Sunday, December 21, 2008

Snow December 19th

After the big snowfall I took the boys up the street and we stomped across a local potato field to this stone wall where the kids ate snow and admired the beautiful snow covered
land. Here is Jack, Sarah Nolan and Cole taking a little rest.

Our little snow angel. She's still getting used to the cold.

Raggedy Andy at his holiday show. He was so proud.

Jack got to hold the American flag for the anthem.

I'm not kidding, this picture was taken the night before the snow storm. The kids wanted to eat dinner outside in the freezing cold. They are nuts!


The kids are playing together in the next room and I don't hear screaming, just laughing. So I'll take this gift of a moment to update our blog. We were blessed with a snow storm yesterday and wow it is beautiful. I had missed the experience of snow during our two years in Guam, so today I am extra thankful. The kids have been outside more than inside since the snow started at 2:24 (yes, they were watching the clock) yesterday. Cole went right outside and began to try to scrape the small amount of fallen snow on the deck into a pile. I had to laugh, knowing that in about an hour the deck would be covered. After helping Tom shovel after dinner we all sat on the couch and enjoyed a Christmas movie. In our house that is a rare occurrence (all three kids sitting in one place for more than 2 minutes) so it was extra nice. The next morning at 7:30 they were back in their snow gear and out the door to play. The sleds came out and the boys and I went sledding up the hill with the Nolan family. These are the days the kids will remember always.

School was canceled on Friday morning due to the impending snow, but fortunately it didn't start too early and we were able to enjoy Silveira School's annual holiday show. Jack had a special part in it and was so proud to be Raggedy Andy. He and Raggedy Ann sang a flopsy song together. Priceless. After all was said and done Jack told me that when he volunteered to be Raggedy Andy he thought that his costume was a jet pack. Don't ask me where he got that idea. Instead he got to wear red pants, long socks and a red wig and hat. He was such a good sport about it. Cole was happy to be able to watch his brother and he manned the cameras.

We're looking forward to Christmas. Tom will be on call for two weeks starting on Monday, but we will still be able to travel to Annie's house where we will see my entire family! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully Kristin's dog Yankee, who is Opal's daddy, will be OK by Christmas, for he had emergency surgery yesterday because a sock ball caused an obstruction. As many of you know, we had our own sock experience with Opal, so it must run in the family. Opal, poor thing, is recovering from two bad experiences. First, I tried to cut her nails for the first time and went a little too far. She's been wearing our socks on her paw for 2 days now. Then, she helped herself to Haven's HUGE bowl of grapes, which are poisonous. We had to induce vomiting yesterday and today she was understandably very sad. She is suspicious of dog food now, looking to see if it's mixed with hydrogen peroxide. Tom hears her upstairs as we write this and is asking me if there is anything up there we need to worry about. Oh, the joys of pet ownership.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Happy Holidays

This past Sunday Cole woke us at 7 AM to tell us about the snow and we were out playing in it by 7:15 (minus snow boots which I ordered yesterday). Haven has never seen snow, and Jack doesn't remember it, so it was extra special for everyone. We were able to make a snowman before church, but when we got home he had fallen to the ground. So sad. We're waiting for the next snow so we can rebuild him. Jack isn't in this picture because he doesn't like to be cold. Poor thing only remembers warm sunny Guam :)


Tom found Opal's surprise as he rolled Frosty's body :)

I love this picture because I have a black and white picture of Cole doing this very thing at age 4.

Jack before the cold got to him.

Haven enjoying her first snow ever!

We took this picture on the way home from getting our Christmas tree at a local farm. I stopped the car and had Cole get out to take it. He did a pretty good job!

The owner of this Christmas tree farm built this Santa out of old WWII buoys. Took him 8 months to complete it. Santa and also Frosty the Snowman greet us every day as I drive Jack to school.

Finally, here are the kiddos at Cole's insect project demonstration at Melville school. He made a model of a leaf insect and did such a great job!