Yet another snow day…

Ok, I love the snow, I really do! But COME ON! If my family does not go back to school and work soon I might go crazy! Really, how much of “cozy home” time can one person handle? What do people do in Alaska all these months? Do they start to go family crazy as well? Really, I’m not going crazy but I might. :O)

We are having a good time with the snow and playing or watching them play with their friends from the neighborhood. Jo has grown quite a friendship with one girl in particular and they play together very well for hours on end some days. Here they are after making snow angels in the front yard. Every so often I would see them run up to the boys, throw a snowball at them and then run away from the boys yelling as the chase begins. Oh, the memories.

Cole has had a blast in the snow as well and really plays outside much longer and harder than Jo does. But today he was ready for some thing a little different. So the Pitch Back he got for Christmas and a shoveled driveway was a good alternative.Momma is a little tired from all the snow shoveling, maybe if we got snow like this every year it would be worth getting that snow shovel. Not yet though.

Fresh baked banana bread from Oma and a nice cup of hot tea…another load of laundry and I think I might be done for the day.

Ahhhh…I was not done for the day yet…
Above was the last of my post, but after I finished typing it I heard the garage door shutting and then the scream of Cole…I ran out in my socks to find Cole had shut the door with his pinky finger in the track. The trip to the ER was less than two hours long and he is fine, steri-stips (skin was too ragged for stitch) and a thick bandage and has been told to keep it dry for a week. Yeah…thank goodness there is no snow to play in!…shoot…there is…

All About Jo & Cole

Thought it would be fun to put a bunch of photos together of the kids and their personalities. So below are what I have come up with.

Jo here, well she goes from one extreme to another in a way.
She loves to be “Pretty”, so make-up and dresses with her hair done are very important. And then you have the outdoors, mud, bugs and just being a part of nature. The pretty girl who likes to get dirty…but then again she hates getting her hands yucky while eating a meal. Go figure.
Click on a grouping of photos to be able to read the captions and see a little closer look of the photos.

Cole loves to dress up if some of you didn't already know this. As you might see in the photos, he has gotten gifts to help him along the way. From using a bat for a light saber to a real toy light saber or from pointing his hair up for Batman ears to a real Batman outfit created by Grandma Marie.

And then there are those outfits ???...well he is just a funny guy who loves to dress the part at all times!

Snow Day!

Oma really wanted a snow day and woke early to find 3 inches on the ground. I then heard Oma grab Jo from bed (I think Jo was awake but barely) to show Jo the snow. Then Jo ran into her room to get dressed along with saying loudly “There’s SNOW on the ground Cole, wake up!” So, Momma too pulled herself out of bed to join the family in the excitement! I looked over at the clock to find it was only around 5:45am! WHAT?!

So our morning went as follows after this reality of time and darkness; breakfast was made quickly, and eaten quicker, then the kids and Oma were dressed and out the front door. Though I must say that our neighbor kid, Daniel, had been up for a tad longer and had a HUGE snowball built in his yard already.

6:20am
Oma, Cole & Jo walking around the snow saying hello to Dale and Francis along with a couple snow angels that were made in front of their window for their viewing pleasure.

7:15am
Our Snowman Named Just Bob (second of the year) was complete.
(Do you see our porch light?...It's still on!)

7:20am
Momma wanted a photo with the kids and Jo was heading in to get some cocoa with Oma.

7:30am
Momma and Cole got out the snow disk with a rope and had a good time pulling him on the street.

7:45am
All the kids on the block were up and out and the snow fights had begun.

Cole has spent most of the morning/early afternoon outside playing with all the boys. Jo and Oma have taken a nap already (It’s only 1:30pm now) and Momma? Well I have spent time inside/outside and visiting with neighbors. Had a good cup of cocoa-n-buttershots with Linda too. Yummy!

Momma needs a nap...

Busy BUSY Holiday week (s)!

