And Cupcake is FOUR!

Cupcake was a busy girl today on her fourth birthday. Started the day with a run on her snowboard and then tried out one of the new itty bitty Burton boards that the seasonal program guy lent us- perfect for beginners and absolutely TINY. Then she switched to her skis and made several long runs, even tried and did great on a long, blue trail today. And then what she'd been waiting for all day was a trip to the ice rink. Unfortunately the indoor rink at the mountain had no free skate after the lifts closed so we had to try the outdoor rink right near home which she was less psyched about. Plus everyone was really wiped out after a busy weekend. So we came home and had chicken noodle soup as Cupcake requested for her birthday dinner. And a skate cake.


Ahhh, her very own roll of paper so she can stop snagging all of my printer paper every time she wants to paint or draw.

She's trying out new fake smiles and hasn't quite gotten it right yet.

The other kids worked on making ice cream in the ice cream ball while Cupcake opened presents. It didn't distract Princess Eee quite as well as we'd hoped, and she still had a jealous meltdown and stomped off for a bit because watching Cupcake open cool gifts is just too hard for her.

The ice skate cake. She only ate the candy cane blades. Never one for cake, but the rest of the fam loved it.

The treats for school tomorrow:

And tomorrow she will take these brownie-cookies with ladybugs to all of her school mates and teachers. The three bigs are off for vacation already, so I'll get to spend some quality time doing big kid things for the next three days 'til the littles are on vacation too.

Snowboarding & Santa's Village

Here's a shot of Zippy a few weeks ago at the mountain with his best snowboarding buddy. It was a mini-competition day and these two caught some freebies at the awards, hence the cool shades and giant T's.


And today I took The Spark and Cupcake to Santa's Village to meet up with The Spark's BFF who moved away. They had really been missing each other and talked on the phone for about 45 minutes mid-week. I'll try to get the picture of the two of them on this ride off my cellphone next time I'm in a zone with reception. This one I sent to myself before entering the dead zone, so here are my two girls on the candy cane ride. The Spark really likes her snowboard instructor at the mountain and only skipped today in order to spend it with her BFF. The two of them were so giddy to be together they just hugged and laughed the entire time. Good thing the whole Santa's Village park is outside, so their squeals did not need to be quieted for anything.

Tomorrow is Cupcake's birthday, and all of us will be heading to the mountain together. She snowboarded with J both days last weekend, but says that tomorrow she will ski instead because "me fall down LOT" on her snowboard.

The Trimming