Jack Frost

We have had some heavy fog the past week or so - this morning was no exception. We have also had FREEZING temperatures - this morning was no exception! I stopped and took these pictures as I was driving home from the dentist (threw that tid-bit of info in for sympathy).




I don't think I've ever seen frost so thick - it looks like snow!





It truly is breath-taking. I just wish it wasn't cold enough to be this beautiful!

Camera Dump

I guess it's a good thing when a couple of quiet weeks can pass by. Nothing much has been happening around here. The kids are finally back at school. 3 snow days made us all cranky! Things seem to be getting back to normal now - routines are great and we're happy to be slipping back into ours!

Here's what I found on the camera from the last week:

Joseph got a bike for Christmas and it has been the BEST GIFT EVER! He rides around and around and around the kitchen island/table. He constantly instructs us to "Wook out!" The little bucket on the back flips down to dump stuff out...he will leave that flipped down and ride around sometimes. When he first did that we asked him what he was doing and he said it was his plow! Smart kid! lol (Oh, and the attire is all his own doing!)



Meredi - Where EVER does she get her love for guns?



Megan helps Meredi ride the plow.



After the plow picture, the kids caught me with the camera and posed...





I bought Blues Clues videos for Jason and Maddie YEARS ago. Back when Nick Jr still had FACE (sorry, some of you will know what that means, some won't...don't feel bad!)...anyway, when Joseph put this tape in the older kids were thrilled to see that it was Steve and not Joe! (I kind of was too, I don't like Joe so much!)



Patty cake!

Happy Birthday Malorie! 6 Years Old

Wow - just like that, six years have come and gone and it hardly seems that I've even blinked yet!

Today we celebrated Malorie's birthday! She has painfully been counting down the days since...well, probably since school started! And finally, today is the day! She started her day with her daddy making her pancakes for breakfast!



I guess even before pancakes, we started the day with a surprise, early morning visit from Grandpa! He was on his way to the gun-show in Spokane so stopped on his way to drop off gifts from Grandma and Grandpa - and $20 from her Great-Grandmother.



Peek-a-Boo Barbie's!! Grandma Janet always knows the PERFECT gifts!!



Following gifts we went outside to shovel snow (What day would be complete without at least an hour of that?). Malorie and Melanie Polly-Pocket'ed and Peek-a-Boo'ed the rest of the day away. Then the day wound down with an hour long phone call with her cousin Maddi - I have no idea what two six year olds can talk about for 60 minutes, but I think they could have kept going if we hadn't made them hang up for dinner! Now we're lighting the candles on her popcorn cake!! What a wonderful day!





Happy Birthday Malorie! We sure do love you!

(And look, not a single..."Six years ago, right now..." in the whole entry!)

New Year's Eve 2008

We had another wonderful Mexican Buffet at our home this year! Almost all of Brandon's local extended family attended. We had 41 people for dinner - and it was great!

Everyone grabbed a seat for the blessing and then started making tacos...tacos...and more tacos!






After dinner, the younger kids all gravitated to Uncle Courtney...he's "that" uncle in our family. He's the winder-upper and the kids all love him to death!



The tweens and teens boys all headed downstairs for trampoline football. Guess I'm getting old - jumping on the trampoline is the LAST thing I would have considered doing after eating tacos! Blech!



Those of us who opted to keep our tacos to ourselves broke out board games to pass the night away!





We had a great time - and so much more happened than just these few pictures can share! We can't wait to do it again next year!

Merry Christmas!

We traditionally spend Christmas Eve at my mom's house. This year was the same as any other - well, except the fact that it had snowed FEET of snow the week before and several inches on Christmas Eve! We debated staying home...getting a hotel...staying at Grandmas...finally we just went and figured we'd decide what to do after we got there!

We ended up only staying a couple of hours and then heading back home. We drove with my aunt and uncle behind us. It was hard on both of our families to not stay at mom's for the huge family bash - but leaving early was the right thing to do! The roads home were HORRID! We barely ever got over 35mph. We have never been so grateful to pull in to our own garage!



My little sister, Lindsay, and me - look who is taller!! (I'm never taller...only in instances like this when I have on my thick soled shoes and she's barefoot!)

And that wraps up all of my pictures from Christmas Eve - usually I come home with over 100 pictures! I really hate that it was cut short this year...

Christmas morning started promptly at 5:00 am. This is an improvement over past years! I was able to catch the kids as they came down the stairs...very Norman Rockwelly of me! (Somehow that darn Megan got down between shots!)





Jared & Megan



Jacob and his dragon hand puppet




Goofy Jason in his Goofy pj's



This year Malorie and Melanie are at such a magical age. They loved every single thing about Christmas! Look how big their eyes are! They have been that big for three days now! We just love it!




Joseph woke up a couple hours after everyone else, so we had a moment with him and his gifts!



The bike is by far his favorite!!



We saved the best for last (mostly b/c we knew that the minute it was opened all interest in other gifts would be lost)! We spent the entire day playing Wii! (Wait, not true, we stopped and watched Prince Caspian - which I loved, btw!)



Gracie has been sick with a cold/runny nose! It's nothing real bad - except she's a thumb sucker and having her nose runny/snuffy really makes sleeping hard...for both of us!!

SNOW DAY!

After last night's snowfall - really more than just last night - more like the last 24 hours NON STOP - we got an automated call from the School District this morning saying that school was cancelled. We assumed that would be the case, but it's always more exciting after it's official.

We went downstairs early to assess the damage...



I'm sure there was still some snow when Gracie was born...for sure there was COLD - but I'm counting this as her "first snow".



Joseph enjoys watching the snow and he says he wants to go out and play in it - but when it comes time to suit up, he almost always disappears.



Brandon and I ventured outside to shovel the sidewalk and the decks...



MAN! There is just MUCH stinking snow out there!


(That's the pick-up, just in case you can't tell!)


After I shoveled for a while, it dawned on me that nobody in their right mind is going to come out to our place to actually walk on our sidewalk or decks, so I started taking some pictures instead!



The snow is "deeper than a dog"...



We had to venture out to the county road to UNstuck the truck -



Figured it would be fun to document the snow depth on the mailbox before the plows come by and knock it down. (The whole box, not just the snow!)



I had a chance to do a little more depth documenting while I was walking back down the driveway from the road...



And it's still snowing......