Almost a Snow Day

Yesterday, we woke up to snow on the ground. There is a reason we moved to the Northwest. It's not supposed to snow here! The kids beg to differ.

(I don't know why I hate snow so much. Maybe it's because I've lived in Montana, Wisconsin, and Utah and have reached my snow quota. Maybe it's the MESS it leaves all over my house!)

Anyway, because Steven didn't have school yesterday because of a planned teacher work day, we were looking forward to sleeping in an extra hour. (He usually leaves an hour before the other kids.) Ben had different plans--when he looked out the window (at 6:15 a.m.) and saw that it had snowed, he woke us all up by hurrying to empty the dishwasher, his assigned morning chore, so he could go play outside. We told him he had to wait until 7:00 a.m. to go outside.

Our school district delayed the start of school 1 hour, so the kids were able to make a snowman before they had to leave for school. Ben and Rachel were pretty bummed that school wasn't cancelled. Steven got the good end of the deal! He got to spend the day playing with his friends in the snow. When the snow melted, he came inside and spent the rest of the day playing on the Wii.

The teachers at school got Ben and Rachel's hopes up by telling them that we were supposed to get 2-4 inches last night. We awoke again this morning at 6:15 a.m.--this time, to the sound of someone sobbing. Steve crawled out of our nice toasty bed (we just got a mattress pad with a heater in it--makes getting out of bed even more difficult!) to go see what was wrong. Ben was soooo sad that it hadn't snowed.

To lift Ben's mood, I changed the subject. I taught him how to make French Toast. Watch out Emeril--he did it almost all by himself! Then he came up with the idea that we should have a special "Spotlight a Kid Day" and that today should be his day. So Ben got to pick what we had for dinner tonight--tacos--and eat them on the special red plates. And he got to choose what we would do as a family tonight--play Settlers of Catan--Cities and Knights. He was looking forward to it all day because we usually only play it on the weekend.

So this afternoon when Steve said that we had a Court of Honor for Steven tonight, we moved dinner up to 5:30 so we could squeeze in a game of "Settlers." We obviously didn't make it through the whole game in an hour, so at 6:30 we declared the winner--ME! :)

Stevens Awarded his 1st Class Rank Advancement

Vroom, Vroom--Cubanapolis Style!

Note: As soon as we can, we'll post the much-anticipated video of the parents' races of this event!

Friday night was Ben's Cub Scout Pack Meeting. This is a race where the boys decorate cardboard boxes and run around the gym. As they run, they occasionally have to stop at the "Pit Stop" where a family member changes tires (shoes), wash the windshield (spray bottle in the face), and fill up with gas (drink a cup of water.)

Ben spent a couple of days making his car. It was a super-fast black and red car. Ben's a lot like me (Tammy)--not too detail-oriented or crafty. So he was planning on bringing a box. Yes--just a box. Steve talked him into at least painting it. He went outside and spray painted it using some leftover paint from a Pinewood Derby car. When I mentioned that he might want to add some details, he just rolled his eyes. I got out some paper plates for wheels and some red and yellow paint for head and tail lights. (I got him excited about putting wheels on by telling him he could use the glue gun!)

Daddy was his "Pit Crew." He had a fun time running around the track.

The best part of the race was when it was the adults' turn! First, the dads ran the race.

Next, the moms ran the race. Well, some of the moms ran the race. I started jogging, but was quickly reminded (as pains shot through my stomach) that I'd just had surgery the week before!

Finally, siblings (including Steven) ran the race.

It ended up being a fun, little car! Way to go, Ben!

Christmas Fun--Christmas Eve and Morning

This year, Christmas was spent here at home. This was the first time in awhile that we didn't spend any time with family, but we thought, since we traveled so much last year, it was OK. We really missed our extended families and thought of them lots, but we created a lot of fun memories with our little family.

We had such a fun, relaxing break. We spent Christmas Eve with our friends, Chad and Barb, who had invited us over for a nummy ham dinner. (We brought our camera, but forgot to take pictures!) Chad is famous for using huckleberries in recipes. Even though he had just had surgery, he sacrificed to make huckleberry smoothies for us. He also used huckleberries in making the ham. Everything was soooo good!

We went home at 7:00 to celebrate with our own family. We sang songs and watched the DVD the church came out with a couple of years ago about the Savior's birth. It's so fun now that our kids are older and can understand that Christmas is more than just Santa.

The kids opened up their new PJ's and quickly went to bed. (Again, I was a slacker in the photo department--I usually take pictures of the kids on Christmas Eve.)

Christmas morning began at 6:45 a.m. We opened presents until 9:00 a.m.--a new record! The kids really took their time opening and appreciating each gift.

Ben kept saying, "This is the best Christmas ever!" (If you know Ben, he doesn't get overly excited about much, so obviously, he got what he asked for--a Nintendo DS.)

Rachel was happy with her own DS and Webkinz. She was disappointed when she tried to get online the first few days after Christmas, because obviously, every other kid in America got Webkinz, too, and their servers were down. But she's having fun, now!





Steven has officially joined the "tween" years--he got a Zune and a cell phone. (Well, a 10 minute SIM card for one of our old cell phones. He doesn't actually talk on the phone. He said if he does, he'll buy his own minutes. He wanted it for the games, etc.)




Sophia scored, bigtime. Her friend, Alexa, had handed down some of her fun toys, so we put them all in a gift bag from her and let her at it. She got some fun, new bath toys that she LOVES! She had the most fun with the banana that was in her stocking!My favorite gift was my new big scriptures with a nice case. I've been using my compact set of missionary scriptures that are falling apart. Steve bought the larger print ones--it's actually fun to read them now because I can read them!

Steve's favorite gift was a Wii with Guitar Hero III. We spent the entire Christmas day (and next days, too!) playing.

(Notice I said "WE." I even played--note from the picture that I stayed in my pajamas all day! I was having so much fun playing with everyone that I didn't even take my annual Christmas nap!) I'm sure he'll post a blog one of these days telling how far he's gotten.

The kids were happy the whole Christmas break. Everyone was happy--and you know what they say, "When the kids are happy, Mom's happy!" (OK--I know it's the other way around, but this works, too.) I love Christmas!

Christmas Fun--Gingerbread Houses

So, this post is a little late! We've been a little preoccupied by other stuff--but enjoy the first post of our Christmas festivities~~

One of my fondest memories as I was growing up was decorating gingerbread houses with my mom. When we were in elementary school, we always made gingerbread houses for each of our teachers. (No wonder I was teacher's pet.) Mom helped us make the most beautiful houses. I've made them in the past with the kids, but I've always done most of the decorating. This year I had the kids decorate the houses by themselves. Mom always made the gingerbread. I cheated and bought the gingerbread houses through Ikea--I highly recommend them!!!

They turned out really well--not the elegant ones that Mom made, but they were their own and they were creative. (I'm bummed I didn't think to take pictures of the finished products!)

Steven took the idea of being creative to the extreme. He made a CSI gingerbread house. The poor gingerbread man had been massacred, so he turned the house into a crime scene. (There was A LOT of eye-rolling on my behalf!)




I'm really glad we restarted this family tradition. The kids already have plans for next year's houses!

Sophie's New Face

I know we still have a lot of catching up to do on our blog--ie--Christmas, etc., but I just had to take a second to post Sophie's new "face."

When she's doing something she's not supposed to (and she knows she's in trouble!) or when we tell her, "No!", she sticks out her bottom lip

and "tells" us, "Just try and get me to stop!"

But the rest of the time, she's as cute as pie!