and then it Snowed and Snowed and Snowed!!

Ironically the cloudy morning that it rained, we read the book "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats... It was on our winter reading list as I had hoped that we would have snow by the middle of Dec!  The boys enjoyed the story but didn't have a recent experience to pull from to really get into the book.  I had no idea what the afternoon would bring.

...Thursday afternoon after our rain play, we all took naps and awoke to a snow covered backyard and big fluffy snowflakes falling hard!  The boys were in awe and we immediately went searching for hats and mittens.  We got out there quickly to play before dark because snow around here does not last.

J had to process another new experience and seemed a bit confused!

 I think he liked it!

 Why is the backyard white?

 Snowball fights!

 K figured out how to eat the snow without getting any parts of his body wet...

 fun.

 fun.

 fun.

 They played until dark and came in for hot chocolate. 

The outdoor clothing aftermath... What do people do that get this kind of weather all the time?!  This was from ~1 hour of play time in one day... What a wet soggy mess!

 Not expecting much more, we were pleasantly suprised to see this, the next morning!

 4-5" of snow...

 Pretty winter wonderland.

 Mike stayed home for the morning and the boys and him built a snow man.

It still never got that cold, it was gone by Saturday and back to the sunny 50-60 degree days.  I wish it stayed around a little longer, but I am happy we got a snow fix!  Today we read "The Snowy Day" again and I think they understood the bliss of a snow covered day better ;).

and then it Rained...

We have had a very mild November and December with most days basking in 50-65 degree sunny weather...  This past week things changed a bit.  Thursday, we woke up to cloudy coffee drinking weather (a rare thing around here!), later that morning it started raining and the kids got excited to wear rain boots and use our umbrellas (again something that hardly ever gets opened around here).  It was cool, but certainly not cold like it should have been for the middle of December! 

New vocabulary word for K and new mechanism for him to figure out!

 It was pure stick out your tongue bliss for a 4 year old!

 catching the drops in his mouth was the goal!

 I think he succeeded and maybe even had a sore neck the next morning?!

 Hummm... This umbrella looks like a boat!

 Watchful eyes had to try it out...

 Duckling number 2 had a smaller one following him.

 ... everywhere he went the 3rd was sure to go!

 Still catching.

 Little J liked his boots...

 ...They made him dance a little different!

 I think he enjoyed the drops spraying on his face!

After some good wet fun, we looked a little closer and started seeing some white drops falling... The kids went down for their naps!

Pa Pa B's birthday

For Pa Pa B's birthday this year, he wanted to have his birthday at local pizza and game place so the kids could have fun.  It worked, they had a blast and we hope you had a nice b-day too! 



Yay for grandpa's birthday! 

 K was handing out pizza face kisses!

 little J liked all the sounds, lights and 'balls' as that is his favorite word lately.

 K could not get enough of the ride on toys even if they didn't move...

 Big J liked the race cars... 

 Happy Birthday PPB! 

Mike's Village

Ever since Mike was a kid he eyed those little porcelain Christmas houses that create a winter village. So for the past couple of years he started collecting them to form his own little village on the fireplace mantel... His newest find this year is a church fully equipped with lights, stained glass windows, a bell and crosses on the steeples. Come see his little town!

Tending to a village can be hard work to make everything just perfect!

 The new church fits in nicely... He did later move it up on the hill because that seemed more appropriate and we realized it was right next to the town pub.

 Here is the church, school house & furniture store

 then comes the pub, toy store & fish market

 Book store, fire station & bakery

 It has been a fun hobby for us all!

 Here is everything together... Feeling festive yet?

 and the town lit up at night!

 Now picture Christmas music in the background and you can be part of our cozy evenings celebrating the birth of our Savior!

Tree Trimming

The day after Thanksgiving everyone was eager to trim the tree... I pretty much sat back and watched as Mike did the hard work and the boys excitedly went through the boxes of decor. 

big J was Mike's shadow helping with every part of set up

 K wasn't sure why there was a tree in our family room and was trying to figure out why there were lights on it.

 Josh did the honors of placing the angel on the top

 Mike wrapped the tree with ribbon, while J & K had their own ideas of where all the decorations were supposed to go

 K loved looking at every detail of every ornament!

Pictures from our fully decorated house in the next posting!

Gobble Gobble...

I have fallen behind in the Blog world while nesting and working on various other projects... Since this Blog also serves as a family album, I am going to catch up from the last month of events. Sorry for the back up!

We had a simple but sweet Thanksgiving gathering with my parents this year, but that is just the icing on the cake to celebrate everything that we have to be thankful for!  We constantly feel overwhelmed by this stage in our life because of the never ending chaos of little kids, but every night (after they are fast asleep) we talk about each child as if they are perfect in every way... They are gifts from God that bring us more JOY then we could have ever imagined- Thank you Lord for blessing us with them!  Thank you also parents for always being around to help us when we need to get away from it all for a couple of hours!

Now on to the dinner...

 Dad was in charge of the Turkey from start to finish

 Josh helping Grandma with setting the table

 Yumm... a plate for 3- Jacob, littlest guy and myself!  Not bad for being a simple dinner!

 Little J got to lick the whip cream beater from the banana cream pie, I think the turkey was setting in as he looks like he is sleepy.

 Josh made some calls to his cross country cousins.

 The boys helping grandma make coffee & hot chocolate later that evening.

 Kyle always looks so scientific when trying to figure something out

 It was a good day!

 Even Jacob thought so with hot chocolate in his sippy cup!