The Munce Family

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

A quick ski trip.

Dave had been hoping to take a long weekend the Black Hills this year, but with the new school schedules, we knew it would be harder to pull off, but we managed. We booked a place sort-of last minute near Terry Peak, grabbed Sully from school at noon and hit the road heading west.

We were optimistic and realistic about the drive out, considering it is a six hour haul. The kids did great, we made one stop near Chamberlain for gas and gas station treats (crap) and then made it all of the way to Lead where we had planned to stop of dinner on our way up to the Terry Peak cabin. Dave and I listened to a podcast while the kids watched movies with their headphones. It was pretty easy with one slight hiccup- Greta's cherry gummy dislodged her already wiggly front tooth forcing Dave to pull it along I-90. She was so brave and sort of sad, but was beyond thrilled with how generous the Black Hills tooth fairy was. We arrived to the cabin at 7pm (mountain time) and immediately changed into swimming suits and checked out the hot tub.

Friday was full of fun. We got Sully and Greta into ski school in the morning and Piper into a noon private lesson (unfortunately because of their ages, their ski lesson times didn't coincide). Dave and I ended up spending most of our morning hanging in the chalet with one or more of the kids waiting for lessons and eating crap, so much crap. So much crap, in fact, that Piper threw up on the floor after a 10am hershey bar. Fortunately, she pulled it together and was able to go to her lesson. We were happy to get a good report from her teacher, she has a natural ability to want to go fast and doesn't like to stop ;). No surprise there. She did great for her first official time. Greta also rocked ski school. She was slightly apprehensive about leaving me, but as soon as she got going, she was all smiles. Dave and I were able to rent skis and get on the mountain for a few afternoon runs. One would hang with Piper and the other would venture off on the chair lift with Greta. Sully, however, continued on with afternoon ski school and moved into the C/D group. He was a total rock star. As soon as he finished ski school, he was so excited to take me up to show me his routes 'mom, it might seem scary, but there is a shortcut up here, right through the trees!' and then zoom! off he would go and wait for me at the bottom of the hill. We are so proud of how awesome all of the kids did. We met one of Dave's partners and another friend for drinks that evening which turned into dinner and loads of fun and new friends for our kids.

On Saturday, we all 5 got on the same mountain (different parts) at the same time. We lined Piper up with another private lesson so Dave and I could ski with Sully and Greta a few times before one of us needed to go back on the bunny hill with Piper. Dave worked with her mostly so I could chase after Sully and Greta. They literally couldn't get enough, until we had had too much- then we couldn't get out of there fast enough. We called it a day at about 3pm that afternoon and came back for more hot tub/scary story time. The kids couldn't get enough of it. The highlights were spotting the chairlift from the hot tub spot and peeing in the snow from the hot tub.

We hit the road by about 10 on Sunday and although we were exhausted from the work and the fun, we left with full hearts. We did it! Its so much work to pull that all together, especially as a formerly non-skiing family. Were happy to say that's officially a thing of the past and we are excited to tackle the next ski trip. We stopped for lunch in Wall and the ride home was long, but we were home and unpacked by 6.

Until next time!

Chamberlain gas stop- Greta still has that front tooth :).

Its gone!

Dinner in Lead.

Hot tub ASAP - in our boots!

Breakfast at our breakfast counter.

Snow fun at the cabin.

Quick family photo.

Ski school fun.

Piper is ready to party!

Magic carpet ride with Piper, Greta, and Dave.

Family photo at the bottom of Stewart Slope.

Greta and Sully waaaayyy ahead of me.

Rockstar Sully.

Sweet Piper.

Let's hit the hot tub!

Munce family (shenanigans) Christmas.

We had the BEST Christmas celebration with Dave's family on 1/5 (I'm waaay behind on blogs). Its no lie that Dave and I start talking about his family Christmas celebration in September as we love coming up with fun ideas and basically just love the evening overall. This year topped all previous years, It was just SO darn fun.

We prepared beef tenderloin, potatoes, and broccoli. Matt and Cassandra (the newly weds) were in charge of the Buche de Noel. Everyone arrived hungry, in pajamas (it was a PJ party), in great spirits and a jumbo bottle of wine. If that doesn't set the mood, I'm not sure what does!

After dinner, we jumped right into games and piano solos (Sully played We Three Kings, Greta played Jingle Bell,s and Dave played Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas). The first game was a 'fun fact' game we came up with, followed by FOUR+ HOURS of catch phrase. Im not even kidding. The families with little kids left at bedtime, but the rest of us (Sarah and Troy, Matt and Cassandra, Nancy, Ashlee, Dave and I) played until 2am. We went through a ton of wine (including multiple wine spills 😁) and played the game clues through at least two times. It was the outlaws vs the inlaws and I can honestly say I don't know who won, but I do know who the worst player was ;). The kids had a ball playing with their cousins, Harper and Hilde, Dave had a genius idea of putting on a movie at about 10pm, so most of them drifted off to sleep while the rest of us played the night away.

