Elizabeth is so quick to learn and enjoys it. A couple of weeks ago she said "I am drawing a heart!" A few minutes later I look over and sure enough a two year old drawn heart was there. Perfectly formed lines? No, but recognizable for sure. I started collecting “preschool” books before I was even married. The other day I cleaned out a cabinet and found some books that I acquired at some point in the last six years. They are erasable and help the kiddos learn how to control the writing by tracing lines, half moons, diagonals, shapes, and eventually letters. Elizabeth has been intently working in her “fun book”. I hope I can teach her to always love to learn.

Snow Days

Snow, Snow, Snow! Just yesterday Elizabeth said in a pouty voice “Mommy, I wasn’t the snow back.” “Why” I asked, somewhat glad to see it gone. “So I can play in it!” I guess that was a silly question for me to ask now wasn’t it? Both of the girls LOVED playing in the snow and sledding.Being trapped at home because of the snow was always fun for me as a kid. As a matter of fact as soon as the snow stopped I played for hours outside. Snow days are different as a mom of little ones. I tried to set aside time to do some of my snow day things….cleaning. Oh wait! Cleaning is what I do every day. Oh, that’s right, Snow days are different when you are a mom of little ones! Actually I was very grateful to be at our house with power during the entire storm. We were able to maintain pretty normal life since we are at home anyway. Brandon stayed here too, which is a challenge for him. He kept himself busy by installing Windows 7 on our computer. I was proud of him. The sun finally found its way out of the clouds and melted it all way. The ground is still soaking wet though. It had almost dried up from the Christmas snow when the next one came in and we have had several days of winter mix with grey skies. On the bright side maybe the spring will be beautiful and extra green. I am trying to look at the bright side of things and use this time to cook away in the kitchen; something I enjoy but is rather unpleasant in the heat of the summer. So here are a few pictures of our snow day with the Werners.

We went to Braums for lunch and a treat before "hiting the slopes".

Katherine would start crying as soon as I touched her feet to the ground to get off of the sled. They just wanted to go over and over again. In this picture she looks scared. I think she is an adrineline junkie because as soon as we stopped she would laugh and then of course cry when I sat her down.

Brandon made it down the whole way snowboard style!

Britt and Lauren

Jonny

Crazy Kiddos at heart

Justin

Lizzy (Click to see her face)_

Special Memories

Lizzy and Jazzy Dancing

Elizabeth and her cousin Jasmine breaking it down!

Lasts Weeks Post :)

I took the kiddos to the zoo last Monday. They have free admission every Monday through February. I figured it would be a little crowded being “free” day but I did not take into account it was also Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It is a little challenging to steer a stroller through all those crowded zoo streets.

I also discovered that the designers of the zoo made the streets to have more inclines than declines. If you don’t believe me next time you go take a double stroller, your legs will tell you the same thing. It seemed to help if I got a running start. Although I had to be inconspicuous about it because that would look totally ridiculous to all those not pushing a stroller; those pushing would understand. However it was equally ridiculous to have my body at a 90 degree angle, head down, arms fully extended, digging my feet into each step trying to make it out from in front of the pachyderm exhibit. Sheesh….all I could imagine were the security people watching the camera view, which is most definitely posted there for their mere entertainment at the show of an out of shape mother pushing or pulling her load of children up the hill.:) We had an amazing time. When I told Elizabeth we were going she was SO excited. This was only her second zoo visit and I don’t think she remembers the first one. We brought a little picnic lunch and had a great time.

We met some friends there which also made it more enjoyable. The fresh air was invigorating as it truly was a beautiful day! Only one thing could have made it better and that would be having daddy there with us. Although we differ in our fresh air appreciation and I am certain Brandon would not have enjoyed it quite as much as I. Not to mention the pushing of the stroller would have been his job. :) Having time together still would have been fun and the girls LOVE their daddy!

Cuteness Quoted:
Elizabeth(randomly states): Mommy my birthday is coming up.
Mommy: Yes, but it is still going to be a while. What do you want for your birthday?
Elizabeth: To get presents.
Mommy: What do you want your cake to taste like?
Elizabeth: Umm…
Mommy: Vanilla, Chocolate, strawberry, vanilla with sprinkles?
Elizabeth: I want Chocolate WITH sprinkles!
Mommy: Do you want Dora to be on it?
Elizabeth: Oh, it would make me SO, so happy to have Dora cake AND presents for my birthday!

Sorry I missed last weeks post. I had it ready to go on Monday but Tuesday media night was cancelled because I was sick and went to bed at 8:00. The rest of the week was spent passing a virus around and lots of middle of the night throw-ups. YUCK! I am very happy to report we all seem to be on the up swing. Brandon is still recovering. Hope everyone stays warm this weekend!

