Day 6 of Snow

Will it ever go away?

Alyssa having a snack

Audrey eating from her hat strap

The girls can't seem to get enough sledding in...yesterday night we ventured out and bought a new sled! It works great in the compact stuff and they love spinning around on it.


One of my favorites! If only I hadn't gotten snow on the camera lens. Oops!

More Snow Activities

Here is what we were up to yesterday!

Dad and Madison on their cross country skis!

Katelyns turn

Katelyn and Dad working on building a starting hill for sledding

Dad and Madi taking turns on the snow jump they made in the backyard!

Frosty!

Dad dumping snow on Madison

Lots, and Lots More Snow--Videos

So, since the last 6.5" we got, I think we probably got at least that much more on top of the base. I am guessing probably about 14-15"! It snowed almost all day yesterday. Its hard to believe, but so much fun for the kids and SO beautiful! To be honest, I am getting cabin fever and really want to be able to do some shopping or just go get a latte! I think I might attempt it tonight with our AWD Subaru. I am stuck at home during the day while Eric is at work with our "snow" car, but tonight might be my last chance to escape before Christmas and the next snow round comes (apparently tomorrow).


This video was shot the other day when we went sledding at a neighbors home with some friends. The only thing we were missing was a rope tow!:>)

Audrey and her friend sledding

Katelyn doing a 360 on the sled

Madison pulling her weight!

Winter Wonderland!

Wow, we have quite the winter wonderland at our house. On Thursday we got over 6.5" of snow! We have all been loving it and it is amazingly beautiful. I keep saying I feel like we are living in the mountains. No sign of it melting in the near future either, and we are bracing for a huge windstorm (60mph expected) and more snow for Sunday! We are digging in!!!

In our backyard...


Our home...

Alyssa and Audrey LOVE it!

Katelyn being her silly self and Madison posing in our back forest.

The train, the Train!

Last weekend we took Alyssa and Audrey to see Santa at Town Center where we have taken the kids since moving back to WA (4 1/2 years ago). Madison and Katelyn decided they no longer want to sit with him after having a new understanding about Santa (if you know what I mean). Anyway, the twins didn't want anything to do with him either, so sorry, no other pictures with Santa this year.:>(

However, Alyssa and Audrey and Katelyn really wanted to ride on the train they have there. They LOVE trains! Madison and I went shopping while the rest of them went on the train. Yikes, my oldest is growing up way too fast!

Madison's Christmas Piano Recital

Last Sunday Madison had her first "formal" piano recital where she played in front of adults and not just kids. She has been playing now since last spring. The recital was at her piano teacher, Ms. Julie's home. She did a lovely job and we are so proud of all that she has accomplished with it and her dedication to it. She played 2 songs:

• Its a Small World After All

• Frosty the Snowman

She has officially passed Mom up on what she knows about music now! It amazes me how much young kids can learn. Keep it up Madi!

Time to decorate the tree!

Saturday morning the girls got to decorate the tree all by themselves--their favorite thing to look forward to. This year was the first year I let them do it all by themselves without worrying about the fragile ones. They are getting SO big!


In their Christmas jammies and hair curlers!

A Visit with Santa

This last weekend we went and did a few festivities that we usually try and do over Thanksgiving weekend, but weren't able to due to being sick. The first was a visit with Santa at Molbacks. We take the girls there every year to let them pick out their own Christmas ornament that has some sort of significance for the particular year. Katelyn chose a horse ornament this year and Madison a piano. It just so happens that Santa is always there to to have a picture with and get a candy cane from.

Alyssa and Audrey didn't want to sit with Santa this year (we could barely get Alyssa to sit with Katelyn even), so this was the best we could do. Poor Santa!


Audrey tells me she wants to see Santa again, but thats just b/c she wants another candy cane.:>)


My sweeties eating a Christmas Kringle--yummy!


Alyssa loved the jungle themed area they had at Molbacks!

Merry Christmas

Our life for the last 10 days....

This is why I haven't blogged in SO long...my entire family has been very sick for the last 10 days and it appears we are now on the mend (at least I hope so!).

It started the day before Thanksgiving last week with Alyssa getting the yucky stomach bug and then the next day Audrey getting it. It was the first time for both of them, and it was terrible. On top of that, they both had fevers of 102-103. That Friday, Katelyn got it and then Madison. In between all of that mess though, we were all very house bound and decided to risk going out and enjoying some type of Christmas festivities in the fresh air! We went to Bellevue Square Mall and partook in Snowflake Lane. The girls loved it and it helped us all get our minds off of where we had been! That night though as were coming home, Alyssa started screaming and complaining that her ear hurt. She had gotten her first ear infection and then a bad cold to go along with it. That was not a fun night! Of course, 2 days later Audrey got it. Then, Wed. it was Mom's turn. And...Thurs. night it was Dad's turn. Hopefully, we are done for rest of December now!

