Sledding

The kids had a great time in the backyard this morning. I don't think there is much more than an inch of untouched snow back there.

This afternoon they went sledding. And it was no fun at all! Just kidding! It was a blast!

Andrew went down backwards, a lot. Even before he went down facing forwards. He's a goof!

Joseph was beyond excited about everything having to do with sledding! He was also super bummed to come home. And he really thinks that his sled is AWESOME! He makes us smile!

Lexie really loved rushing down the hill. She really liked getting snow in her face. (Really, she did.)

Eliza stayed home this time with Mom so she could get a great nap in. And she (Eliza) loved every minute of it. Mom spent most of the time sitting by the back porch watching the kids have a blast.

Here's a video of the kiddos going down the hill.

We're looking forward to many more days of sledding this winter!

Packages

We love getting packages! One of the best (but definitely not the best) things about this is the packing paper!

It's especially great for a snow day like today. We've played outside & got cold, warmed up, colored together, had the mail fairy come, did some homework, studied for the spelling bee, & now just need a few more fun things to do. Gratefully, yesterday the mailman brought us a package. (We got one today but it only had 3 air bubbles to pop. The entertainment factor didn't last too long.) Our package had one long piece of packing paper! This will entertain them for quite a while now! It was so much fun watching their eyes get really big & the silent gasps when they saw it out on the kitchen floor. Then they attacked! It was awesome!

They are making a mural for a party for our family. It's going to be so much fun! Let the coloring begin!

And once we're bored with this, we'll go sledding. Saturdays are just so boring around here!

It's Definitely December

It really is December! And it's been snowing all December long at our house!

The roads were pretty slick this morning & I got the pleasure of helping push 3 cars up a hill because they kept getting stuck & sliding backwards. Yeah, we'll call that my workout for the day.

The kids were so excited to have an "unhealthy" after school snack this afternoon: Hot Chocolate with colored marshmallows! And I thought the "thank yous" for buying more baby oranges were over the top! This beats all! It's always fun that the kids can be thrilled by the littlest of things!

And I was thrilled by my surprise in the mail! Yet another reason why I love Sprouts! Such a pleasant surprise!

And here are a few pictures from putting up the tree for Family Home Evening on Monday.

Oh the goofiness of my children!

And Eliza has learned it very well herself!

And this afternoon, Eliza has been loving the piano. She gets so much joy out of music! It is really so much fun to watch.

And this I love, mainly because of her feet. I just love how she sits & will swing her legs forever. She never gets bored of it!

We've been trying to get her down for about 20 minutes, now & she wants nothing to do with that. She screams each time. This girl LOVES the piano! The kids are convinced she will never stop playing the piano. They may be right!

As Of Late...

We've been pretty busy & enjoying life. We switched out more of Eliza's clothes because for some reason she thinks she can keep growing. It's always sad packing up baby clothes, but it was fun to pull out cute dresses that Lexie used to wear & see how the girls are similar & how they also are so different.

Here's Lexie back in late 2004 so around 17 months.

Joseph enjoyed playing with his food.

We had a great Thanksgiving with our family! I guess we should have gone to Utah this year. My niece, Megan, got her mission call to the Ukraine Donetsk Mission Russian speaking. We're excited for her & grateful for her (& my nephew Michael's & niece Leslie's) example for our kiddos in serving missions! We also should have gone because my sister had a baby girl on Thanksgiving morning! So hooray for a new niece as well! But we're so glad Matthew & Stephanie came out here as well as my little sister Megan & that we got to enjoy it with my sister, Becca's family, here! Hooray for Thanksgiving!

Since we couldn't find all of the fun things to make our traditional Thanksgiving Turkey treats, we made acorns. The kids loved making them!

I liked Andrew's list of things he was thankful for on his "Big eyed Turkey head" turkey. New markers are super excited! Speaking of turkeys, Megan told the kids that they had to hurry & go to bed or else Tom the Turkey wouldn't come. Boy were they asleep quickly! He left candy corns. Very exciting!

Eliza loved playing with her cousin, Natalie! They were very sweet with each other & shared food nicely. (Eliza is such a mooch!) We are excited for them to be good friends.

I got a package in the mail from our friend, Christy! I won a prize in her "favorite things" giveaway! Woohoo! We loved the peanut butter s'mores! Did you know they made stackable marshmallows? I didn't but they sure do make better s'mores than the regular kind!

