(Please Don't) Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

My lucky daughter. She got to play in the first real snow of the year, on her birthday.


We woke up yesterday morning to about four inches of snow. It was a culmination of two days worth of flurries and hard overnight snowfall.

I'm glad I've started parking the van in the garage. This would've been a pain to try and clean off the car with only five minutes before we have to leave for school.

Here is the beautiful view out our back window.



The cows are gone for the winter, which makes it even prettier outside. Don't be fooled by all this beauty, though. I'm stuck in the Valley. Forest Mountain (the only way into Yreka) is Chains Required for all vehicles. We don't have any chains in the van, so I couldn't go over this morning to do my grocery shopping. Shoot, even if we did have chains in the van, I wouldn't've gone. I'm not about to get out on the cold, wet ground to put them on. That's Jason's job! Luckily nothing on my list is urgent. Hopefully I can get out by Friday, because I don't want to spend a fortune at Ray's to get food to make stuff for potlucks.

This wooden shelf outside our back window is where our air conditioner sits in the summertime. Jason didn't want to bother with taking it down each year, so we decided to turn it into a bird feeder during the winter. It has been getting a lot of action, and I have the feeling we will be going through lots of birdseed this year. The birds are actually starting to fight over it. Maybe I need to put more seed out? Oh, and don't mind the stuffed duck watching the birds eat. I think he's just jealous of them.

Here are the kids, playing in the snow. They were so excited that yesterday was an early release day, and that the snow wasn't melted by the time we got home from the library. They bundled up as soon as we walked in the door, and headed outside. I'm so glad their snowsuits from last year still fit them. We will definitely have to buy new ones next year. Actually, Tyner has been outside twice today, and it's just now lunchtime.

Well, Zeke is in my lap, trying for all he's worth to hit the keyboard with a pencil eraser. I guess I should finish up on here before he accidentally stabs me in the eye with the pencil lead.

Hope you enjoyed our snow! And if you have snow of your own, be safe and don't drive like a moron!

Family Pictures

We went to a wedding today. Since we were all dressed up, we thought we would take our family picture. So, here it is:

Here are the three kiddos:

And here is one of Jay's grandparents:
So, if I have your address, you'll be getting that first picture on a "holiday" card in the next few weeks. "Holiday" just means I didn't order the cards in time for Christmas. I'm such a procrastinator...

What I'm Thankful For

Okay, I realize I'm about a week late in posting this, but I just thought I'd share all the things I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful for.....

...us. And everything we've been through. I'm thankful that we love each other more now than we did when we first met.

...her. This smart, beautiful, sweet girl. I'm so glad that God gave her to us, this girl of my heart.

...him. This loud, crazy, often obnoxious boy. I'm certainly learning a lot of lessons from him.

...him, too. My sweet surprise baby. He makes me smile and laugh all day long.

...a great view out my back window.

...wrestling matches. They are loud and sometimes painful. But they are SO MUCH FUN!

...cousins. And sisters too, for that matter. ...babies that like to share. ...caffiene.

...my dad and mom. And Jason's grandparents too (but I don't have a picture of them to share).

...yummy candles burning in my kitchen.

...having clothes to wear.

...a warm dinner in the crockpot.
But most of all, I'm thankful to God. For giving me this wonderful life that I take for granted. For forgiving me of all the dumb things that I say, do, and think. And for loving me and sticking around, even when I forget He's there.

He's got some big shoes to fill...

Zeke and I were playing in my room the other day, and he found Daddy's shoes. I slipped them on over his little tennies, and he thought it was the greatest thing in the whole world.

Here he is trying to stand up.And trying to take a step.

This is my favorite picture. He just looks so darn proud of himself. And I love that you can see his little double chin. :D

Random Pictures 1132

Here are some pictures of Zeker from the last few weeks.



He likes to try and climb on the dishwasher door now. He thought he was SO BIG!

Some pictures from his bath the other day. He loves to put toys into cups and carry them around, so he was having a blast playing with the Little People and this cup.

Gotta' love chubby baby buns!
And I know this isn't Zeke, but I just thought his blueberry/rice cereal was so pretty.

Hope you liked the pictures.

