santa had indeed eaten the cookies we left out for him. she immediately exclaimed and jumped up and down and did this sort of strange "happy" dance, "he came! he came! santa didn't pass over our house!!" haha.. recently, she had been acting bad and greedy and we told her that santa won't come if she's naughty. so i think she was a bit worried. anyway, we went down opened what we got from santa and saved the rest of the gifts to open for when our guests arrived later.


a cold, rainy, yet peaceful christmas morning...



it's a present-opening frenzy



the red ball... the one thing she asked for from santa this year



one very happy girl... and one crazy bedhead!



"thank you, santa!!"



daddy videotaping ellie



henry and his gifts from santa... favorite petsmart toy and a Ho Ho Ho t-shirt. he must have been good this year too!






the ornament that addison made at church with her goofy-looking smile! what kind of smile is that???! ;P



my family


then later that day, jimmy's side of the family came over...




addison's gift to her halmuni... rooster to rooster



jimmy's cousins wife and his stepbro's fiance getting their uggs









me and my mom-in-law






father-in-law









her first pair of skiis!





and finally the food!!








happy holidays, everyone!!!