Snow days

People have been asking me whether my kids get snow days. There have been quite of few of them lately around here. So what do home schoolers do? In our house, we still have school. I may scale it back a little bit, but we have school. I keep telling the kids that if we keep going through vacations and snow days, we can be done at the end May (instead of late June). So, the kids don't get to experience the joy of rolling over and going back to sleep when a snow days is announced. But, they do get to do their home work in front of the fire...



... and eat pudding.

The girls must be growing up

Annie lost her first tooth last week! She's not even 5 years old. Of course I can't remember when the boys lost their first tooth, but I think they were at least 5.


Annie also started sleeping in a big girl bed last week.


Lauren has been getting used to potty time. We still have a ways to go, but we've started and she's receptive. "Dit potty?"


On a totally different topic, the pictures in the post are showing a few of the many things we still have to do in this house. Interior trim and baseboard, floors, paint on the walls (other than primer)... those things will come....

Around the house...

.... there's a lot of snow. The kids (well, not Lauren, the snow is too tall for her) have been having a blast in it. The boys have been making snow forts at their friends' houses all over town. Corban gets up early in the morning, eats breakfast, gets dressed and goes outside to play for a while before it's time for school. And most epic, Jack and the boys got up early this morning to ski. They drove to a hill in town, hiked up it and skied back down. They got in a few runs and then headed home for Saturday morning pancakes. Life is good. It's tough to say whose smile was bigger this morning, Jack's or the boys.







Not only did Jack take the boys skiing this morning, but he even took the camera!

Happy 2011!

Look at those kids! In June of this year, there will be one more kid in the family pictures. I'm 18 weeks pregnant and feeling great!

We did build a big house...

Family Christmas

Since we travel for Christmas, our tradition has been to celebrate Christmas as a family on the Saturday before we leave. It was wonderful to be in the new house this year. And the kids are at such great ages for us to enjoy Christmas with them. Christmas is a time that I stop and savor "this time" and the ages my kids are at right now.

I included this picture because I wonder if this stairway will look more complete by next Christmas...


Stuffing the kids' stockings in such a precious time for me. It just makes me happy.





We had a fire going, so the boys were hot. In this picture they are trying to decide which present to open next.


Lauren, my little half-back in a dress. This little dress-up outfit on her stocky little body was about as cute as it gets. Annie helped Lauren enjoy her new shopping cart. Annie ran around the house placing little things out for Lauren to put into her cart.

Moving day

So, yes, this is two months after the fact, but its Christmas and I have some down time so I'm catching up on posts. And this one is worth recording, I think. We had asked quite a few friends to help us move on October 30. Five minutes before 10am, two guys showed up. By 10:15, our lawn looked like the picture below. My mother-in-law described the process as a train that couldn't be stopped. The crew that assembled and the work that they did was amazing, exciting and humbling. Most of the people worked to move the 95% of the house that I had already packed. A few of the women stayed at the old house to pack the things that I hadn't packed yet. When they finished packing, they started cleaning. We had done very little in the garage. A few of the men tackled it. By 2:30, the house and the garage were virtually empty and they were totally clean. My father-in-law, who has helped his 3 children move many times, said this was the first time that he was able to help one of his kids move without actually moving anything (he spent the whole day, much of the week in fact, tiling the bathtub). At the end of the day, even though we weren't actually in our new house, we were so happy and satisfied with the day. And incredibly grateful for the friends God has given us in this place.

The whole yard was filled with trucks, trailers, people and our stuff!


When the furniture doesn't want to go down the steps, the furniture can go out the window.


In preparation for moving day, I made about 8 pounds of meatballs for subs. The food barely fed the crew of people we had. I quickly noticed that even though we had over 30 people in our house, it never seemed crowded. That makes me so happy and eager for entertaining in the years ahead.

Kitchen evolution

Kitchen on moving day


Thanksgiving Day - temporary island, temporary sink, fridge, range. No cabinets. No shelves in the pantry. No dishwasher.


Day after Thanksgiving - Jack cleaned windows on his birthday! We now have a small counter top on either side of the sink and a dishwasher. Pantry shelves coming soon. And hopefully kitchen cabinets!