My Laptop "Blew up!"

I have been wanting to post so many holiday things and funny stuff the kids have done, etc. But, my laptop decided to take December (and the rest of its life) off. I am writing about this as a lesson to all of you, please repeat this as necessary... back up your stuff, back up your stuff, back up your stuff... I lost addresses and thus did a poor job on my Xmas cards, I lost photos (hoping Marc's IT guy at work can retrieve them) and much, much more. The light at the end of the tunnel appeared bleak... they cannot fix it... total new hard drive is needed. My loving husband did order me a new Dell, "surprise!" for Christmas. I was very excited... and then Fed Ex had the nerve to say they lost it and there was snow on the ground (blah blah). It was supposed to arrive on the 22nd of December. Still nothing... So, please stand by!

Baking Day

Today we had a baking day. Katie and I made sugar cookies. They turned out pretty good, but I am sure they will not be "thin" enough for Grandpa...

My family has always enjoyed Grandma Irene's Carmel Rolls, so today I am attempting to make them myself for the first time. I dare say they look good so far, we will have to see if they taste good tomorrow morning.

Over the next several days, the weather here is supposed to be pretty terrible, so I went to the store with Marc today and bought plenty of "supplies"... enough candy, sugar, flour and spices to cook treats for days. Tomorrow we plan to do some candy cane bark and haystack cookies!

Snow Days, Snow Days

I don't really remember staying home from school because of snow when I was young. Maybe because I lived in Eastern Washington where snow is not such a strange thing.
My kids were thrilled this week to have a few extra days added to our Christmas vacation.

Here is the picture of preparation. The kids were looking for their hats, mittens, snowpants and boots. This is the part I hate... who needs new boots? who can't find their mittens? Why did Garret try on every pair of snowpants we owned before he found his? Yikes... go outside already...

Here are the girls... taking a break, sledding is such hard work. They chose to sled near our house, away from the boys. (Megan, Natalie and Katie)


Conner and Garret headed for the sledding hill, our neighbor's backyard. The slope from their daylight basement to the backyard makes a great hill. They also made forts and threw some snow.


Jack even got in on some of the fun. He was begging for us to throw his tennis ball all day, so finally I gave in. It took him a long time to find it as it got buried in the snow, but he eventually was successful and here he is taking a break.

Later in the day, Marc came home from work and took the kids out again. Here they are at the door, ready for hot chocolate and a nice warm bath!

The Tree is Trimmed

Finally... our tree is trimmed! We have had it in the house for a week with bare limbs. To be honest, I was sort of liking the "natural" look. Anyway, I let Marc and the kids pretty much do the whole thing. I decided it is not worth all the stress I put myself through to make it look perfect anyway.

The kids are a little disappointed that we don't have any lights up on the outside of the house yet. I told them, that is Dad's department.

...ohhh and here is the photo of Katie and Tiger. I know you can't tell in the picture, but she draped her flashing Christmas necklace around his neck and it looked pretty funny. He is such a tolerant animal.

White River Middle School Band Winter Concert

Conner had a winter concert this week. He plays the trumpet in the 8th grade band. The songs they played were:

And the bells Shall Sing (Windham)
Autumn Ridge (Niehaus)
Jingle Bells Forever (Pierpont & Sousa)
John Williams: Movie Themes (Williams)

He did a great job!

Christmas Card Photo

Always a project to get just the right photo. The kids are usually pretty patient with me. Last year, Katie cried because I made her take her coat off (I wanted the dress, not the coat in the photo). This year, our picture will consist of two photos. See what you think!

I was going to use a photo from Disneyland but March was so long ago that even I noticed the kids look a lot older and different. So, this impromptu photo on the porch will have to work. They were all clean and still dressed from church today.

Christmas Tree Hunt

We trekked out this weekend to find the perfect Christmas tree. We always head off to our favorite tree farm (we tried going in the woods one time, it was a disaster), Hillside Tree Farm. Conner's sensai from karate owns the farm and the kids love going there for the free hot chocolate. We spent about oh, 5 min. looking before the kids decided on our tree.

Conner and Garret helped Marc saw it down. Alas, it is still sitting out in the garage, waiting to be trimmed... that will be another post.

Dancing Girl

Katie had been taking a ballet/jazz dance class for a few months now. She is really enjoying it and especially likes it that her friend Sarah is in the class with her too. She just got fitted for her costume which will arrive in the spring for her recital in June. We are all looking forward to seeing her dance.