December Already???

I have really been bad at keeping up with this lately. With all the Christmas commotion I just haven't found the time to add to this. Here is a quick run down of what we have been up to.

I guess I will start with Thanksgiving: During the Thanksgiving break we tackled yet another painting project. We decided since Joe's office would be closed for a few days we would paint 4 rooms. However it turned out to be a little bigger project than we had anticipated. We ate drank and slept paint for 5 days straight. We peeled wallpaper and washed walls and then painted our little hearts out. The kids were so good they made tents played games watched movies with popcorn and just hung out in the lobby while we painted. All in all I think we may have chosen a color that is a little too dark. We will see after Christmas. They are putting in some different flooring. I am hoping that will lighten it up a bit. ( I don't have a before picture but think floor to ceiling 80's wall paper and you will have a good idea of what it was before.)

We shared Thanksgiving dinner with a family from our Church. We had all the usual yummy holiday food. Complete with the fabulous turkey that Joe cooks every year. And we had a large variety of yummy pies. And to think I wonder where those extra pounds I am adding to myself come from during this time of year! We have a lot to be thankful for this year. It was nice to spend a day and reflect on the many blessing we have received this year.

We put together a work Christmas dinner. Which turned out well. We served a nice dinner for Joe's employee's. I bit off a bit more than I could chew with sick kids, and lots of holiday things to attend. I was so grateful to have my friend Lori help me out. She made the rolls and some fabulous Christmas cookies for me as well as letting me borrow all of her bowls and platters etc. She also had the cutest idea for a hot cocoa bar for dessert. It turned out really fun with ALL of the fun things you can add to hot cocoa. We found a very tasty homemade cocoa recipe online that was so yummy!

I have to say I think my blood got nice and thin in Kentucky. It has been in the negative numbers for over a week and is going to continue. Brrrrrr, I thought for sure at -20 the kids would not have school. ( Not the case! We got spoiled in Kentucky. At the thought of snow they would cancel. Needless to say the girls were quite disappointed they had to go. I felt bad about sending them on the cold bus, so I took them to school. I don't think I will make that mistake again. It is darn cold out!! Plus they huddle on the bus right???? Due to this awesome weather we now have a permanent pet rabbit in the HOUSE! We felt so sorry for her outside plus we couldn't keep her water from freezing! She thinks she has won the lottery and the kids actually do interact with her a lot more.

I had a bit of a run in with the garage door! It hasn't been working properly and we had already had one ordered. ( apparently a week too late!) It didn't go up all the way but it did go above the back window. I no longer have this piece on the back of my van! Maybe SANTA can bring me this for Christmas!

So in review of what I have written it doesn't sound like I have been all that busy. But somehow my time gets whittled away. We are officially done Christmas shopping. ( It is a good thing too, since Christmas is only 4 days away!) We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of SANTA. The girls ask daily (almost hourly) if they can open just ONE present. We are also excited to go home and visit family. Hopefully the weather will cooperate enough that we can do that.

Well with my recent "Lack of Blogging" I highly doubt there will be another update before Christmas!
I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Random Mommy Moments

In lou of the up coming election Kaitlyn has been hearing the voting chatter from school and such. She came home and said " Mom if Obama wins he is going to MAKE us go to school at night AND on Saturdays!"
I haven't heard that one yet!

Today I was at shop-ko and I lost Madelyn, or at least I thought I had. My cart was piled high with paper towel diapers and T.P. And I had my phone glued to my ear. I was frantically calling her name and searching clothing racks, looking everywhere EXCEPT for the front of the cart where she was hanging on obediently wondering what the fuss was all about.

Jenna has been extremely caught up in a small discovery she found today. "MOM I have a space between my teeth!" Mom:" We all have space between are teeth. Jenna:" But I have NEVER had space between my teeth before......"

I sure love these little munchkins!!

I had just finished telling my Visiting teachers how good Madelyn was. That she doesn't really destroy things like my others did. I came down stairs to see SOFA ART!! Yup with a pen! I think while the words were coming from my mouth she was happily scribbling all over my couch!! ( Thankfully it is brown and most of it has come out.....or at least it blends in with the dirty spots!)

