Do Unto Others...

Alison was pretending her duck was taking a nap in the upstairs hallway. She had gone around and turned off all of the lights upstairs. John, who had been playing downstairs, decided he needed a Lego from his room. When he found out what she had done for her duck he turned every single light upstairs back on. This was done so he could find a Lego in his room. This was also done by John while Alison was downstairs telling me what she had done. Of course John came down and bragged how he turned them all back on because he thought Ducky should wake up. Alison left to go see the damage. Then John followed to continue to tease/ brag. Then I hear all hell break loose. I go running upstairs to see what is happening and find John crying like crazy because Alison had punched him in the arm. Alison was screaming at John for touching the lights. Needless to say they were both sent to their room to cool off.

I first approached Alison to get her side of the story. Yet all she can scream is "I hate my brother! I want a new brother!" over and over. Obviously, she is in no condition to talk so I turn on some calming music for her and leave the room. I next go into John's room. After hearing his rendition of what went down, I try to explain how they were both wrong. John is just not seeing it my way and can only focus on her punching him. So then I ask what he thinks should be done to solve this problem. His reply, "I think I should punch her because we should do unto others as they do to you!"

I start to crack up and then can't even think of the correct way to say it! Well, at least we know he is listening in church. And we also know that he is not hearing every word they say.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

One night while watching television, Mark and I saw a commercial for a collector's plate commemorating Barack Obama as the new President. Mark instantly thought of the two people in his life that would be the most thrilled about receiving such a gift, our fathers. So he decided to order a plate for each of them and have it shipped directly to their homes. Both have received their plates and are thrilled to have this memento to proudly display in their home for the next four years! To show his appreciation my father sent these photos for our viewing pleasure. They included the following captions; "Your Christmas gift has changed my life", "Some things are so desirable they are worth fighting for".

Christmas Day

This year we actually slept in a bit. John came in at 7:00 am and by 7:30 am we were all downstairs and starting to unwrap gifts. The chaos was finished by 9:30 am and the building of 6 Lego sets, and numerous girl toys began. We never got out of our pajamas! We had a nice day together and received a lot of wonderful presents.

John with a Nerf gun Mark got from Santa

Alison going through her stocking

Mark with his 2 Nerf guns from Santa. How did Santa know we would need 2?

The chaos of unwrapping and waiting your turn

Building one of 6 Lego sets

Having fun with new toys

Makeup artist in training

So beautiful

My new look courtesy of Alison

Finally playing with the new Legos. Yes, it really floats!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent eating food, playing games and of course, reading the story of Christ's Birth. When it was time for bed the kids got ready so fast! They were excited for Santa to come. On a side note, I know that all of you are jealous of my Christmas Sweater. Mark absolutely can't stand it! I made it when I was a teenager and so for pride reasons, and the fact that he can't stand it, I keep it. I proudly wear it every Christmas just to hear him casually ask me yet again, When did you get that sweater? Is that what you are wearing today? It also comes in handy when your friend tells you that she got invited to a "ugly" Christmas Sweater party and "do you have any thing I could borrow".

Joseph, Mary and Wise Man

Angel, Mary and Wise Man

Our Christmas Eve dessert: giant Fortune Cookie, Gingerbread Man

and other cookies

Yum!

Poor Gingerbread Boy, we caught you!

Arctic Blast Continues

Day 9. We are cold. We are tired of each other. We are tired of the house. We have over 15 inches of snow! It is still snowing and has been snowing all day long. Mark tried to get us out. He shoveled the driveway. Chained up my car and went halfway down the street. It is to deep, just to get out of the house. Not worth it. Car is back in garage. Shovel, regular one by the way- not a snow shovel- is put away. Is it wrong to celebrate Christmas tomorrow? That way kids can have something new to do. We are in desperate need of sunshine! Please send some ASAP!

Arctic Blast 2008

We are now in day 7 of Arctic Blast 2008! The awesome name was invented by the news channels. School was canceled all week, that means 3 weeks of Winter Break! It has been in the 30's all week and no sign of warming up until after Christmas. Sunday's snow freezed and lasted until Wednesday. By Friday the roads were clear and all snow was melted. When we woke up this morning, the ground was covered with a few inches of snow again. It snowed all day long! Then we got freezing rain! The top left picture shows the 2 inches we got of freezing rain on the fence top.



On Sunday we went outside for a while to crunch the ice and sink into the snow beneath it. It was a fun experience and time spent outside the house. We can now say with confidence "Cabin Fever"!

Snow Day

"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"! We woke up to snow this morning! We had a lot of fun playing in the snow together. Of course church was canceled. Snow here on the valley floor is not a common occurrence. So most things shut down. They do not plow or sand neighborhood roads, so you are left to your own devices. We had fun making snow angels, building a snowman, and having snow ball fights. Okay, I was not to willing or happy to participate in the snow ball fighting. I don't like to be cold! I just want to take pictures of everyone else having fun. I do like to go sledding though. Our friends came over to use our driveway, the best one for sledding in the neighborhood. So we got to use their sleds! A wonderful trade. Any time of the year I would tell you I have to much padding on my bottom. But going down an icy driveway in a plastic saucer, I would have to say that I do not have enough padding on my bottom! The kids had a blast! After about an hour in the driveway, we headed across the street to the community college to sled down the hill there. It was fast and fun! It started to blow and snow ice so we headed back home. What a fun day!