Finally!

We received what we were hoping for ... and then some ... a total of 12.5 inches! It was so much fun to wake up to a thick covering (not a leaf or blade of grass to be seen)! Ben jumped out of bed and peeked out his window ... he was so excited! We ate breakfast and started getting our gear on as soon as Nate laid down for a morning nap. The gear assembly took at least 1/2 an hour ... by the time we were all ready I was sweating and the kids were hot and had begun to take of their mittens and hats. Once we had all that finally together, we headed outside. Of course, Lauryn fell right away and her mittens became slightly dislodged. She started crying and immediately went back in ... refusing to come out because she was scared of the snow! Ben would not be deterred and ran out into it rolling, jumping, digging, eating and running! It was so fun to watch him. Eventually, Lauryn entered cautiously and had a slight bit of fun ... until her mittens became dislodged again! Our only snow mishap so far was when Sarah attempted to come into our driveway ... of course, she got stuck and since Ron was at work she and I had to attempt to get her unstuck. Thankfully, a kind passer-by stopped to help ... hope he didn't mind my kids laughing and yelling at us all the way from the front door! They got quite a kick out of Sarah being stuck in the snow. Since then, we decided if we wanted any visitors before March we should get it plowed. Now we have an awesome snow hill at the end of the driveway that we will attempt to navigate tomorrow! It's been beautiful to look at and great fun to play in and since temps are staying low, looks like we'll be able to enjoy it for awhile! :)

Holding our breath!

We have been waiting all winter for any significant snowfall and tonight may be the night it arrives! We started talking up all the things we could do in the snow last October. We had snowball fights, snowmen, sledding and snow angels hyped up and planned. And then we waited. And waited. Ben and Lauryn have attempted to play in the trace amounts we have received. Ron pulled them around the yard in a sled when we received about 1/2 inch ... but it's not quite as fun when you can still see the leaves and grass poking through! Instead of making giant snowman, our favorite outdoor Winter past-time is making tracks in the snow on the basketball court...I guess on a positive note that's one thing you wouldn't be able to do in 8 inches of snow! So, tonight could be the big night ... looks like they're predicting 6 inches over the next couple of days . (Jill - I'm sure that would seem like a Spring thaw to you all! :) ) We'll wait and see ...

Our attempts at making the most of the little amount of snow we have had this year!

Just one more ...

I could've put this under the last post but I thought it deserved it's own. I love the way Ben is constantly discovering, solving, thinking, observing and imagining. Unfortunately, sometimes, his active brain (and body) get him in to trouble. One evening after supper Ron and the kids were playing hide-n-seek in the house while I cleaned up. Ron was out in the family room counting and we got a little sidetracked chatting about the day and more than the standard 30 second hiding period had elapsed. We realized Ben was still hiding so Ron quickly raced to the back of the house saying, "Ready or not here I come" the next words out of Ron's mouth were "What are you doing, you know you shouldn't be playing with that." I could only imagine ... I walked back to see what had happened. By this time, Ben was sitting on his bed with his arms folded, looking down. He looked at me and and I was unable to stop what I'm sure was the complete wrong response on my part. Continuous laughter. He had opened a bottle of black liquid eyeliner and had painted over his eyebrows and started on the side of his face. The combination of black eyeliner on his fair face coupled with his bewilderment that this was not a good look for him made it impossible for me to stop laughing. I gave him a hug and said, "Buddy, why did you use Mommy's make-up?" His response was, "I wanted to paint like you." To which he looked in the mirror in his room, folded his arms and said, "I give up." I didn't laugh at that because it made me a little sad. But, I sure do love his constant discovering, solving, thinking, observing and imagining! By the way, so you don't think I'm a heartless mom, he wanted a picture in his swimsuit ...

It's the little things!

I'm sure those of you reading this (after another long period of silence from me) were expecting a snapshot of our wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas in review ... I'll try to get to that at some point because we did have a great time celebrating with our families!

But, instead, I thought I'd start by sharing things I get to enjoy everyday. A friend mentioned in a blog last year that she had been down and that her 3 yr old son seemed to have just the right things to say and do to cheer her up and give her a good laugh. I'm finding myself in the same boat right now. Whether it's just this time of year or the fact that I dwell on things that might be 'bugging' me as I'm standing over dishes and laundry, I also can say 3 yr old boys (and 2 yr old girls and nearly 1 yr old boys!) do indeed have just the right remedy for the blues! :) Just wanted to share some of the things I've seen this week that have made me laugh out loud!

One particularly uneventful evening we decided to make sock puppets. The kids thought these were great fun and then I got the idea (as I looked at my enormous basket of unmatched socks ... some of you have seen it and if disposable socks were ever invented I'd be first in line to buy them!) to put pantyhose on our heads. The kids were a little unsure looking at Ron at first but once they realized it was silly and not scary they joined in and wanted pantyhose heads, too. We HOWLED in laughter chasing each other around the house looking slightly disfigured!

Ben was on a kick this week to dig out swimsuits and swimming gear. Despite the freezing temperatures outside, he convinced Lauryn to wear her swimsuit and swimmies and carry around her beach towel. He even attempted to put Nate's suit on him when I wasn't in the room. He managed to get one of Nate's legs in the suit, which I thought was an accomplishment but was afraid to think of how he managed to do it! They pretended they were swimming at our neighbors pool most of the day.

