Overheard

Thomas: Sam, how do you know so much?
Samuel (very matter of factly): Well, I'm older than you.
Mommy thinks: Yes, those 17 months over Thomas make you quite the font of knowledge for him. Or you just make stuff up that you both believe, whichever!

Snow Monster

This is how they clear the huge drifts off highways. So cool. Last night we saw it on Hwy 92 when we were escaping the house to go out to eat. (Apparently 4 days in the house is my max... maybe only 3...) Jeremy says they have four for the whole state and we happened to see it coming down our highway and get out the camera!

Before:

During:

After:

And a video of it in action!

Does the fact I think this is super cool make me a dork or a good wife? On second thought don't answer that.

An Extra Week of Christmas Vacation

Sounds good doesn't it? Samuel went to school Tuesday and they've had snow days the rest of the week. Extra days at the end of the year, here we come! Even the boys are tired of snow days, they're ready to see their friends at school again. Samuel and Julia are crying every time they don't get their way and Thomas is getting naughty. Yesterday even Jeremy stayed home thanks to the uncleared drifts on our highway. The plows went by about 8 this morning (I was resting but the boys and Jeremy report one got stuck in the drift on the highway just north of our house and the second one had to pull it out!) Thank goodness we did get out on Tuesday and it looks like a heat wave is on it's way- the forecast for early next week is in the 30s! Here is what it looks like two steps out my door- I wasn't about to go any farther!

Does that picnic table have benches?

Our Lady of (too much) Snow

See the little tops of our spruce trees?

I'm contemplating getting out The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Maybe reading about having snow brushed off the beds in the morning and grinding wheat in a coffee mill for bread will make me appreciate my warm, internet-connected house a little more!

Squirrel Party

My mom has a hatred, I mean, love of squirrels that goes back many years. (When my mom sees this she's going to say "hate is such a strong word!") The boys (okay all of us) think it is really fun to tease her about it. So when Thomas suggested a squirrel themed party for her birthday we went for it! Lynn did most of the work on the theme and it turned out really well!

We had a nice (non-squirrel) dinner, all wearing our squirrel hats of course.

We finished up with an acorn cake.

The birthday girl about to enjoy the cake!

Happy Birthday Mom!

In Case You Don't Know

I think we've told most everyone in person but just in case... (I put it where it should go chronologically)
She's Only Got Brothers Part 4

Gifts Galore!

Jeremy's mom always took a picture of him and his sister with their gifts after Christmas and their birthdays. I try to remember! It was also a great reason to gather them all up, look at them again and then put them away.

Samuel got lots of books and I think he's already read them all! All the Lego sets he got are already put together as well.

Thomas is really enjoying the dinosaurs and airplane/airport set. The Lego sets proved to be a little tough for him to put together but he loves playing with them when they are done!

Julia is loving cooking with all the kitchen things that she got! And she's happily wearing the slippers from Aunt Jen and Uncle Mike, you just can't see them in this picture. (Poor Julia took a tumble down the stairs at Steve and Raleen's and got the impressive owie above her lip.)

Christmas in Collages Part 2

We finished our rounds of Christmas by celebrating with just our family and with Jeremy's parents, Jen & Mike. We didn't do anything too exciting for our little Christmas, opened some presents and played with them but it was nice to have an evening just us.

We had a great time with Jeremy's family on New Year's Day just playing and eating and opening gifts. We spent the whole day there and enjoyed ourselves until we got home from Steve and Raleen's about 7:30 pm to discover we had no power. Since the kids were already loaded in the van I just went in, found their pajamas and we headed back for an impromptu slumber party. We live just 5 or so miles away so we've never stayed overnight there before and we had to figure out sleeping arrangements and all but it worked out and we went home to a nice warm house the next morning. An extra little Christmas adventure!