The weather outside is frightful....

But inside it's so delightful. Because we'd no place to go, we stayed in our PJ's all morning.

Baby's First Christmas

Audrey got many new toys but she was completely content playing with the leftover wrapping paper.

White Christmas

What a great day we had!!! It was snowing outside despite weather forecasts that said we should have been done with the snow. The kids got some wonderful things and were very content with what they received. We spent most of the day playing with our new toys and Wii games and then Grandpa and Grandma Eden and Nikki came up for dinner in the afternoon.

All I want for Christmas....

Carter: Legos
Tyler: Remote control car
Olivia: A baby seat and a baby (the plastic kind)
Audrey: Da da da

Underappreciated and overpaid

After a week of living homebound as a family, my boys have discovered the computer once again. I don't know what the appeal is, but they are preferring it to even the TV or the Wii. They spent a lot of time on the computer yesterday and all I heard all day was one question: "Mom, can I play the computer?" from both boys.

Finally, last night, in frustration I said, "All I have heard all day is, ' Mom, can I play the computer?' Not once have either of you come up and said thanks or I love you." They looked at me like, "Are you answering our question with a nag?" Then they looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders and went and found something else to do.

This morning, when Carter woke up, he came and gave me a big hug. He told me good morning and Merry Christmas and was unusually pleasant. Then when I turned on the computer, Carter, who was involved in something else, said, "Mom, I love you."

I smiled because he was so sweet and then I asked, "Carter, are you buttering me up?"

He honestly answered, "Yes."

Snow days

We have had snow on the ground for over a week now. I have lived in Seattle for ten years and never seen snow like this. The kids have been out of school since last Wednesday and last Monday and Tuesday were delayed start school days. We are now on a Winter Break and even that is being disrupted by snow. On Saturday night, the snow started falling in little flakes and blowing around. It reminded me of the Colorado snow that I remember from the days of my youth!!

It has been a lot of fun to play in. We practically have to drag Tyler in everyday and then as soon as he warms up, he wants to head right back out into it. We have never invested in sleds, but the neighbors are gracious to share. The road in front of our house has become a sledding hill and so there is a constant train of kids (and sometimes adults). It is fun to watch their creativity.

Audrey is seven months old!!!

Sassy Pants

Last night at dinner Olivia was talking to Tyler and I. She somehow in her conversation came to the following point: "When I return from my mission to Disneyland..." Tyler interrupted her and said, "You can't go on a mission to Disneyland." She looked at him, tilted her head to one side, huffed and said, "Yes, I can." He stopped arguing with her.

This morning she was playing with her friend, Joey. They were in Carter's room dancing because there is a radio in there. I overheard him say, "Who was born first in your family?" She said very matter-of-fact, "My mom". He said, "No. Who was born first?" She came into the nursery where I was dressing Audrey and she asked me, "Mom, who was born first?" I looked at her and asked, "Who is the oldest brother?" She looked at me and huffed and tilted her head to one side as if to say, "Why are you answering my question with a question?" Then she rolled her eyes and said, "Carter." I smiled and said, "You're right."

She ran into the boys room and told Joey. Then she huffed again and said, "I am mad at my mom." He asked why and she said, "I am very angry." I don't know what she was thinking or what I did. Thankfully, she got over her anger quickly.

Compound words

Carter is learning about compound words at school. He and I have made a game of it so that whenever we are in the car we will try to come up with as many compound words that we can think of. Our list has included words like birdhouse, firetruck, basketball, etc.

Tonight we were driving home and were not talking about compound words when Carter all of the sudden yells, "Mom, I know another one!" With a great deal of pride he exclaimed, "Carpet!"

Locks of love

Yesterday I was getting the kids ready to leave for church. I had already done Olivia's hair but it needed to be redone as she had been playing under blankets. I went to comb her ponytail and thought that it felt kind of short but it wasn't until I went to wrap the rest of her hair around my finger that I realized that she had CUT her hair. She had taken scissors and cut about six inches off each side. She still had beautiful baby curls down her back but now there was half of them.

I about started crying. I knew that eventually we would have to cut off her baby curls but they are still so beautiful and it was so untimely. All day yesterday I was in shock. You would have thought that there had been a tragedy in the family. I never guessed that I would have reacted this way.

She wore it to church yesterday in her haircut and this morning we went to see Stephanie, our "beautician", to fix what Olivia had done. She tried to save some of Olivia's curls by layering the hair, but I am not sure I love it. The layers look a little too grown up for my three year old. We will probably leave it until January when all the hair evens out a bit more and then we will have to cut the rest of the curls off.

Prayer etiquette

This morning, I had served up a gourmet school morning breakfast of cereal and milk. After everyone was served, I asked Tyler to offer the prayer. He offered a very nice prayer but as soon as he closed it, the prayer police officer, Olivia, said, "You didn't bless the food". He looked at her and said, "There was nothing hot so I didn't have to". I started to chuckle and Carter (who is so much wiser than his siblings) said, "You bless the food at every meal so that 'it will give us the strength and nourishment we need'".