Nate got in on the act, too, lounging by the pool.

(AKA a pile of dirty laundry)

And, finally, today when I woke up I noticed one very large, very black crow hovering around the trees at the very end of our yard. I'm not a big fan of birds of any kind but have softened a bit as we have several varieties visit our yard during the Spring and Summer. It's fun to share facts about them to the kids and they love looking for different birds in the trees. After breakfast I was looking out the window again and this time noticed about 30 very large, very black crows invading our yard down by the apple trees. They were very creepy to me but I didn't want to turn the kids off to nature (see cicaida posts from the summer :) ! ) so we looked up info on the computer and talked about them. We talked about what they eat, that they grow very large and that they are ALL black. We even opened a window so we could hear them caw! Have you ever heard 30 very large, very black crows caw all together? It was very interesting and a little eerily similar to a scene from Alfred Hitchcocks, Birds! Ben was fascinated! Later in the day he was looking out the window and noticed 3 large dark mounds of something by his swingset. He questioned me as to what they were ... I told him I didn't know but we could ask Daddy when he got home. He stood looking out the window for a long time ... thinking ... he came into the kitchen and declared to me, "I think it's crow poop." I laughed and laughed at his thoughtful answer. Why what else would deposit large, black mounds in the yard but large, black birds?

Congratulations, Ron!

After 4 years of lots of hard work Ron has become an ASA! He is officially on the list! Check it out at: http://soa.org/files/pdf/edu-2008-10-asa-names.pdf

I am very proud of him and thankful for him for lots of reasons ... but as it relates to this I'll just share a few things that come to mind...

*He left his chosen field of engineering in part to find a career that would challenge him differently, but I believe primarily to be able to provide for me in a way that would allow me to stay home with our kids but also so we could stay near my family, friends and the area I love!

*He took a leap of faith by taking a test and applying for a job as an acturial student when the odds seemed to outweigh the future opportunities (Thanks Brian for your help in this area!)

*He studied lots of extra hours while continuing to go to work everyday and helping me as much as he could.

*He didn't get discouraged when he didn't achieve the results he would've liked right away.

*He took initiative to learn new things, pursue new job opportunities and stayed focused on his goal!

*He worked hard to make this goal happen!

*He did all of this while being a newlywed, giving of himself to the teens in the youth group at FBC, having a pregnant wife (3 times) that required a lot of his help, having 3 newborns in the house (and then subsequently busy toddlers!), putting a house up for sale, moving 2 times and renovating a home!

I am very happy for him and excited he has achieved this goal! I look forward to seeing him become an FSA and helping him reach that goal, too!

Blog Comeback - Two Months in Review

Well - I've debated on how to make a blog comeback for several weeks now ... and before I debate any longer on the 'perfect' return post ... I better just get some stuff out there and get going again! (I hope some of you are still checking!)

We've had alot of fun this fall going to fall festivals, parades, the apple orchard, on hayrides and the pumpkin patch (three times!). Here's just a few photos of some of our adventures!

Nate picking his 1st pumpkin! (or attempting to stand upright for a few seconds so I could snap a photo!)

Lauryn enjoying a cider slushy ... we were supposed to be sharing but obviously the two straw method became a much more efficient way for her to slurp it down!

Attempting to leave a 15 acre corn maze ... did you know the sun sets really quickly! We ended up walking through the corn rows rather than following the maze. Poor Ron would not have made a good pioneer with his 3 small kids, wife and sister-in-law tagging along!

Day Two at the pumpkin patch ... Ron and Sarah spent FOREVER feeding these animals grass. I stood at a distance with Nate while we baked in the hot October sun armed with hand sanitizer. The animals kept eating and eating any piece of grass Ron, Sarah and the kids stuck by their mouths.

Ron and the kids enjoying a nice hayride (Pumpkin Patch trip #3) on a cold October night.

Lauryn, VERY enthusiastically cleaning out her pumpkin ... thanks to a catchy little tune Ron made up to make the smell and the feel of pumpkin guts not seem so gross!

Proud owner of a happy faced pumpkin ... later turned into a happy/scary pumpkin after he saw Lauryn and Ron's scary faced pumpkins.

Who needs toys ...

when you have great imaginations!

The kids were outside playing with their cousins the other day and after riding bikes and then swinging for awhile they decided to make up their own things to do. We took a little walk down to the fruit trees and they each picked a pear or an apple. Lauryn, of course, was chowing down on hers (I don't blame her ... I tried a ripe pear the other day and it was very yummy!) but the boys had another idea! They began poking sticks into the fleshy parts of the pears ... at first they thought they would make airplanes. However, the first attempt at flight landed in a crash and burn with flying sticks. The 'objects' then progressed to helicopters, fans and then spiders! I was pretty impressed with their great idea! So, they all got new pears, lots of skinny sticks and poked them into the sides of the pears for legs. They had a great time playing with the spiders, running with the spiders and even taking the spiders for rides on the neighbor's skateboard! I love watching them play!