Fun in the Snow

The day after Christmas we went to the local ski resort and went tubing, they have a fun hill and tubes there already. It was our kind of fun, just show up and play. 7 of us went, Colby, Lacy, Brady, Racheal, Sarah, Gerrit and Haylee. Ashlee, Alissa and Ethan hit the mall while we were gone. It was about 17 degrees and snowing. We figured out if you were the one in the front as you go down the hill, you can drag your feet and spray your friends and family behind you with snow and powder. We had so much fun, we hope to go back next month.

We slid down a 300 foot hill and then we went up the hill with the help of a tow, you sit in your tub and it takes you right back to the top. That was just as much fun as going down the hill.

Haylee all bundled up ready for fun.



READY!



SET!



GO!



Racheal, Haylee and Sarah at the bottom of the hill.

Brady's presents to the girls

So Brady is here spending a week with us and he found the most perfect gifts for the girls. I would have never thought they like them as much as they do, but they hardly take them off. He bought them all cute winter hats like he wears.

Here are Sarah and Brady Christmas morning, showing off her new hat.



And Racheal in her hat.



And of course Alissa in her hat.



We even found about 30 pictures of Racheal that she took of herself ,in her hat, with her own camera. It was too funny, I started looking at all the pictures she took that day and there were 78 of them with 30 of them of herself in her hat. They must really like them. Thanks Uncle Brady!

So this is Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas morning. We slept in until 7:45 which is very rare in out house. It might have something to do with the fact that all the kids sleep in our room and we might have accidently changed the clocks back right before we went to sleep. Ooops!

Here is the living room right before the kids came down the stairs. So peaceful and pretty!



Alissa looking through her stocking. She got lots of scrapbooking supplies, clothes, a Zune with speakers just to name a few things.



Racheal just starting in on her stocking. She got a Nintendo DS lite with 4 games, a digital camera, lots of clothes, etc.



Sarah with her new desk she asked Santa for. She also got a new CD player, a big fluffy pillow (she asked for one like Mom's), lots of clothes, winter gear for ice fishing with Dad, etc.



Alissa and Sarah in the Christmas mess.



And last but not least, Colby got Lacy a little surprise for under the tree. We named her Miley, she is about 8 weeks old.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

So we had a white Christmas this year, however from these pictures you wouldn't be able to tell. As soon as it started snowing the kids were out playing in it. I think they used all the snow for the snowman. Sarah and Haylee out in the"snow" with their little snowman.

The Elves are busy!

We happen to call Brady (my younger brother) over the weekend, he was going to check some local stores for something I needed for Racheal...anyway, he said he didn't have any plans for Christmas so we invited him out and he is coming for Christmas! I am so excited!!! He will be here the 23rd until the 31st! The kids don't know yet, well Alissa does because when the confirmation email came through she happen to be on the computer. Darn! But the other girls will be surprised! We plan on going to the ski resort and trying out the tubing hill, the ski slopes are not open yet, so we will stick to tubing.

Countdown begins!

The kids are counting down the days...not until Christmas...but until they get out of school for Christmas break. Their last day is Friday the 21st. We went to see Santa at the mall last Saturday and we waited in line for 35 minutes. We always take a picture with Santa every year, from the time Alissa was 6 months old. We really enjoy pulling out all the past Santa pictures every year and seeing how the kids have grown.

Last week Sarah had a Christmas choir performance at her school. She did a great job singing, dancing and wearing her reindeer ears.

Cheer leading is over for Racheal, so we don't have any after school activities until spring soccer starts in March. Our house has settled down just a bit. Colby and I will coach Racheal's team again in the spring. Then in the fall both Racheal and Sarah will be on the same team. It will be nice to have just one game and one set of practices to attend every week.

Not a lot going on here, just shopping, wrapping, baking and counting our blessings.

I've still got a job!

I found out last week the lady I was job sharing with asked to go to full time and take over my hours as well. (What is up with that?) Thankfully my boss asked me about this and decided she did want someone full time, but I have been here 2 1/2 years longer than my coworker so she asked me first if I wanted to stay. So not only am I staying (and the other lady is leaving) but I get to go to full time and work all the days the girls are in school, and then we will work out a schedule for the summer where I come in and do the computer work in the morning and have a college girl come in the afternoon so I can go play with my kids all summer. Plus I will get the afternoons off when the kids have days off throughout the school year. YEAH!!!! Something to be truly grateful for!