Sunday was brutal. Our house looked like a tornado had passed through and we had to clean with horrific hangovers and three kids to tend to. Between dishes, wine spills, and out of place furniture, it is safe to say it took us probably three days to pull it all back together, but I'll be the first to say, it was all worth it, Dave's family is seriously SO fun. Ive already been tempted to send out a 'save the date' for next year's gathering, but Ill wait a few more days ;).

Pajama party buffet line.

The Buche de Noel artists.

A snapshot of the chaos.

The game is starting to get good.

Movie time- I spy a sleeper :).

1am. Nancy is feeling the pressure.

Steady and serious Sarah.

Friday, January 4, 2019

Check-ups, new looks, and Chloe Nicole.

We've started 2019 out in true form: loosing teeth, doctor's appointments, and a new cousin- never a dull moment around here.

Greta has had a wiggly tooth for several weeks and it has been sooo close for several days. Finally, at 1:18am, in sheer excitement, she finally lost it! She was in our bed and Dave had gone to lay with Piper when she wiggled it out. She said, 'mom, can I go tell dad?' of course I said yes and she ran in and whispered to him about it. Unfortunately the tooth fairy had already made her rounds that night, so she had to wait an extra day for the fun. Im still getting used to her new smile ;).

Greta and Piper had well checks. Both are growing right on schedule. Greta is 44 inches (73 percentile) and 39.3lbs (42 percentile), while Piper is 36 inches (17 percentile) and 31lbs (47 percentile). Greta told Dr. Sam her favorite food was 'fruit loops WITH marshmallows' and when he asked her if she drank milk, she paused and said 'yeah, CHOCOLATE milk.' When he asked her if she had any questions, she asked him 'do ghosts only eat white food? Is that why they are white?' He told her she stumped him. That's our girl. Piper answered all of the questions without delay, reporting her favorite food is grapes, and she didn't have any questions or concerns. Thank goodness for a great check up.

Finally, we are so excited to welcome Chloe Nicole Schock to the family on January 2, 2019. After so much excitement and anticipation, Amy and Kyle welcomed their third baby safe and sound. She was 7lbs 2oz and is so tiny and sweet. We are so happy she is here and can't wait to watch her grow. Congrats, Kyle, Amy, Maddie and Miles, your family is so precious.

Greta girl and her new smile.

Pediatrician chaos.

Catching Sully mid eye roll.

Piper having her BP taken. Such a big girl.

Dave and I with baby Chloe.

Family, Christmas, friends, NYE, and repeat.

We've had nonstop Christmas around here for the last two weeks. Between celebrations, we had playdates on top of playdates. We have made the absolute most out of the Christmas break.

We celebrated with my family on 12/22 (Saturday) and because my mom got the flu, we had to change gears and hosted here. It was a lot of fun- we played games, ate, drank, and played more games. The kids were all up until close to 11, which was just the beginning of the holiday fun. We missed my mom, so much. We changed up the tradition this year, no kids gifts, games instead and it was amazing how they didn't even miss them. It was all about being together and not about the gifts.

We celebrated on 12/24 with a stop over to my parents' for a grandkid photo followed by a visit to Julie's grave and then a party at Alex and Mandy's house. It was so fun, I actually forgot for about 20 minutes that my kids were there. They play so well with their cousins, its actually a dream come true. We got home in time for a late bedtime and then Dave and I had to prep for Christmas morning. So many late nights!

Christmas was very relaxed. We stayed put for most of the day, enjoyed gifts and breakfast in the morning followed by veg time and Christmas light viewing in the evening - where the kids (mostly) fell asleep.

We also had a Christmas party with Grandma Helen at her place. It was really nice, we had cookies, cider and coffee and a pretty epic game of UNO. It was easy and fun and everyone had a great time.

After the Christmas fun, we had playdate after playdate followed with a three night sleepover with Anna and Isaac. The kids had a blast, I was exhausted! I could hardly keep up with the dishes, messes, and trash! Haha. It was worth it.

We capped it off with a very low key NYE gathering. We had a hot fudge sundae bar, games, and wine. We did stay faithful to NYE tradition and had a puker, but in our case it was Piper after eating way too many M&Ms. It was a true treat to play scrabble and catch phrase with my parents, Isaac even got in on the fun. Everyone left by 10 and Dave fell asleep with the kids so I sat up and perused social media until the ball dropped at midnight. We are all looking forward to what 2019 has in store.

We have one final Christmas celebration this weekend with the Munce side of the family at our house and then we will pack up the Christmas mess and fun until next year.

Wow!