Oh Christmas tree

Well, we've had our tree up since the beginning of December and I finally got around to taking some pics of it. Decorating the tree is one of the kids's fave things to do. Spencer was totally into it this year. Here's what it looks like lit up.

Another fave thing the kiddos enjoy is snow painting. It's a lot of fun and fairly enexpensive. What you need:

A spray bottle

Water

food coloring

Snow

This'll keep 'em busy for a while!

Snow is falling....

and falling. We have gotten at least 36 inches in a 24 hour period. The kids were totally ecstatic when they found that there wasn't any school today. This is a view from our diningroom, looking into the backyard.It took us probably an hour to get everyone bundled up but it was worth it.As you can see,they are thoroughly enjoying the snow.

My fix-it man!

The wait for the plumber yesterday was irritating Rob. He's not one to just sit around and wait for someone else to fix a problem. So he decided to go outside in the 7degree coldness and try to remedy things himself. Rob tore off the soffet(?) from the overhang under the master bedroom. Put in some more insulation, filled cracks with foam and put a plastic cover on for a vapor barrier. When all was done he'd been out in the cold for two hours! About 15 minutes later the hot water was running again. Ten minutes later the plumber showed up. When Rob told him that it was working again, the plumber's eyes nearly popped out of his head with disbelief. Between reinsulating and the warmth from the furnace things fixed themselves thanks to my do-it-yourself hubby.

Blessings

Today we found that our hot water pipes had frozen. In the day to day business of life we do tend to forget how important the little things in our lives are. I realized that until the situation is remedied we cannot take a hot bath, my washing machine won't work without hot water and you can't wash dishes very well with cold water. This has made me stop to think that it doesn't take much to throw your life into complete chaos. We are very grateful for a house with heat, food in our fridge, clothes to wear and most importanly we thank our Heavenly Father for all that we have. May you all be warm and safe this Christmas and throughout the winter.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas lights

I finally got tired of waiting for Rob to put the lights up on the house. So Jessi and I took the ladder,some lights and a staple gun, climbed onto the roof and put the lights up ourselves. Go girls!

Festival of Trees

Every year Coeur d'Alene holds the Festival of Trees. This year Jessica got to perform with her school's special choir at the Festival. The picture isn't too good butJessica is in the top row just to the right of the center.

We took Emily and Alexis with us. There was an area with kids activities.Emily and Lexi got their faces painted.

The reason for it being called the Festival of Trees is that there are about 25 trees that are decrated in different themes that are auctioned off to benefit local charities. This one is done up in an ocean theme....

this one is done in a "time" theme, there were clocks in the tree......

here we have all sorts of snowmen, my favorite.....

here we have a disco themed tree......

There were others but these were my faves.

Food, fun and family

The week of Thanksgiving kept us very busy this year. We started off with parent/teacher conferences. Jessica has empressed us mainting straight A's while having a few estra cirricular activities. Her teachers says that she works hard and is glad to have her in his class. Alexis is doing well also. she is a little behind in her reading fuency but with a little practice she'l be reading like a pro in no time. Kaylei, well what can I say? SHe is ahead of the majority of kids in her class. She is going to be in a reading group for kids who already know all of the letters and their phonics. Tuesday we went shopping to get our baking supplies for pies, brownies and pumpkin bread(my favorite). Wednesday we baked our goodies. Emily and Kaylei helped out (mostly by licking the bowl). We baked two batches of brownis, one regular size loaf of pumpkin bread and seven mini loaves. Thursday we went to Rob's Aunt Susie's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Their were over 50 family members there! All had a wonderful time playing with cousins. Friday I headed out at 4:30 in the morning to brave Black Friday shopping. To my surprise there wasn't hardly anyone out this year, here anyway. Oh yeah, we brought our niece Ella home with us after Thanksgiving and had aher with us until Sunday morning. We enjoyed having her! Then Friday night, Grandma Lyn and Aunt Cherie joined us and we went downtown Coeur d'Alene for the Festival of lights parade and Lighting ceremony. We saw one of the best firework displays ever. Then they lit up the resort, boardwalk and surrounding area with over 30,000 Christmas lights. It was a wonderful way to start off the Christmas season.