A big thumbs up from everyone! Thank you so much, Christy!!

Here are the crazy kiddos with Aunt Megan! We had lots of fun with her & the kids got spoiled rotten playing with her. She even taught them a new game, "Giants, Wizards, & Elves" (or as Andrew calls it, Lizards). They love that game!

And we love her, too!

And here's one proving I was here, too. We also got to spend Saturday morning at the Temple & that was lovely!

And what's left to do after a fun week of family? Well, of course you should spend your Sunday evening having a parade with your own family band! We paraded around our house a few times taking turns being the leader & trading instruments.

We even took it outside! It's really too bad that none of our neighbors were out to see it! It was awesome!

Yep, we've had quite a bit of fun this last little while & are looking forward to the upcoming month of even more fun!

Happy Veteran's Day!

At the end of Joseph's parent/teacher conference his teacher asked him to show us his letter he wrote to send to the troops for Veteran's Day. After we were done she handed us a copy she had made for us. That was so sweet of her.

So here is gratitude for our troops through the eyes of our 1st grader.

Joseph insisted on wearing his camo jammies all day in honor of Veteran's Day.

I was surprised this morning while looking at a friend's blog post & Lexie saw this picture & asked if it was Flanders Fields. I didn't even know that she knew what it was or that it even existed.

I told her it was & she told me they made a bunch of poppies in class yesterday & learned about it. I'm grateful that my kids are learning some real history & to have gratitude for our freedoms & for those who defend it.

Thank you to all those who have served & to their families!

Joseph's Roller Coaster Story

We love Parent/Teacher Conferences! We love our kids' teachers (all of them), & hearing how they are doing (they are all doing really well) & getting the fun packets of work that they put together for us. Joseph's teacher handed us his latest story & said, "You need to read this, all 8 pages of it." She wasn't kidding. It sure made us giggle!

One steaming hot day on a new planet called "Color World" I was at Ride Frenzy Freeway looking at a...ROLLOR COASTAR!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited. I ZOOMED at the speed of a motorcycle going at the speed limit 9,9,9,9,9,9,9,9,9,9,9,9 million to buy a ticket for the Rollor Coastar. And then I could get in line. Finally, it's my turn to ride. I'm SO nervous to ride the coaster. But now...IT'S TO LATE to change my mind. I got buckled up tightly and the ride started. WOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!!! It ZOOMS straight down a ginormous mountain. I screamed my head off by that. It ZOOMs all around lots of loops. I screamed my ears off by that! It dashed upside down, "That does it" I screamed in my head that popped off. My eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and head are screamed off! Finally the ride is almost over. Just a jump left. At the jump...I screamed my whole entire body off and cut because I was so so so freaked out by the jump. NOW and only now it is over. Everyone is dizzy. Some people have wobbly knees. But...NOT me. I'm planning to ride the roller coaster again. Exactly RIGHT NOW! "Come on Dad" I shouted. He's not scared of any roller. But...even this rollar coastar didn't scare him by looking. But riding was not like others. Dad was scared. I didn't make a sound. But Dad screamed his head off by being scared. That NEVER happened before. After the ride, Dad had to take awhile to breathe from all the screaming and shouting. He did and he was too scared on the roller coaster. But guess what? He wanted to ride it again. And it goes all over again and again and again and again.

Here they are acting it out...sort of. This is probably what they looked like at Ride Frenzy Freeway.

Hee! Hee!

Awards Assembly & A Turkey

Lexie & Joseph both got awards at the Awards Assembly. They were excited & we're so glad that they are being respectful & trying their best at school. We are so grateful for these kiddos.

Joseph also got to decorate a turkey for his homework. I love how his mind works. He picked his number because he's in 1st grade & is 6 years old. And when Rick asked him what colors he wanted for his football turkey, he got a big grin on his face & said, "Boise State."

"Snow School Today!"

We got about 8-10 inches of snow last night through this morning! I was so grateful for the 5:30 am wake up call from the school saying it was cancelled! Joseph came up with the following joke. Joseph: "Mom, knock, knock."

Mom: "Who's there?"

Joseph: "Snow."

Mom: "Snow who?"

Joseph: "Snow school today!"

He's so clever!

We had some fun playing around in the snow & then decided we'd better get shoveling.

Poor Rick only had a 3 hour delay from work & had to go in. But we had a great time playing all day long!

Sometimes you just need a good snow day & we're grateful that we got one!