Merry Christmas!

We had such a great Christmas! We had to wake the kids up at 8:30 because we were up and couldn't go back to sleep. I am assuming that this is the last year that will happen. We opened presents upstairs and played for a little while before we tooke them downstairs for the big surprise:

Mike and I have spent the last month getting the basement cleaned up and painted for the kids. We finished in time, although there are still some small things to be taken care of. The ball pit is a definite hit and Carter loves the blowup fire house. I am hoping that they will have more to do in the house besides watch TV now.


These are some of my proudest accomplishments (the aprons, not the kids :)). I made them aprons with 'Sous Chef Carter" and "Sous Chef Samantha" embroidered on them. They are super cute. That toy kitchen came in about 1000 pieces. It took me almost 2 hours to assemble, and I am pretty good at assembling things.

Above and beyond the toys and gifts we have been so blessed this year. We are all healthy, we have enough to eat, and we have a warm home. Mike has a good job that he does well at and we have the gospel in our home. We are so grateful especially at this time for our Savior and his life. May God bless you and your family the way he has blessed ours!

Sledding!

I guess the one positive thing about all this snow is that we have enough to make a little sleeding hill in our front yard. Who needs to leave the yard for wintertime fun?

Happy Birthday Carter!

This is late, but here's to one of the funniest little guys I know. He is always thinking, and he always keeps us on our toes. He is very thoughtful and can be a fierce protector when it comes to Samantha. He loves all things boy, but that doesn't stop him from enjoying Tinkerbell or a great tea party occasionally. He loves to learn and is very persistent when it comes to getting something down. He is an awesome helper ("friends help friends, mom"), especially in the kitchen. He brings excitement to everything he does, and our family wouldn't be complete without him. Happy birthday little man!

Thanks, Aunt Amber for the Hulk Hands! He loves them!

Jealous?

We had our snow day on Friday and now it looks like tomorrow will be a cold day. This is from weather.com:

WINDS WILL SHIFT TO THE WEST AND STRENGTHEN IMMEDIATELY BEHIND THE STRONG COLD FRONT TO 20 TO 30 MPH... WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH. TEMPERATURES WILL PLUMMET FROM THE 20S INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS BELOW ZERO OVERNIGHT. THE COMBINATION OF BITTER COLD TEMPERATURES AND SUCH STRONG WINDS WILL RESULT IN WIDESPREAD DANGEROUS WIND CHILLS OF 30 TO 34 DEGREES BELOW ZERO BY EARLY SUNDAY MORNING.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE WIND CHILL VALUES OF 20 TO 34 BELOW. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS... MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND GLOVES.

Seriously? Negative 20-30??? Plus 2-4 inches of snow on top of the foot we got on Friday??? Shouldn't they cancel church? Shouldn't they cancel everything?

Mike and I have been having this debate for a few years now. In his house growing up, Santa just put the gifts in separate piles for the kids and they just went at it. In my house Santa wrapped everything and we got to unwrap it all. Mike says that Santa shouldn't waste his time wrapping and I say that there is something special about getting to unwrap things one by one instead of just going at a big pile of toys. What do you think? What does Santa do at your house? Vote in my poll, let me know. Carter is getting old enough now that we need to settle this.

Cheese!

Chuck E. Cheese that is. Every year for Carter's birthday we ask what he wants to do and every year it is the same thing - Chuck E. Cheese. He loves this place. We went last night since his birthday is on Sunday and the kids had a fabulous time! I took my little camera because I didn't want to bring my big one in. Big mistake. After using my nicer camera the old one feels like a dinosaur (it was the first digital camera that we purchased). Anyway, that is my excuse for the lack of quality pictures.

Carter is a air hockey junkie. One day we will get a table for the basement.

This was a ride that simulates a roller coaster. Carter rode it for 20 minutes straight. I was a little worried that his brain would be scrambled after all the shaking! He seems alright this morning...

Snow Day!

We got some serious snow last night. And while you can usually expect some not-so-nice words from me when this happens, not today! I am loving it. The boy I was supposed to babysit today couldn't make it and after 2 hours of snow blowing Mike still got stuck twice getting out of our driveway. So, he gets to stay home and we just get to relax and hang out! It is really nice to have an excuse not to go anywhere. We have plenty of food, nice warm slippers and lots to do around here. What more could we ask for?

Pictures just don't do this storm justice. We have this wind tunnel effect between our house, the garage and the neighbors house resulting in drifts 3 ft deep. Our poor little snow blower really pulled through for us! It's days like this that I covet our neighbors huge snow blower.