Snow Day!!! 2012

Yesterday we awoke to a light blanket of snow on the ground. An hour later, it was really coming down. Travis said, "I'm not sure it would be a good idea to go to church today. Gasman would be really scary!" (Gasman road is a very curvy road that is the only road that takes us down from the bluffs to the main roads. It's about 2 miles long.) Not long after he voiced his concerns, the phones started ringing that church was canceled. Joseph and Connor were already outside playing in the snow. We ended up spending over 5 hours outside in the snow as it fell. Travis said it was one of best days he's had as a family in a while. Here are a few pictures of the day.

Spencer started out his morning snuggled up reading his favorite books. (We are big Diary of a Wimpy Kid fans)
Lizbet really wanted to go out in the snow...so we threw on an old sweatshirt and Connor's hat. She stayed pretty much on the deck, but had a blast!
Spencer decided that the snow was too tempting, so he abandoned his reading and headed out. (yes...our children wore their jammie's alllll day!)
Daddy went out and threw some snowballs and had some fun.
I was busy with the camera. We have 4 suet cages, 2 bird houses, one seed sock, and one hummingbird feeder all our in our backyard...they were all hopping busy.
This is the most hummingbird action we have seen since we moved here! They are sooo cool!
We moved to the front yard and the boys started helping Travis make a snowman...
....but then the neighbors invited the boys to sled down the street instead....
Lizbet got cold and just watched at the door with Daddy's snuggie.
They had a blast! Connor was the only one that wore jeans.
...meanwhile...Daddy worked on the snowman on his own...until Little Miss decided to go out and "help" him.
She said, "Too cold!", but had lots of fun watching.
What a cute Travee and his snowman! That thing will never melt...it never is warm up here on the Bluff's.
Joseph and Connor went down the hill together a lot. I baked peanut butter cookies and had Joseph take the plate out and hand them out to the neighbors while they were still warm to say thank you for including our kids. We have such awesome neighbors!!!
This was the first picture I took after it really started to come down. You can see the green of the grass still. (I'm not sure why this one ended up at the bottom, but that's okay)

It was a great day!

Science Experiment #1

I got a nifty new book...
So...we are starting to do some of the experiments in the book. My plan was to take pictures of each step of some of them, and then print the pictures and let the boys organize and place them in their school notebooks. Then, I decided to also post some of them on my blog, so if I end up not getting around to having the pictures made, at least they can print the blog page for their records that we did indeed do such an experiment.

"Dehydration"....
The items required. A spud, salt, water....
Cut the spud in half...

Put water in each saucer (I promise...there's water in there). Add salt to one plate.

Write an S on the spud that goes into the salt water.
Let them sit. The book said to wait just 30 minutes and you will see a fabulous difference...NOT! We left them over night...
Here is the one that was in the salt. The water was all starchy and yucky and it was puckered at the bottom...
The water one looked pretty darn good.
Here is the difference.

I admit I was a tad disappointed in the results of this one, but it was significant enough that I could show the kids and make my point of dehydration. The kids had fun setting it all up and checking the progress.

Christmas 2011

I haven't had access to the actual computer in..forever! I use my phone for most everything these days. But...I can't update my blog using my phone. So...I'm playing catch up today. I will start with Christmas 2011.

Santa came. Please not the lack of ornaments and garland on the lower half of the tree. Elizabeth stole many, many ornaments.
Christmas Eve we did lots of baking so we would have yummies for Christmas day and also leave plenty for Santa. Gingerbread cookies and Satchetortes for Santa, and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Mmmmm
Christmas morning. Santa left the special, individual gifts on each blanket that the kids laid out. These blankets were gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Nelson. They opened them on Christmas Eve so that they could lay them out.
Joseph was the most excited of any of the kids.
Elizabeth wasn't sure what to think at first.
Spencer first had to check out what he got in his stocking...
Connor got the inner guts to a toilet from Santa! Sweeeet! (yes, I'm serious)
Joseph got, I believe, 9 different Cars 2 cars.
Elizabeth loved helping Daddy open his gifts.
Tinkerbell makeup kit!!!!!
Spencer got an Atari Playback 3. Talk about bringing back memories!

We have a billion pictures, but these are a good enough sample of the morning. They are very grateful for all the wonderful things they got. As usual, they were spoiled by their grandparents. The kids really made the holidays special this year. They had such a great enthusiasm for every tradition!

Family

I took some pictures of the kids for Christmas cards and gifts etc. Here are the group photos.

Actually...this was taken for my mom. She bought us all Mariner sweatshirts and asked us to take a family photo with it for her.

This is their card. Super cool!

Glasses

I suspected Spencer might need glasses this summer, but didn't pursue it because he didn't complain. Then about 2 weeks ago his Primary teacher mentioned that he couldn't see the posters that the music teacher was holding up during music time...then...he got a big old fat sty in his eye. I remember before I got my glasses that I had a lot of sty's...so I called Walmart Vision Center and asked how much it would cost for him to see the eye doctor and get glasses. (cause our insurance for the kids doesn't kick in until January) I made him an appt and off we all went. Travis went in with him to see the doctor while the rest of us wandered Walmart. Then, I went and helped pick out frames. He fell in love with these blue frames! He tried them on and did not want to take them off. We explained that the frames wouldn't help him see and they had to order lenses for the frames. He asked me to take a picture to help him remember what he looked like until he got his glasses. (they are supposed to be in on the 14th) It cost us less than $150 for the whole shebang, so I won't complain too loudly. It's unfortunate that it happened at Christmas time, but I would rather get zero presents for Christmas if it meant that my brilliant little boy could see. He was so thrilled to be able to see clearly. I sure do love this little 9 year old boy!

The Grand Tour...

We had our 6 month inspection the other day, so our house had to be in pretty good order. Since it looked fairly decent, I thought I would snap some pictures for my mom and sisters who all wanted to see the whole house. I thought I would post them here too so that I have a record of the house being clean once. hahaha. I LOVE this house! It's old and kinda small and very quirky and I love it, love it, love it!!! I see some of the big gorgeous houses that my friends and family have and I get maybe a small tinge of jealousy, but then at night when I am putting the kids to bed and hanging out on the couch watching movies with my honey...I feel such a peace. This little house is for us. We are a quirky and goofy family with lots and lots of imperfections...but we are loving and give of what we have...just like our little house. I really hope we don't have to move anytime soon. That would make me very sad. But...until then...I will love and enjoy the little house on the bluffs!

Our bedroom. The big wall behind the bed is blank! So I didn't take a picture of it. I can't decide what I want to put there...
Joseph and Spencer's room.
Elizabeth and Connor's room. (and their totally ghetto window covering until I can figure out what I want to put up there. I reallllly wish I had my sewing machine these days!
The hallway. All the bedrooms, main bathroom, and pantry closet are in this hallway.
This is the original living room. We call it the small side or the computer side. We really really love that wood stove! Hot chocolate just tastes better when the water is heated on the top of the stove!
The kitchen is on my left. I love the openness of the place. Sooo much room!
This is in the big living room. It used to be the garage. I'm so happy we have the big living room and not a garage. This room is where we are always at!
The big living room again. We seriously need a big old recliner. More chairs anyway. It's so nice that we have to room to be able to say that!

The front door. Come on in! Notice the curtains in the window on the right. We have to gather them up like that when we turn the baseboard heater. If I had a sewing machine...I'd most likely hem the things up a bit...but...alas...we settle and are happy we have what we have.

The kitchen. The window makes me happy. I love being able look out the window at the birds and the kids when they play.

So...that is it. That is what we live in. I can not thank my Heavenly Father enough for helping us to get into this house and for blessing us with all that we have.