Christmas Day

We had a fun Christmas this year. The kids had fun opening present and then spent the rest of the day playing with their new stuff.

Opening stockings.

Noah checking out what he got in his stockings.

Yes Daniel does have a rock, but it wasn't from santa...Noah just left it out the night before and Daniel was having fun playing with it.

Daniel was very happy with his new ball and played with it all day!

Noah got new pencils and erasers in his stocking.

Noah painted this box for Emma to keep all her hair bows in. She was very excited. Noah did a really good job painting it.

Grandma Cork gave the kids a bug home, we are going to send off for some caterpillars and watch them turn to butterflies.

Daniel didn't understand the whole unwrapping part of the morning, but he did like climbing on the presents.

Emma got her first barbie. She was really excited to discover you could take all her clothes off. (Noah was quite embarrassed by the naked barbie, so we made sure she remained dressed in his presence.)

Noah got a nerf dart gun from Santa. So there were dart gun wars going on all day.

Emma got a new toothbrush in her stocking. I really think it was her favorite gift.

I got my wish for a white christmas! Our first White Christmas as a family. I never thought we would have a White Christmas here in Washington!

Noah showing off his new gun.

Daniel slipped away from us at one point in the day. I found him in the boys room trying to get Noah's legos off his bed. Pretty soon not even the bed will high enough.

Emma being cute.

Christmas Eve

This year's Mary and Joseph dinner was by far the best we have had. I found some lamb and marinated it in garlic and Rosemary. We even threw in some potatoes and carrots this year. I am not a huge fan of lamb, but this was so yummy! The kids were so excited to sit and eat in the living room (something that is forbidden any other time).
Noah and Emma waiting patiently for the meal to start.

It has been really difficult to get Emma in a picture lately. This is the best I could do.

Every Christmas Eve the kids get to open one present which is always new Pj's. Here are the kids in their new Pj's.

More about snow

Last night we go dumped on! I am guessing over a foot of snow over night. I went walking this morning and tried walking on the sidewalks. But the snow was up to my knees, so I walked in the road, which wasn't much better in my neighborhood. The igloo grew over night and the door shrunk quite a bit.

Noah woke us up early wanting to go out and play.

Noah and Emma playing inside the igloo.

Daniel and I even squeezed in this morning. It is quite roomy inside, it's getting through the door that's a little tight!

Family photo inside the igloo. I was amazed how warm it was inside!

We decided to walk over to Costco this morning, driving the car or truck was not an option. We made a little sled out of a rubbermaid container and pulled the kids. Daniel liked it but fell asleep on the way back.

Kendall put a tarp and blanket inside and Emma went inside to rest.

Snow Igloo

Last night we got a phone call telling us they had canceled church. So this morning at breakfast we asked the kids what we wanted to do today. Noah said he wanted to make an ice cave. We have a lot of snow but not that much! So Kendall (being the worlds greatest Dad) said they could make an igloo. Who knew it would take all day! Kendall and Noah had a lot of fun. A couple of the neighbor kids even came to help.

We had Chad and Amanda over for dinner tonight. So Chad got put to work on the igloo.

All done! I never thought I would have an igloo in my front yard!

Noah in his first igloo

Noah was excited he could stand up inside.

Warm and toasty.

View from the floor of the igloo.

Noah is looking forward to playing all day in his new igloo tomorrow.

I have never lived where it snows (If you don't count the fact that I spent my first year of life in Alaska.) I think it's beautiful and I wish I was a better photographer and could really capture the beauty outside my window.

I took this picture on Wednesday afternoon. I went out and stuck my ruler into the snow in the yard and the ruler was completely buried! This is by far the most snow I have ever been in.

This morning the sun came out and there is blue sky overhead. The field just sparkles!

Attacked by stickers!

So I leave Emma in the same room with Daniel for a little while this morning while I am teaching Noah his reading lesson. I didn't go in and check on them, because they were both laughing. Well I went in and Emma had covered Daniel in stickers! He wasn't to upset about it as you can see!

Snow!

This weekend we got our first snow of the season! The kids were so excited to go out and play. Emma has not like the snow in the past but this year with the encouragement of Noah she went out and really had a lot of fun. We got 4-6 inches over the weekend and it has been really cold so it has not melted.

Gingerbread Houses

We have a family tradition that we have taken from Kendall's family. We decorate gingerbread houses. Well, we use graham crackers instead of making gingerbread. (I haven't been ambitious enough to try making my own gingerbread, maybe next year.) So here are a few photos from this years activity.
Kendall and Noah hard at work on their houses.

Daniel was so cute. He found the flash on the camera funny so he would start laughing every time I went to take his picture. Here he is enjoying a pretzel.

Kendall's finished house.

Here's Emma and I working on our houses (and a good look at the back of Noah's head).

Noah's finished house, looks a little crooked!

So we don't give our kids sugar before they are a year old, so Daniel had to be satisfied with pretzels. As you can see, he wasn't to upset about this.

Emma's is just getting started with her house in this picture. She was so excited to do this. She kept giggling and smiling. It was a lot of fun!