Happy Birthday Ben!!!

Happy 6th Birthday Benjamin!!! Hope you have a wonderful day! We love you!

Happy Birthday Mary

Hope you have a wonderful birthday. Wish we could be with you to celebrate. We love you!!!!

Snow removal

Most of the snow is off the roof. Spent from about 11-5 on the roof shoveling. I could barely move last night. Rusty rented the grader from next door and widened the road. I am SO tired of snow. I spent 8 hrs shoveling yesterday. It took two to shovel out all the walkways and barn doors. This morning the snow shed off the patio roof and landed exactly where the boys walk to get wood and feed the animals. ARGH!!! They will have to make a new path because that one is NOT getting shoveled. This morning it is raining. Water is dripping everywhere! Can I move to Hawaii????

Christmas Day

Just some pics of Christmas Day. We had Christmas at our house. Great food, great company, great presents!!! Grandpa Neil bought all the boys Nerf guns and they had a great time running through the house shooting each other. Kylee stole Connor's so she got in on the action too. All had a GREAT time.

Christmas Eve

The master chef!

Christmas Eve was at Penny's this year. Nathan was the primary chef and boy did he cook! He made SO much food and it was delicious!

Instead of the gift exchange this year we played Bingo! It was a hit! It was a very nice evening with family!

Merry Christmas

I didn't do Christmas cards this year so to all of those that aren't getting a card from me I wish you a very Merry Christmas. May you have a wonderful time with friends and family.

Caught with my pants down

Not as bad as it sounds! I accidently grabbed Rusty's wool pants instead of mine and he has apparently popped all the buttons off his. I was trying to shovel around the back fence so the dogs couldn't get out and my pants kept falling off. Now you would think with ALL that booty they would stay up!!! I had no idea Rusty was inside taking a picture as I am trying to pull them back up again. I finally gave up in the end and shoveled with them around my knees. He missed that picture! The dogs are secure for another day though!

Leaks!

The frame around my kitchen window is leaking. I am not sure what to do. Rusty says it is because the gutters have ice damned and the water is going under the shingles and it is leaking. I have NO idea I just want it to stop. I have no idea what to do or who to call. I left him in charge and he put a heater in the window and that seemed to work for a bit, but it is leaking again. Any ideas???

Underage Drivers

Rusty had the boys out plowin' today. He said Ethan is a madman behind the wheel. I think they had fun!

Finally got the pics to load

Tucker shoveling the back deck during the first dumping!
It was SOOOOO cold on Monday and Tucker kept wood in the house and the fire going ALL day! He was my HERO!!!!

This is the trampoline which is almost buried after only 2 days of snow.

Rusty's new plow rig!

Jesus is the Reason for the Season

W ith just 2 weeks before Christmas, REMEMBER:
Jesus is so separate from Santa !
Santa lives at the North Pole.
JESUS is everywhere.
Santa rides in a sleigh
JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.
Santa comes but once a year
JESUS is an ever- present help.
Santa fills your stockings with goodies
JESUS supplies all your needs.
Santa comes down your chimney uninvited
JESUS stands at your door and knocks.. and then enters your heart.
You have to stand in line to see Santa
JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.
Santa lets you sit on his lap
JESUS lets you rest in His arms.
Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy or girl, What's your name?"
JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, He knows our address too . He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.
JESUS has a heart full of love.
JESUS offers health, help and hope.
Santa says "You better not cry"
JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you.
Santa's little helpers make toys
JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.
Santa may make you chuckle but
JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.
While Santa puts gifts under your tree,
JESUS became our gift and died on the tree.
It's obvious there is really no comparison.
We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about.
We need to put Christ back in Christmas.
Jesus is still the reason for the season.
May the Lord Bless and Watch over you and your loved ones this Christmas 2008
And may He prosper and bless the work of your hands in the New Year.
2009

Snow, Snow, and More Snow

Well I have tried for two days to post pics and blogger just won't work for me. Probably all this snow! It is snowing like crazy here. I had a pic of the trampoline so you could see how much snow, but.... the snow is already up to the frame of the trampoline. It is CRAZY!!!! My muscles are killing me as are everyone elses with a shovel it their hand. Amazingly my internet is still on! It is slow, but working! Rusty just took the boys to their friends house to play for a while. They had to do school today while all the other kids get a snow day. NO FAIR!!!! That is one pet peeve about Virtual Public School, we don't get the days off that the Brick and Mortar Public Schools get. BUMMER!!!!! I will try to post pics later since I am not having luck now.

Tucker reading The Great Kapok Tree

Family Dinner

Conner and I were making cheesy smiles. Amber said Conner kept glancing to the side to make sure I was still smiling. He is so stinkin' cute!

Rusty cooked last night for Mom, Kylee, Amber and fam. He made his yummy chicken alfredo and some wonderful stuffed mushrooms.

My boys!

Ethan has a webcam on his laptop and Rusty took this picture the other day.

Snow!

I love snow on the trees! We got around 8" of beautiful, fresh snow on Friday. I got up around 7 and started shoveling walkways and decks and paths to gates, etc. I was enjoying it until I was close to done and then decided shoveling isn't SO fun! He He! Actually I enjoy shoveling most of the time. Crazy!!!
Here is our HOOPTY plow truck. Isn't it a PEACH? Gets the job done though!