And so it begins.

AHAHAHAHA. Sorry. That was me, laughing at this video.

If crying babies irritate you, I probably wouldn't watch this. But if you like REALLY CUTE crying babies.....

This is what happens when Zeke is cranky and tired, and the milk cup is empty. I'm having flashbacks of Tyner fits.

It's kind of long (two minutes), but that's okay. Hey wait a minute. I just realized it cut off the last 30 seconds of the video. It was supposed to be 2:32 long. Grrr. Darn free video services. Maybe if I actually paid for it......

Anyway. Enjoy!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Birthday, Accomplishments, and Making a Comeback

Here are a couple pictures of Tyner's birthday. He is having his boy party on Saturday, but we let him open our present to him on Tuesday.

Here is opening the present:

A super-cool, super-easy remote control car. He already got it taken away for driving it into his brother's back. Typical....

And here is Zeke crying because he wants me to pick him up. Ha ha ha.
Zeke found his 0-3 month camo hat in a box today and was trying to put it on. He thought it was so funny when I finally put it on him, that he walked around the house smiling and laughing. He looked so goofy with the tiny hat on that I had to get a picture.

And here are a few pictures of some things I accomplished yesterday.

Two loads of laundry. Well, three if you count the towels that are still sitting in the dryer.
I made six packages of Rice-A-Roni type stuff. I got the recipe from Hillbilly Housewife. These are really tasty (although I haven't tried the taco), and they are super easy to throw together even if you don't have them premade. Two Beef, two Chicken, and two Taco. Grandma let me borrow their FoodSaver to re-package meat that I bought on my big Medford trip, so I packaged these up and vacuum-sealed them. They are now waiting in my pantry for me to use when I need a quick side dish.

These are the icecream cone cupcakes that my friend Heather and I made for Cubbies. Her son and Tyner both had birthdays this week, so we decided to get together and share the task of providing a treat. These were made by filling tiny ice cream cones (probably two inches tall) with cake batter (about 2/3 full), baking them, and then frosting them. They are the perfect size for preschoolers, and just the right size for Daddy to eat one in one bite.

And I just thought I'd share that cloth diapers are making a comeback in our house. I was almost out of disposable diapers the other day, so I decided to start using the cloth ones I had and just using pull-on vinyl pants, since I lent all my velcro covers to my friend because Chunky Butt was too big for them. Here he is in his pull-on pants, trying to chase after Daddy (sorry about the red eyes).
And here he is, ready for bed, in a larger size velcro cover that the same friend lent me. I know this probably looks huge and bulky, but there is an extra microfiber liner in there to make sure it absorbs everything overnight. Well, he's not really ready for bed, since he doesn't have his jammies on yet.
So, there are a few pictures from the last few days. I really need to try to be better about posting everyday, or at least every other day, so I don't have these posts that are four topics long. Anyway. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Bowls, Blankies, and Costumes

So, I'm here to post some new-ish pictures. I hope you like them.

Remember how I said the other day that Zeke likes to wear bowls on his head? Well, I got this picture of him doing it. Not the greatest shot, but it's hard to get a good picture of a wobbling toddler who is attracted to your camera like a moth to a bug zapper.Here's my sweet boy with his blankie. He loves this thing. He will go and pull it through the bars of his crib so he can carry it around with him. He wrapped it around himself like this while he was watching a video.

Here are the boys waiting for the Halloween Parade to start. Notice how Pirate/Cowboy Tyner is practically laying on Zeke. Yeah, that's about normal.
Zeke chillin' in his stroller. He eventually pulled his hat off. And then tried to put it back on. Upside down.Sierra walking in the parade. Doesn't she look thrilled? Don't ask me about the crown. That's all we could come up with for this Fairy/Princess/Winged Creature.

The big kids before Trick or Treating. Daddy took them to Fort Jones, hoping they might see some people they knew. They came back with a bowlful of candy. I was happy. All three kiddos. See, I put Zeke in his Halloween jammies. That counts as dressing up, right?! Sierra after Trick or Treating last night. This was before 9:00 pm. I guess her new seating arrangement for reading was a little too comfortable.
Well, that's it for now. See y'all later.