The Snow is HERE!

As we were getting ready for church the snow finally came to Washington.

The kids were beyond thrilled, it doesn't take much snow and couldn't wait to get out and run and play in it for a bit before church.

Although when church let out we found the ground bare, it had warmed up just enough to melt all the snow. McKenna was heartbroken due to her plans to play in the snow after church.

Her cries must have been heard because while I was indulging in a Sunday afternoon nap I guess the snow really started to fall. The kids came and got their Dad and they headed outside to play in the snow before it could melt again. Nobody more fun to play in the snow than with your Dad, at least at our house.

These smiles say it all!!!

Sunday Mornings

Now that we have church at 11 am, there's a little extra time in the morning to spend a little time as a family. Tate loves playing horses with his Dad and Sunday mornings they are often found doing just that.

The girls are often found hiding in their room playing together. I've been trying to convince them to teach their Barbies to be missionaries and get them ready for church on Sundays but so far I haven't had any takers. ;)

How Sweetly They Sleep

After a long day its nice to have a place to lay your head, even if it's not where it started at the beginning of the night.

Notice the train in the corner-the train and the horses go to bed with Tate every night.

This one usually is easy-sometimes there's some reading after lights out, but otherwise after making a plan for dreams of unicorns and rainbows she's off to sleep.

Tyler asked for a new mattress well for quite sometime, I believe her exact words were, "Mom, I want a comfy bed just like yours." Her prayers were answered by a nice college girl anxious to get rid of her mattress after she upgraded. She tells us she's sleeping so much better.

Love you can take pictures and they don't even bat an eye. Still love these kids.

Fixing the Fence

This kid loves his Dad, and his Hammer, so this was the best day ever. As a precursor John broke the fence a while back when he tried to jump over the fence to retrieve an object. 8 months later it's time to fix it, and when Tate saw his Dad outside with tools he couldn't get his coat and boots on fast enough.

Despite not having a picture of the final project, they did a great job, good teamwork guys!

Rewards & Getting along

A lil late in the game, well its our most recent attempt but we've instituted a chart system that includes getting stickers for getting along, putting things away, listening etc. It's been a great success this time around. Unfortunately we started right before Christmas so it took a while before I was able to start the actual reward system, but they held on and were quite happy with the results.

Diamond design paper dolls and horses

Which makes all of us because look how well they were all getting along. :)

Bring on the Zoo

Christmas break has been pretty low key for my kids. We didn't actually leave the house all week- partially due to commitments and then my laziness and desire to get Christmas cleaned up and trying to get the house into order. Something that I rarely am able to do, but always striving to acquire. Anyway by the time friday rolled around I realized it was time to get out the door, for groceries and maybe a little playtime. It was very last minute, the zoo always is besides the sun was peaking out. Luckily we still bundled up because despite the sun, it was freezing, well a balmy 45 which is actually warm compared to some areas.

There actually wasn't a whole lot to see-the elephants were out dancing trying to get warm, and there were a few tigers who sat very still trying to find their happy place, and then we sought refuge and warmth in the aquarium and among the sharks. We were surprised to find they were putting on a wildlife show so we decided to see what they had for us today. There wasn't a whole lot and without the sun and with hungry children we didn't end up staying for the whole thing. I was surprised to see them lead a lynx out on a leash. I was always under the impression they were strong, fast and very wild animals. You know like a cougar. This one was just afraid the Hot Air Balloon was going to appear soon so they were trying to retrain him for this summer's upcoming show.

The kids decided we were done at this point so we found a place to finish our lunch and then went for a ride on the carousel and called it a day. As always it was a great little outing, just right to get us out o- the house.

Hang Ups

One night during a game of "catch me" John yelled for me to grab the camera and come take a pictures. I heard screaming but when the kids play with their dad often times the happy and sad all sound the same. I didn't expect to find Tate attached to the door. This is "home base" for the kids and apparently after running there, Tate slipped catching his pants on the door stopper. He was a bit confused and then frustrated when we didn't come and save him right away. The whole situation was just too funny not to take pictures. Sorry Tate, but what are the chances?

Christmas 2012

It was a mighty fine Christmas if I do say so myself. We were blessed and Santa was good to us, as were our family and friends. Way too generous and greatly appreciated.

Here are what things looked like before the invasion.

We have 9 am Church so we had decided we wouldn't be opening gifts before Church, with the exception of the bikes and their Stockings which they were very supportive of.

McKenna needed to wait a day until we could go get her some training wheels.

This is one of my favorite moments of the day. Tyler was beyond excited to get a BIG Orange in her stocking! Sometimes its the little things that bring joy into our lives!

After church we divided the gifts and then tried to take turns opening them.

This was 1st on the list, as it was one of the 1st gifts under the tree-so much anticipation, and loved.

Tate was kind of hard to keep a hold of every time we turned around he was ripping into another present, didn't matter if it was for him or not (although not that surprising for a 3 yr old). He did really good and waited until Christmas to actually open the any of the gifts, but the excitement was just too much for him once we started opening.

Tate had a non-horse Christmas with cars, trains, shoes, blankets, and shirts which he quickly discarded. Such a boy!

McKenna and Her BIG Doll. It was love at 1st Sight!

Tyler saw this months ago and everytime she saw Santa she made sure to remind him THIS is what she wanted

Barbie and the potty Training puppies

This was definitely on the wish list: pillow pets, Thank You Leslie Exactly the ones they wanted!

Tyler's Zebra

McKenna's panda Bear

Tate's Horse, although he thought it was 4 riding and wrestling.

Cars & Trains, is there a more perfect World 4 a little boy?

They couldn't wait til Bedtime to get these Beauties on!

And the boys couldn't wait til bedtime to get a couple zzzz's so they both regrouped for dinner.

We were blessed enough to have our friends the McClellan's and the phillip's who also have family who live far away come over for Christmas dinner. It was a grand collaboration of Ham & a roast, potatoes, rolls, salad, it was delicious, although I think it was the company that made it all so enjoyable.

When all was said and done I was pleased when the kids declared it the perfect Christmas! They got everything they wanted! Thank you Santa, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and friends!

Writing this post I realized I didn't get any pictures of McKenna on her bike or the kids in their new Clothes, or the new Barbie stuff so we had a lil photoshoot today (1/3/11). Love my kids!

These were taken: 12

I love these Kids!

John whipped up these little beds for the girls Barbies. They had been asking for a staircase, but once they saw these cute little beds, the practically forgot about the stairs. I think they turned out great! No more sleeping on the floor for these Barbies. They also got a few new rooms of furniture.

ps-the girls already had the Barbies and rooms set up when I ran up to take pictures.

Once again, it was a great Christmas!