IT AIN'T PRETTY!

Tucker took this through the window the other day and you can't see just how dirty she was, but she is a dirty doggie.

Ellie is a crazy dog. I wanted a calm sweet shih tzu, but no I have the CRAZY dog. She loves to make a complete mess of herself. I love the long hair, but I finally gave up and cut her hair last night. I am not a groomer and should have taken her in, but once I got started combing and realized her face was a mess AGAIN, well.... You can see the results. Good thing hair grows!

Need a vacation again!

Well we are back in the thick of life! I want another vacation! My house is a mess. I need to vacuum, dust, do laundry, clean bathrooms, the list goes on..... School is back in full swing! I intended to take Friday-Monday off as we had saved up vacation days, but that didn't happen. The boys, especially Ethan, did school Friday and Monday. He has so much work that he didn't want to get behind. He is working really hard this year, but with his schedule he has a tough time. I am proud of him! Tucker is ahead of the game, but he is going to have to apply himself more in his Literature studies. He slacks when I am not paying attention.

I am looking forward to Christmas Break and making candy. I need to decide what we are making this year. Ethan enjoys cooking so I think he will help and Tuck always likes to help.

Well I don't have much to say so I better get to work!

Vacation

The water park was lots of fun! The slides were a blast and Tucker and Rusty enjoyed the surfing. Ethan didn't think it was much fun and I didn't try it. The lazy river was a hit with all of us. It was a nice relaxing time.

Vacation

We are taking a mini vacation and going to the waterpark in Kellogg. It looks like fun! I am SO ready for a little break. The boys want to snowboard, but I don't think there is enough snow.

I joined facebook last month, but today I decided to see if I could find anyone I know. I talked to Esau for awhile. That was fun! I found Teresa, Tashawn, Ali Richmond and some others. It is fun. Hope I hear from some others.

We decided Christmas will be at our house. It is TRADITION!!! So time to plan the next holiday. So start deciding what you want to eat and let me know. LOL

Decorations are up

This is my beautiful nativity scene. I love this!!! It is always my favorite thing to get out.

Tucker decorated the tree! Ethan wasn't home, but he never wants to help anyhow.

I can't seem to get in the holiday spirit, but maybe this will help. I do have my Christmas music going. I love Christmas music.

1st snow

It snowed last night and stuck.

Tucker and Cody built a couple of forts (more like blockades)

and are having fun.

As you can see the dogs have joined them. It is pretty sloppy out there.

Exercise

I traded my saddle for an elliptical machine. I have used it every day since Saturday. It gives a good workout. Of course, I am so out of shape that just about anything could give me a good workout right now. I do have more energy and feel better.

Ethan's first hunting trip

Ethan went hunting with Kylee and Grandpa(my dad) yesterday and today. Unfortunately, they didn't see anything. We had to be up at 4:30 to get ready. ARGH!!! They hiked a lot yesterday. Ethan had aching legs. He isn't home yet tonight, but mom talked to Kylee and they are on their way. I wish they would have gotten a deer. At least they got to go out.

Gold Mines

We went on a school field trip on Thursday. The Gold Mines were really cool. I took a bunch of pics of the walls on the mine. The colors were neat. I am not a science person, but I enjoyed this trip. Rusty even took the day off and came with us. The pics don't show the neat colors that were on the walls. There were purples, greens, turquiose, etc.

Killer find on Craigslist

Those that know me know I like to surf the web. Well today I found an almost new basketball hoop. The kind you can move around. It is a Reebok brand and super nice. $100!!!! It is at least a $300 hoop. I was excited. Rusty drove to Spokane to pick it up tonight.

Triple Play

We have Veteran's Day off today so we took part of yesterday off instead and went to Triple Play. The boys played arcade games, laser tag, and mini-golf.

Happy Birthday Tucker!

Bryan sweetly held Tucker's music book for him while Tucker played his new guitar.

Mom bought Tucker a package of Hello Kitty picks as a gag gift. You can't see it so much in the picture, but his face was red.

My baby is 10 today. Man, they grow up fast. We had a birthday party last night and enjoyed family and food!

FRIDAY

The weekend is HERE! I started it off early with a massage. It is prehaps the fastest 50 minutes. My neck has been out since Sunday and I was hoping a massage would help and I had a gift certificate so.... It did feel great, but neck is still out. If it isn't back in by Monday I will have to find a chiropractor. The school was having a great sale on their loyalty card 5 massages for $75 so I bought one. So my goal is one massage a month. I am even going to get brave and try a man massage therapist. I have always thought I would be uncomfortable with a man, but the girl that did my massage today said that the guy's are great because they assess the muscles and go to town were the woman gently work the muscles. I prefer the "get the job done" method.

The boys have PLANS for the weekend. Ethan has a friend coming tomorrow day and a b-day overnight and Tucker is in the process of making plans. Sunday is Tucker's b-day party. So BUSY, BUSY!

Cassie

Cassie is my little helper with the dishes. She loves to rinse, only bad part, the amount of water that is wasted. Tonight we watched High School Musical and she was dancin' away. It was really cute.