I don’t have much time tonight for a long update because we have been working on some other things. I wanted to post this most recent cake I made with the help of some friends for Taylor’s 16th birthday party! It was a lot of fun and let me just say I am glad that cakes don’t have to be perfect! Because while it may look decent in the picture the flaws were many!

Cuteness Quoted:

Elizabeth (said in sweet tones) – Mommy, I’m glad you’re here with us because I love you!


I am glad to be here with you too sweet girl!

Katherine's First Birthday

Happy Birthday, Katie-Kate! This video is of Katherine's first birthday party.

Savanna Saying "Grandaddy"

Savanna is our little one-year old niece. She is a cutie! This is a video of her saying "Grandaddy" in her own special way :)

October - January

Here I am again, more than a little behind on updating the blog. This year I am going to try to be a more faithful blogger; meaning updating at least once a week. :) We have had a busy and fabulous last few months of the year! Here it is in a nutshell.

October first and foremost was Brandon’s birthday month. Each year he claims a birthday month rather than a birthday day because, well, really I think he thinks he is just that special. :) It is actually a running joke and we have a lot of fun with it. This year I tried to give Brandon a real birthday month by gifting him something each day. I would say it was a success and he really enjoyed it. I know I enjoyed it! Although I told him not to expect a birthday month again!

Throughout the month I would always blame the gift giving on the birthday month fairy. So on Brandon’s actual birthday we had a small get together. When we were there suddenly appeared a pink gift with my name on it. Apparently the “birthday fairy” had gotten me a gift; A NEW CAMERA. I was really surprised…which is a big deal for Brandon. The camera is a Nikon D-40 with a lens that goes from 18- 200 mm. I am trying to learn more about all of the features and I plan to take a class at Bakers in a month or so.

Watching him sky dive was one of my personal favorites!

Then in November we had Katherine’s first birthday. I made her a worm cake to dig into and then I made butterfly cupcakes for all of the guests to eat. I did this to represent what Katherine is now (a little worm) and what I hope she becomes (a butterfly). She keeps mommy on her toes but I won’t give up. Daddy does a great job helping with her discipline too. She enjoyed her cake a lot after I helped her taste the first bite.

After that we were wisked right into the holidays. Thanksgiving celebrations were lots of fun. We always have lots of holiday celebrations to attend since all of our family is local. This is a great blessing but makes for busy holiday seasons. We tried to schedule days specifically for resting. I think that was wise and certainly enjoyed.

When we had Thanksgiving at my parents we were eating our big meal around 2:30 which is the kids nap time. We thought if the girls ate earlier we could actually sit down together and enjoy each others company. We had planned on giving the girls what we were eating but it wasn’t quite ready so we made them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It was so cute when they came out and sat at their little table. My mom had place settings for everyone and the girls were so excited. Jasmine said with excitement, glee and complete satisfaction in her voice, “is this our thanksgiving dinner?” We said “yes it is” to which she replied, “Happy Thanksgiving”!

We put up our Christmas tree a few days after Thanksgiving. Lizzy helped us and had a great time! We have a little stuffed animals, similar to a beanie baby, of Rudolph and Santa. Elizabeth thought Rudolph was a dog, understandably so. But when she pulled out Santa the excitement level in her voice rose as she exclaimed “NOAH!!!” It was so funny. We tried to explain to her that is was Santa Clause but she would not believe us and not once during the entire Christmas season did she refer to the little Santa as Santa. It always remained Noah.

Our Christmas celebrations were so much fun. We celebrated a week early with my parents because my sister and her family were going to be out of town.

The Christmas Eve service at the church was cancelled because of the Christmas blizzard. Yes, we have finally had a white Christmas! It was rather strange with 3 foot mountains of snow up against buildings and walls but yet grass still showing in the yards. We stayed the night at Brandon’s parents house because we spend Christmas day with them and if we had stayed the night at home we couldn’t have got there in the morning. There were definitely memories made!

Brandon and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary on New Years Eve. We had a great time together downtown. We stayed in the same hotel we stayed at on our wedding night. It is on the same street as the ball so we walked down just a few minutes before the New Year to watch it and the fireworks display. As soon as the New Year came in there were a group of guys that got into an all out fist fight. They were just a few people away from us. It was crazy. Fortunately it didn’t last long and we were able to enjoy most of the fireworks display uninterrupted. Which was amazing by the way!

Now we are getting back into the swing of things. One thing Brandon and I are doing is what we call media night. Each Tuesday night he comes home and after dinner we sort pictures, edit pictures, capture home videos, make videos, update the blog, etc. This will hopefully keep our media under control.

Well I think that is quite enough rambling for this post. See if I keep up with the blog you get more interesting stories and less rambling.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!