More Bad Family Photos Part 2

I know these blog posts are out of order, but hey, at least they are posted now. I'm only a little behind. Anyways, after we took family shots by the brown backdrop, we thought since that was so much fun, lets try by the tree. A big breath, and this was what we ended up with....

Bad Family Photos

It's that time to take family photos for Christmas cards. Of course, it's never as easy as it seems.

Enjoy... Take 1
Take 2 (love Klara's face here)

Take 3

Better...Take ????? 7 or 8 by now

Geez Kaleb.....take 9???

More Blizzard Pics

Looking out our front door.
There are trash cans behind that pile and by the fence....somewhere.

Our only exit so far out of our driveway. We were too tired to clear the other side. Plus, we expect another pass at some time by the plows and ruin this anyways. What great optimism.

There is one reindeer, the other is under the pile.

Luckily, Clif didn't go to work last night....so he was available to help shovel this morning. After shoveling 4 times last night, we still had 10" this morning to clear. I'm really glad he was able to keep up with it last night, otherwise, we may still be out there now shoveling our way out. The sun is out this morning and the driveway is almost dry!! Advantage of getting out there early.

Blizzard

Yes, we finally were under a blizzard warning!! This was only the start. We got about 22" at our house in 30 hours (ish). Slave labor I know, but the kids love helping with their shovels. They are actually old enough to really start helping and getting the idea of what shoveling is.

Then we went for a drive that night to look at lights and play in the snow. This is our xmas tree downtown. It's pretty lame looking, but at least the town puts one up....in the middle of the road.

Family in Phoenix

We went to Phx after spending time with Clif's family in Cottonwood. We had great dinners all around. In Phx, the kids got to roast marshmellows by my parents lake.
Kids got to see their Great Granny Nadine.

And so did I.

White House Christmas Tree

The tree was cute in AZ this year, so before it's final destination, it toured the state. A friend of ours and her daughter joined us on our trip downtown to see it.
Yeah, don't blink. You couldn't see much.

Hard to see, but this is the crew.....my two kids and I are on the left, day care babies in the double stroller, and our friends on the the right. We are standing in front of the HUGE truck carrying the tree.

We all got to peek inside to see it.

Photo op and hot chocolate provided by our favorite restaurant!! They still make the best hot cocoa I've ever had.

Thanksgiving Crafts

To help pass the time, we made a few crafts this year. For school we took a break from our normal books and did a Thanksgiving Unit. We (well maybe it's more like I) learned quite a bit about the original thanksgiving. Even our homeschool group study this as a group. To keep the theme going, we made a thankful tree. I'm not the most artistic, but I think with the help of the thankful leaves, it turned out pretty cute.

Then we made place mats for all of the cousins. Both kids worked really hard on them and I did the hot glue afterwards.

In our thanksgiving unit, we got to grow corn. Well, corn seed is not that available in the mountains, so I used pop corn. Who knows, it's not like I'm going to plant it. Sure enough...

they only took a few days before they started to grow.

Both kids got a foam craft to do and they are showing them off. Klara's is a turkey and Kaleb's is a pilgrim.