Madison and Katelyn reluctant to "pose" with Rudolph and the Polar Bear.

Dad and his big girls!

Audrey and Alyssa enjoying their peppermint lollipops. Peppermint is good for your tummy right!?

A New House Look

I haven't been good about putting pics up on our blog when we have completed remodeling all the various parts of our home...but I am starting now since I know many of you would like to see! Here is a before and after shot of the front of our home. My husband has been amazing me with all of his talent, and so far has done it almost all on his own with some help from his Dad's.:>) I think he could easily have his own business, although he says this house is about all he cares to update. Of course, this is a second job for him too right now. He works on this some nights after work and many, many weekends. That part is challenging with four children. But, the money we are saving is huge! We couldn't afford to do it any other way.

This was what the front looked like when we moved in.


Here is the front right side where we have 2 bedrooms. There were slider doors there for some odd reason with an enclosed porch! We thought it was the ugliest thing!


Here it is now! Porch removed, sliders removed and all windows replaced. We are happy with how it turned out. At some point, we need to update the landscaping around it and we would like to put cedar shake material on the bottom portion of the house along with a porch area under our living room, but thats on the back burner for now. Our current project is remodeling our rec room in the basement.

Thanks babe for all of your hard work--your family loves you SO much!

Is this how you play kitchen?

So, this afternoon I layed the twins down for a nap as I routinely do and then went outside to blow our driveway of all the leaves and cedar droppings---wow, what a mess I tell yah! Anyway, as I turned around in my driveway back towards the house I looked at the bedroom window where the twins room is and saw them doing this to the next degree.

Of course, I had to stop blowing and start bookin'! I ran in with my camera (of course) and found them like this. They had taken it down a notch in this picture--probably b/c they knew I was coming.:>) By that I mean, they were on the top of this kitchen with their buns and feet pressed against the window! "Lord have mercy" was all I could think, and "please don't break our brand new window!" I needed more than mercy though..I also needed a much larger dose of patience! Today about topped their most mischievous days. Lets just say that aside from climbing onto the top of this kitchen, they had also taken all of their items out of their closet (including the things on the top shelves), thrown it all over the floor and apparently were trying to discern what monkey behavior was like sitting atop a wire shelf about 5 ft. up! Even their garbage can contents was dumped on the floor!:>( Since this afternoon, we have moved the kitchen to an inner wall away from the window and A.&A. received a pretty good dose of discipline.:>(

I will now admit that having twins is a bit more than I bargained for! I mean, I really do love them SO much and its amazing how God graces you with continuous love for each child brought into your life, but my days lately have been so challenging that I would sum it up by saying..."Lord, please grant me MORE PATIENCE!" Oh, and maybe I should never blow the driveway off again either (I will tell Eric that anyway).:>)

Messy...but Fun!

Alyssa and Audrey are becoming such big girls and are loving all kinds of messy art!




This is shaving cream--I heard about this at one of my MOPS meetings. We squirted some out on a tray and let them go to town. They LOVED it as you can tell!

Deer Central

This is one of the reasons why I love living in our neighborhood. At least once a week, we see this type of thing just "chilling" in our yard. We caught them the other day hanging out, so I snapped this picture. I was watching a neighbors daughter, so her and A.&A. and I watched the deer for almost 20mins....mesmerized.:>)

Our Budding Artist

Last week when I was at school volunteering as the Art Docent for K.'s class, I checked out their artwork they had hung in the hall. I was SO impressed with K.'s artwork that I had to take a picture of it to show Eric. I thought you would all enjoy it as well. I was so impressed that my 6 year old drew this--the detail is amazing! I am not sure my rendition of this would look much better.

Family Birthday Party/Halloween Costume Party

On Sunday we headed over to the Kitsap area for a family party night. It was Eric's birthday on the 29th and his brother-in-laws on the 31st. So, for the last couple of years we have done a combined birthday/costume party. Its always lots of fun and fun to see what everyone comes up with too.


Getting the twins to cooperate for a good pic was well, "challenging!"

This year our family went with a theme. I'll let you guess what it was.:>)

Here are all the cousins eating! We need 2 tables now.

Halloween Festivities

On Halloween, the twins and I were able to go to Katelyns 1st grade parade at her school and then eat lunch with her in the cafeteria (a big surprise for her). Right after Katelyns lunch, it was Madison's lunch time. We stayed with her too--the twins loved it and felt like such big girls sitting with all the big kids.

That night, we went to our friends house for dinner and trick-or-treating. Alyssa and Audrey had a great time and now everytime they hear a doorbell, they say "treat...candyeee....."