Tubing and other Randoms

We got some snow yesterday morning and so all the staff kids went tubing on the tube hill to pack it down, and get it ready for other tubing groups. Heidi had a blast and was up and down the hill as much as everyone else. Even Mason took a turn, with help, down the hill! The sad news is that after that it rained pretty hard for 7+ hours and so now we are back to hoping for more snow.

Heidi was supper tired!

my christmas lights outside!

Our christmas tree put outside!

Mason in his super hero pjs! He loves his banana :)

The spread for New Years Eve party. Lots of Thai food, yummy!

the kids all sat down to watch UP!

Danny fell asleep sitting up in the middle of playing with the pass the pigs game! Poor thing. He made it past 12am though!

Snow Camp

Christmas day was a very special time for us this year. We did not go anywhere and we spent it together as a family, just the 6 of us all day. The kids were so good and so patient ( I had been up until 3 am finishing a quilt for a friend of ours and the necklaces that I made the girls.) So I slept like a rock until 9am, and for some reason Chad did too! The girls then waited until I made breakfast (crepes) and then at around 10:30 we opened our presents!!!! The girls got lots of books and craft items. They did most of them that day :), and I think their favorite was the paint by numbers. Both Emma and Madison did really well on them! Heidi got another dolly with clothes and she spent lots of time playing with her. She also got her very own disney princess tea set which was an instant hit. She took it up stairs and played with it for at least and hour if not longer!!!! Chad got tools, socks and thermals, and amo which he found had gone down in price by 2/3's of what it had been! He was a happy boy this Christmas :) I got a new coffee mug to replace a few that the kids have broken, and a trainer for my bike so I can ride it inside her at home! I also got several picture frames that and an emersion blender!!! Made whipped cream in about 7 seconds = a very happy me!!!! Now on to bigger and better stuff SOUP here I come :). The most important thing was celebrating Jesus' birth. We really wanted to stress to our children that all the gifts and things were not as important as the gift of HIS birth and what that ment to us and everyone in the world. He has truely blessed us with a rich and full life, and for that we are thankful.

On Saturday we embarked on the grueling task of switching the girls bedroom with the play room, since they are hardly ever in the play room it made more sense to put the thre of them in the room that is twice as big as the bedroom the were in! We got everything switched and cleaned and sorted and lots thrown away and all vaccumed in 12 hours. We had some very tired little girls who did not even want to think about cleaning for a whole day. So since they worked so hard I gave them sunday with no chores except to clear the table and sweep the floor after meals the next day. That made them really happy, and now I am happy because the upstairs looks so much better!! (the downstairs is getting there!)

Tuesday started off with Teen Snow Camp where we had about 60 kids attend and today at 3pm starts the little kids snow camp and both Emma and Madison are going this year. I can not even begin to tell you how excited they are except that they have been asking for the last 24 hours if it was time to start packing their bags yet! They will have lots of fun tubing and playing with friends and learning more about God during chapels. Heidi will miss them terribly I am afraid....she does not like being apart from her sisters even for an hour, and absolutely hates sleeping in the room by herself so we will have to be creative tonight!!!

Madison's and Emma's necklaces

Heidi's necklace making christmas cookies and decorating them

crepes for breakfast!

Sheep Wrangling at it's Best

A friend sent me this in an email today and I thought that it was so cool that I would put it on my blog!

Winters Many Splendors

So for the last week and a half we have had lots of fog and mist in the air that has frozen to the trees. It has been so beautiful to see, and when the sun comes up in the morning or goes down at night we usually get the pink hues that have even taken Chad's breath away! All we can say is WOW. I took these pictures around camp and in our yard, but sometimes the picture just does not do it justice.

We had snow fall yesterday and today so now everything is more fluffy! Looking forward to getting out with the girls and cross country skiing!

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and now we are back to work and back to school. We had a wonderful weekend of family, eating with friends, sewing quilts and mending pants, staying up into the wee hours of the morning, and decorating the tree for Christmas! Now we must snap back to reality for a few more weeks before we get to do it all over again. This time of year is the hardest on our family because our extended family lives oh so far away from us.
This morning Chad was up extra early to get the roads plowed for everyone. We have about 7inches on the ground right now, but as I write this it is snowing some more...I am thinking feet and feet!!!! Tonight is football night and a few guys are coming over to watch with Chad. I am taking Emma and Madison to the pool to practice a few swim strokes, and blowing bubbles under water. Both girls are doing really well in their lessons. Heidi and Mason are becomeing fast friends and like to wrestle each other which is a hoot to watch. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mason Opening his Present #2

Mason Opening his present

Mason the Birthday Boy!

