Pretty Purple Present

I brought Anna out of her room with this hair bow on today (no reason, just 'cuz). Andrew's reaction? A giggle, then "She looks like a present!" :)

Anna's Happy Lunch Dance

Another book-lover!

Snow Mountain

After the wet snowstorm last Sunday, we had to have a loader come in to do more plowing of our driveways. It makes an incredible mountain for the boys to climb!



















Andrew on the moutain, Mark standing on the plowed driveway.

Company!

Chad and Kindra, their kids, and Charlie came down to our place for lunch last Sunday (the day of the horrible, slushy blizzard...they almost didn't make it home!). It was the first they had seen our house, and we had a great time.

We do have more seating than just this couch...


Anna hamming it up for Kindra

The boys put Chad and Kindra through the paces, asking for story after story! They willingly obliged. Thanks for a great day, guys!

Developing Theology

Andrew came down with a nasty cold this week. As I was putting him to bed early the other night, he asked why he had to go to bed early. "Because when you're sick, there's nothing better than plenty of sleep to help you get better." His reply? "Is sleep even better than Jesus?" Well, no!

Sunday afternoon we had a wet, sloppy storm to drive home in from church. At one point we nearly went off the road, and within a foot of the guard rail I had just finished uttering the words, "Lord, please protect us and don't let us hit anything!" In talking about it later, Andrew offered "God kept his mighty hand on our van to keep it on the road!" Yes, indeed, son!

And more from the weekend...

Uncle Jerry's already popular stand with the boys increased 100-fold with the privilege of playing his flight simulator game!

















Was this hilarity before or after Jacob sent a carrot flying off the end of his fork? (One of those moments that, as a parent, you fight to not laugh when your child's being naughty)!













She's just ducky, isn't she? :)

More weekend pics...

Aunties and Grandma are highly entertaining...

...until we get sleepy!

Dad's Birthday

Happy Birthday, Father Mike!
We headed to Soldotna for the weekend, starting off with a birthday party for dad!

Jacob stuck close to Gramps, and enjoyed helping to blow out the 'uge candle!














Dad had online a thank you note that says "A million thanks," with two characters that attempt to say thank you a million times, with a counter running to keep track of where they are. The kids were all amused by it till it was up over a thousand! (The rest of us were amused with it till it was up around 10). :)

Snow, snow, and more snow!

Well, our new place gets no shortage of snow. (Mark was duly warned by everyone he knows who lives in this neighborhood). If we were to walk on top of the snow, we would have to step up from our back stoop to get on top of it! There's at least 4 feet...though that's the settled amount-we've probably actually gotten about 5 and a half. Needless to say, there's plenty of reason to get out with the snowshoes, which Andrew did for quite awhile the other day.

Thank you, Dianne!

Our friend Dianne from Missouri has done it again! She blessed our church and family with a huge Christmas package, as she has for several years, even though we've only met her once!

For all the Sunday school kids, she sent craft kits and supplies, puzzles, and books! For our kids, she spoils them immensely...a remote control dump truck for Andrew, an Aquadoodle for Jacob, and a push/ride toy for Anna, not to mention the books and view finder and play horses and more!

Dianne, thank you so much for your continued prayers and encouragement to our family!

"Sleep Over"

The boys feel like they're having a sleepover when we let Jacob sleep up in Andrew's bed! They actually did really well settling down for the night (we've tried it before and they just goof around too much...and Jacob is then put back in his own bed, much to his consternation).
It was the first night in a while that Jacob wasn't woken up by a nightmare...and last night he slept all through the night again. So thanks to those of you who are praying for his sleep-keep it up!

Family ski day

On Saturday, everyone was feeling much better, so we decided to go explore the ski trails that are just a few hundred feet from our house! We had a beautiful day, and spent a few hours on the trails. Jacob skied for a while, then would ride on the purple sled that we hooked up to the pulk. (Until it came unhooked once while he was on it, and Mark kept skiing till he heard Jacob crying about being left behind...after which Jacob preferred to just walk)! :)

Ski day

Last Friday, my friend Irene invited a bunch of us for a ski day and lunch. We were to hit the trail in MP by 10 a.m., so I had the van all packed the day before (ski pulk, sled for Jacob if he got tired on the 3 mile ski, skis for the boys and I, etc).

And then came Jacob's earache, which kept him and I up from midnight till 3 a.m. Each time his ear would act up, I would say to him that I felt so badly that he was sick. Finally I just brought him back to bed with me, and as we're getting settled in bed, he starts crying that "he's sick." I start to tell him again that I'm sorry he's sick...but he didn't mean his ear-he proceeded to puke all over the both of us! Mark was pretty traumatized to wake up to that! At any rate, since Mark was sick with a bad cold and planned on staying home anyway, he kept Jacob, and I took Andrew and Anna skiing.

We had a grand time, though I didn't have access to my camera most of the time to even get pictures of all the kids skiing!

Anna hates green beans

The pictures speak for themselves!