We wanted to take out our neighbors to a Holiday dinner on Christmas Eve, and though it looks like we did, their daughter Kristi paid for the meal. Her gift to us for being apart of there extended family with her folks. So, we have Francis at the far end of the table, then Old Jim who live across the street (one of the original settlers in the neighborhood- might be the only one left who knows), Kristi (Dale/Francis’ daughter) and finally, our Dale at this end. Chuck, Kristi’s son, is sitting next to Tina. Are you all caught up with our neighborhood?Our neighbors are family, we are lucky to live where we do.
When we got home from dinner we let the kids open the gift to each other. They were very excited to do so and we played with each for quite a while before Oma said that Santa would not come to the house if they didn’t get to bed and to sleep. Yelling followed by running feet to bed…did they sleep? No…it took quite some time for them to finally quiet up…Oma and I sure had a fun time with it all.Morning time…same cloths but their hair had a fight during the night! Hey, don’t we all have a Christmas photo like that? LOVE IT!
Cole got this great hat from Nanny/Grandpa Smith, we all had to try it on and of course snap a photo. It has been on a lot of heads at this point and every one laughs quite a bit!Here the kids are showing off one of their gifts. Jo with a box make-up, though neither Oma nor I use make-up, I did my best to teach her not to gouge out the make-up with the brushes. And that “less = more”. I think she is getting it, at least we have not seen a face like a clown yet. And here is Cole! I mean Superman, or SuperColeman. He cracks us up with the detail he catches…he had to have the curl in his hair like the new Superman movie.This is our ride to Roseburg after gifts... We headed south for the afternoon and a one-night stay with my folks. We opened gifts there and had a very good meal with my family and then hung out, playing darts and visiting. Good end to the day.We have no photos after this…sad really because we were very busy. We left Roseburg spent one night at our home, did some laundry packed our bags again and headed to Jill’s folks for a few days. We got some wonderful visiting in and the kids got to play with their cousins. Ok… Jill and I did some van shopping while there and did buy and used 2006 Town & Country. Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

After two nights in WA we headed home, again for one night to do laundry and pack again. This time heading to Myrtle Creek to celebrate New Years. Whew…The kids got to hang out with friends and open gifts from Connie/Rachelle. A good time was had by all for the most part. New Years got a little loud for Oma and she sure didn’t like when I tried cheating at poker…though I think she only caught me twice. No hangover for Momma but the cigars kind of made me a little queasy the next day. I love New Years Eve!

Happy 2007 to you all and to all a GRAND year.

Just Days Till The Fat Man…

We have been busy with play, work, shopping and more play it seems. Very busy but all good!We walked to the corner of 14th to watch the Holiday Parade this month along with most of our block. We took a chair down for our neighbor Francis (sitting behind Jo) as well, and we all gathered in our warmest to watch all the floats pass buy. It was a long one this year but quite a bit of fun and I think the kids got more candy from this than they gathered at Halloween.Happy Birthday Oma!
We headed to Myrtle Creek for the weekend of Oma’s Birthday to watch the Truck Light Parade and then join in a Christmas party at the Grange Hall with Rachelle & Connie. The Light parade was GREAT! Recommend for next year! Wow!!! The party was a lot of fun as well with a family atmosphere that for me just feels like family since we know quite a few of the folks.A growing moment for Jo.
While listening/watching some music at the Christmas Party Jo saw a kid look through the curtain on stage. She asked me “Momma…can I go on stage to play?” and I told her, “After the singing was all done,” as I knew there were kids’ getting ready for the live nativity. Then another kid poked their head through the curtain and Jo got very excited…”Momma!…There are costumes on stage…Can I go pleasssse?” I then told her to go ask Connie…Jo did just that! The next thing we saw, Connie and Jo at the stage door…when the curtains were pulled…well…There she was…a lamb on stage and was she ever smiling! Ok…I almost cried! She wanted something, she asked for it and then actually did it! All on her own! She is the lamb on the right by the way.Our tree is up and the kids did an awesome job of placing decorations all over…asking to be picked up to put some at the top along with standing on the couch to reach up high. It sure is fun for me this year to watch the kids…they just “get” so much more and it makes me smile inside. (ok, as I reread this I am a real sappy mom…when did this happen?)I grabbed some sugar cookies from the store…cheating…they are already cut out and came with frosting. But the kids had a good time painting and eating the cookies…or was it just eating the frosting? About all the painting on Jo’s cookies you see here…that’s about all she painted…the brush was in her mouth more than on the cookies. Anyone want a cookie?The kids are done with school until after the first of the year and Oma is done on Wednesday.
I think we are ready for the holiday…Hope you are as well.
Stay warm and we wish you Love.