Ice Storms and Preschool Fun!

This winter we had a few ice storms that are very beautiful and very cold. Jake took these pictures of a few ice covered trees.
The last picture is of Madison's preschool group. We learned about the letter S and had lots of fun with our snowman. The kids helped crumple up white paper so we could throw our snow balls in the snowman's tummy. I have lots of fun planning their lessons and thinking of creative ways to teach these cute kids. It is a nice way to remember my teaching days minus the craziness of junior high:)

Christmas Morning

The girls loved waking up to see want Santa brought them for Christmas. Madison asked for a Baby Alive Potty Doll this Christmas. It's a doll that talks, drinks a bottle, eats food, and really goes potty in a little toilet. We haven't showed her how to use the "real" food with the doll. We are happy just pretending there is food on the spoon:) Emerie's favorite present was the Aqua Doodle. She already had shown us her love for coloring (all over the house). With the Aqua Doodle you can color with water so it is much safer for our walls, couch, and floor:) They also loved playing with their Caillou, Rosie and Gilbert dolls. It's a pbs cartoon that they love watching. Madison was very excited to eat the candy in her stocking and loved the Rudolph sucker from Santa.
Later that day we had a fun Christmas brunch with some friends and the girls played with their new toys all day! It was such a nice relaxing day!

The Christmas Story

The girls loved acting out the Christmas story. Madison was Mary riding on her donkey. Jake was Joseph and Emerie was a shepherd and a sheep. They looked so cute and had so much fun!

Playing in the Snow

It's good we aren't seeing much of this snow now but here are some fun pictures of the girls, well, Madison, playing in the snow. Emerie didn't want anything to do with the snow all winter. If you put her down on the snow she would start screaming. Poor little thing:( We kept trying to get her to like it all winter but she never changed her mind. I have to agree with her. I love to sit inside by a fire, warm and cozy and enjoy the beautiful snow from the window.

More Utah Pictures

We were able to do so many fun things in Utah. In the first set of pictures I was able to get together with a few friends from my single days in SLC. It's so fun to catch up and see so many wonderful people!
We also went to the dinosaur museum with my family. Madison loved every minute of it. Emerie didn't want anything to do with the sand pits. She is so funny, she doesn't like to get dirty or even touch the sand. She does the same thing with snow too. If you put her down on it she will start to scream.

My family also spoiled me and threw an early surprise birthday party. Madison loved the Rapunzel themed birthday cake. We had lots of fun and my sisters took me out shopping later that week.

Two of my sisters asked me to cut bangs for them, they are so brave. Heather played a funny joke on her husband and styled them in a nice 80's style hairdo when he came to pick her up. It was great! There are also lots of pictures of Emerie and Madison playing and dressing up.

Utah Trip

Utah Fun

Wedding In Utah

Getting Ready for Christmas!

Jake really looked like Santa with my white scarf around his neck. I always get nervous when he gets up on the roof. He told me not to worry however because he secured a rope to himself and the garbage can on the other side. Hmmm... sounds really safe sweetie;) Madison loved decorating the tree and Emerie loved taking the decorations off. Madison colored a beautiful star to top our tree which we bought for only 12 dollars at a local nursery. What a deal! I love the smell of real trees and this year ours didn't die.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving and even cooked our first turkey! Jake took care of the Turkey cooking and it turned out amazing! I tried to be brave and pull out the gizzard thing but couldn't quite figure it out until Jake came home and showed me how it's done. We had our friends the Jensens and the Andersons over for dinner. Everyone made such great food and we had lots of fun hanging out and playing games afterward. The kids had a great time at their little thanksgiving table too! I did decide however to feed the kids first before getting my dinner on my plate. I think I reheated my food at least 4 times until I was able to eat it. Emerie messed her diaper once, I changed it.... then she did it again. However, before we could change it she was running down the hallway and was bumped down to the floor which ended up in a diaper explosion all over the place. So we scrubbed the floor and Emerie down in the tub before really sitting down and enjoying the meal:) Never a dull moment with cute little ones around!