Mason is the happiest little boy. He loves balls and "the littlest Pet Shop" toys! He is all about putting anything and everything in his mouth. In fact he almost always has something in his mouth. He is tall enough to climb on the chairs and of course on the table! The table is his new fascination. He is trying to be a big boy and eat at the table, in fact he will throw a fit if he is not allowed to be at the table. He does not like it if I leave (of course) and boy does he have a temper if he doesn't get his way! He is also walking really well.

Bedroom and Bathroom Makeover

This was my project in our bedroom for the last week! I started in the bathroom and then did our bedroom. I am really happy about how it turned out, and it looks so much cleaner than before. The curtains still need to be picked out and hung to make it a little warmer feeling, but for the most part it is completed!

This is where I had picked out a grey blue color and it was much darker and bluer on the wall than I had expected so I had to go with the next color down, which as you can see looks a lot more white in color compared to what I had. You will see in the finished pictures though that it is still fairly blue looking.

This dresser was a lime green color that was sitting in my grandpa's barn, and my mom and I refinished it.

I have yet to find bedding that I want and I think that we are going to make a headboard as well, this is a quilt that a lot of my friends worked on for a wedding present for Chad and I.

Most of the art that I have on the wall is done by one of my friends who is gifted greatly in the artistic department!

The dresser on the right is a dresser that my friend gave me and I refinished it. I have to get a mirror put in still, but I think that it is absolutely beautiful.

Meteor Shower Leonites

While I copied this photo, and could not capture one of my own, I have the memories from this early morning adventure with my two oldest girls! I woke them up at about 12am and we got ready and went outside at around 12:15am, but the trees in our yard did not permit us to see very much, and since it was -5 below zero, we came in to warm up got some tea, and sat around the fire for a few minutes. While we did this I showed them some pictures of what the shower would most likely look like and some of the constellations around leo so we had some reference points to look at. Then we jumped in the car and drove down to wagon train turned the car due east and sat there waiting for the shower to begin!!! By 1am we had each seen 2 or more and so I am calling it a night! If we actually wake up at 5am I might try and see some more since that is when it peaks and they are predicting hundreds to fall then, but I highly doubt that I will :). This is definately a night to remember, again we get the privilage of God's amazing creation right at our fingertips.

A Soup Party

On Thursday I had my friends over for a soup party. What we did was each make a soup and bring it for the rest to try out, and in theory when the party was done we could take home our favorite soup in a tupperware bowl. However, most of the soup was eaten and everyone just took home their soup! We had a wonderful time visiting, drinking tea, and filling our bellies with the soup. We had: Coconut and Red Curry Chicken Bisque, Tomato Pesto soup, Halibut Chowder, completely homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, Chiang Mai Noodle Soup, homegrown Tomato Bisque, and Mexican Lime Chicken soup. We also had fresh homemade french bread and homemade zucchini bread! I am ready to do another party like this, because it was so fun trying to decide which soup to try first, and how to try them all!

This was the Chiang Mai Noodle soup, which was made with coconut milk and red curry paste (and a few other ingredients) with noodles and various toppings. This was definately a favorite amongst everyone!!!!

Emma is 7

Emma had the privilage to have two parties this year. One at home with just our family and one a couple of days later with her friends! For the second birthday party we played in the hay tunnel and then Chad led the kids on a scavenger hunt to find all the plates, forks, hats, and a special surpise at the end before they ended up at the Wagon Train Cafe for cake and opening presents. Then after that Chad went outside with the kids and lead a few games of kick the can! The mom's got to stay inside and keep warm by the fire, and we were all appreciative! I think Emma had a wonderful time, although I think one of the biggest highlights was being able to get her ears peirced! She was so brave, and didn't shed a tear....even laughed while they did it, and now has pretty blue earings to show for it. So some of her presents were new earings and she is having a hard time waiting for the 6 weeks to be up so she can start wearing all of them.


Emma and Jordan were more interested in roping the fake cows than entering the hay tunnel at the time.

Mason got into the festivities too!

The kids examining all the candy that is in their bags!!!!

Emma opening a present from Jordan. She absolutely loved everything she got!

I made two cakes this year because of the amount of kids......this year Emma wanted flowers and a rainbow. I remeber when I was her age that I wanted the same thing with a pond and a deer. I will have to make my mom dig up that picture so I can share it with you.