Madelyn's new haircut

Madelyn got her first official haircut last week. I think it turned out cute and the "Say Cheese" face is an added bonus!

Fit for a Queen

So with all of that snow we got, Joe and the girls were busy. Or should I say mostly Joe and the girls were busy playing. They spent several hours working on it. What a great Daddy! He even has to make girlie snow forts! Poor guy!

I must also add that this was my kind of snow storm. I was so bummed that it snowed that much so early in the year. It was perfect though. It snowed over the weekend, we played in it, and by Thursday the next week it was gone! Apparently that much snow is not a common occurrence here in Billings. So Jamie S. you could totally live here!!

Snow, Snow and more SNOW

So on Friday it started to snow, by the end of the day this is what we had.

By Saturday we had a little more snow and it just kept on snowing.

By this morning we woke up to THIS! They even canceled church this morning.

Joe and the girls had fun making a sledding hill in our yard to go down. They played outside for nearly 2 hours. And it is still snowing. We could see up to 9 more inches today. Apparently my idea of a MILD winter is a bit different than those that live here in Montana. This is nuts! The kids have loved it though. It seems a bit early for me. Now that there is snow I am ready for Christmas decorations and the new year! It might be a long 3 months till Christmas!

And to think just one week ago this is what we were enjoying!

More random thoughts

I have been meaning to post this for a while. Joe built a little playhouse for Madelyn out of her closet. It turned out so cute, and she really loves it. I have a video of her dancing circles in the play house singing "My playhouse, My playhouse... too cute.Joe is getting quite handy at making things. In fact we felt sorry for our poor rabbit when it started to snow. She didn't have anywhere to get out of the weather. So Joe built her a nesting box so she could get out of the wet and cold. Meanwhile Sally the bunny got to hang out in the house and be spoiled in this container. I kind of felt bad sending her back outside.
And while it was getting chilly outside many little critters were trying to find a warm spot to hide. This is what I found on my back step.

The girls took bowls out side to make "Ice cream snow sundae's". What kid doesn't eat snow! I am hoping after seeing a mouse run all over their sundae maybe they will change their minds.

Random thoughts......

It is official I am getting worse and worse at blogging. I am now so behind and have so many things I wish I would have recorded. 

  I guess I will start with the highlight of my day. As many of you are aware it is general conference weekend. A time to hear the words of our beloved prophet, and spend time with your family. As the Saturday afternoon session started the primary children's choir started singing I am a child of God. The girls were upstairs playing and had sat through most of the first session. As they started to sing Madelyn came running out of her room and almost forgot to stop at the top of the stairs. Grinning from ear to ear saying "dats my song"!! She came down and did not move while the kids sang that song. Kaitlyn and Jenna weren't far behind. 

  I guess I just found myself really loving my family this weekend. We went on a little family outing last night with some friends. We thought it was A corn maze, turned out there were 3. They had so many fun things a big slide, a train pulled by a 4 wheeler, these Go cart/bikes and a petting zoo.  I remember sitting on the train holding Madelyn and hearing all of the little kiddos laughing hysterically from all of the bumps. the sound of laughter filled the sky. (It really was a lot of fun!) I honestly don't remember the last time I laughed like that, and really just enjoyed myself. My kids are growing up so fast, it makes me so sad. 

  I realized today that I think we have reached the next phase in things. As Joe headed off to the priesthood session, ALL us girls went shopping! (Well window shopping at Toys r us!) My 2 oldest girls have left the dolly and make believe phase for make up, Hannah Montana, and electronics I know nothing about! I kept saying this is fun.... and they would reply "yeah Madelyn would really like that Mom"!  Just the other day Kaitlyn said with a look of disgust "Mom... Your WEIRD"! I am sure it isn't the last time I will hear that, but it stung just a little. I realized I only have a few more years before I won't KNOW anything, and won't be COOL enough to hang out with them anymore.  So for now I am trying to savor every moment I have.....