Heavenly Peace

Ahhh, sleep baby sleep.

And then there is crazy sleeper Kaleb....about to scoot off his bed.

We had a christmas party with the Janeways. The older kids got to decorate their own cookies. I think they ate more than they decorated, but they had a great time.

I just have to throw in this pic of our "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree". We hope some day to invest in a really pretty one. Like the ones you see in the magazines or tv. But I never think about it until the next year and then we need the tree "now". I waited this year on putting up the tree for multiple reasons.....I think the #1 reason is for embarrassment. It really is pretty scrawny. I also put it off due to 3 babies under the age of 1 and I just didn't want the added challenge. So this week I only have 1 baby a day...much better and so the tree went up. However, how sad is it that I'm ready to take it down already....after what, 2 days.

Cookies Anyone??

Time for holiday baking. The kids made sugar cookies and had a ball. Except they kept eating the dough....great memories. Tonight we decorate gingerbread cookies and our houses. More candy eating too I'm sure.

More Snow

We ended up with about 2 feet of snow, so Clif and the kids built this snowman. We kept up on the driveway and today it's sparkling dry!! No ice to slip on.

We made a snow hill for the kids to sled on. I only got the back of Klara since I had to help her on the "hill".

Kaleb knew what to do and loved it. He would sled today.....but the driveway is clean. :)

I added this pic to kind-of show how we were plowed in. After the city made a few swipes with their plows, they decided that was not enough and brought out the big tractor grader. It wouldn't have been so bad except that the started the grader 2 blocks away and then by magic it seemed to spill out at our driveway and our neighbors. It was crazy high. So our neighbor called the mayor (again, small town benefits) and he sent this tractor to literally plow us out. We had the police over since cars were parked on the street and that's illegal during snow removal days. The police seem to think we were plowed in because of the cars parked. Anyways, this tractor removed our mess so we could get out. Of course, I was inside making dinner and it was a little to late to get the real impact of this pic, but it works. A side note, I think the snowman looks funny now. He may fall over any minute.....we got some freezing rain and started to melt him away. Now we wait and see how much longer he will stay up.

Kid Pictures

The kids were being cute, so I just couldn't resist a few pics.

Better Than The Bottle

Clif bought us a reverse osmosis water filteration system. He installed it Friday night and it's the best water I've ever tasted!! Here's the mess....we had to empty the "catch all" cabinet under the sink to install it.Then Clif crawled under there to do the install.Here is the faucet we get the yummy water from.

And this is what it looks like under the sink now. I still have room for the cleaners, etc, down there. And it's all worth it because this water is better that the bottled stuff!!

TONS of updating

I did tons and tons of updating today. So you may need to go to the next page to see all the updates. It's amazing what having 3 more babies in the house does to one's schedule. Sorry that it took so long but I hope you enjoy the pics.

Merry Christmas to everyone!! We are so blessed to have great jobs and secure pay in this troubling time and we thank God daily for it. Have a safe New Year's too and don't forget about the extra second they are adding to the clock this year.....how weird.

Little America

We went to Little America to see the annual turning on the lights. We were able to go with our friends again and making it a holiday tradition....
A ginger bread house for pics......but it was MUDDY over there. It took me 2 days to get all the mud off our shoes from this one pic. What sacrifices we make in life...hehe.

Group shot. The trees just don't look so amazing when you need the flash on to see the faces. If you ever get the chance, stop by.....it's so pretty to see.

This is only an example of one of the trees. This was with LED lights. Truly amazing.

Christams Tree Lighting

This is the tree that Kaleb got to help light. The local paper had a drawing and he was picked. Kaleb got to hold a "magic wand" which he quickly broke, but on command, he and the other kids got to touch the tree and make it turn on. The tree sits in the middle of town in the middle of the street. Pretty neat to see....especially for a small town.

A few photo ops.

His magic wand...notice the bend on the right side of the wand.

A quick pic with Santa.

and a stuffed Santa....confusion for the kids????

A walk through the train station and this was the best family pic we would get. The kids were pretty wiped out by this time and ready to go home.

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving day snow....not much, but we'll take it!!

My bird....and it was Yummy.
My parents came for the holiday....this was the best pic out of ......hmmm, 2 kids, a dog, and a timer.....lets just say it took a few pics to get this one.

Now You See It.....

This house was being burned down as a training mission for our local fire dept. The kids and I were entertained for a bit...until our colds hit us and we all took a nap.

When we came outside to look at it's progress, this is what was left.
Sadly, I missed getting the pics of the house fully engulfed in flames....would have been neat to see. But now it's all gone and has been cleaned up....much better on the eyes. I should mention this house is only 100 feet from ours.....glad the fire dept knew what they were doing.

Tang vs 2 yr old

This is the result of a 2 year old getting her own tang from the fridge out of a very full container. Can't remember how many times I had to mop to get all the sticky off the floor.

Polar Express 2008

Another year on the Polar Express. The kids wore their jammies and ate cookies.

A little tickle time with daddy.
The big man boards the train and hands out silver bells to all the kids.


Then there is lots of off key singing. Kaleb and daddy are being the "5 golden rings" in the never ending song...........12 million days of Christmas. :) But it sure makes for fabulous memories!

The Stove!!

FINALLY....it is done. Clif had a chance to go with a friend from church and cut wood. He has gone almost every Sat since the wood cutting season is almost over.

Last time for the grout.....and we did it right away this time and it was much easier.

Then the guys came to install the pipe. The kids loved the big hole in the ceiling.

We couldn't wait and had our first fire that night after the Polar Express ride. Ahh, the eagerness.

This is the final look....the carpet is down and the accessories are in place. Looks lovely and it does a fantastic job at heating the house.

Getting Closer

We are getting there. We now have tile.....but...well, I'll save that story for the end of this blog. This pic shows all the grout we had on there. Since the tile job is being done for free....we got to clean off the grout ourselves. The guy doing the tile said to let the grout dry before removing it...so we went out to eat and saw this beautiful sunset on our way there.

And then it started....removing the dried on concrete....I mean, grout.....It was a family project. Kaleb has a tool in hand and Klara is doing the sibling thing and pushing her brother (hehe). Later we brought out the vacuum and both kids got to help suck it all up.


This is the result. Clif did the grout and did a great job....even the tile guy said so when he came by. The install guys came by to do the piping....boo hoo....not enough tile in the front for code. We only need another 12" tile in the front.....so a call to the tile guy and he will fix it this next week. Another appt with the install guys is set for Thursday. Oh, and did you notice the orange extension cord in the pic??? That's for the tv. The plug still needs to be re-hooked up for the "circuit" to work again and then the tv will work without the extension cord. Hopefully that problem will be fixed this weekend.