Christmas Fun

Well, another Christmas come and gone. It was a great day filled with presents, laughs, family, christmas stories and FOOD. I feel as stuffed as I felt on Thanksgiving! The ingesting of two million plus calories actually started on Christmas Eve. We started the day by heading to Dennys to have breakfast with our pals, the Novakovichs. Then, after skipping lunch because we were still so full from breakfast, we had our traditional dinner of Belgian waffles piled high with fruit and "whup" cream (as Aleah calls it) and ham on the side at Grandma's. On Christmas morning we always fix a scrumptious spread of scrambled eggs with ham, peppers, onions and cheese, along with hash browns, fresh pineapple, toast and oj. You throw in the chocolate and what not found in our stockings that we munch on all day and then our next meal is a huge turkey dinner! You'll find me on the ellyptical tomorrow for two hours! And then an hour on the treadmill.

Don't mess with a girl and her chocolate!!

Cooper enjoyed his first Christmas. He got a nice, big, comfy bed that he loved immediately. We figured he'd be into everything as we were trying to open presents, but he just crawled on his new bed and went to sleep. That's my boy!

It was a LEGO Christmas at our house this year. We did the same thing back in 1996, but I think this year surpassed that one. Rob and the girls are crazy about legos so we added 24 sets to our collection of about 120! They had a blast opening them all to see which ones they were getting. Now my dining room table is completely submerged in legos, as well as the floor and sideboard table. Next, it will probably spread to the living room and then the hallways. I draw the line at my bedroom!!

The snow continues to pile up. We've now had about 55 inches or so and set a record for the snowiest December on record. With the 8" of new snow we received last night, we decided we had better shovel off our deck if we wanted it to remain attached to our house. So straws it was and Rob and Lexi drew the short ones. Whew! That was one job I was glad not to have to do. But Dad, being the smart one he is, told Lexi to shovel the stairs while he worked on the deck. It didn't take her long to figure out why he assigned her there - he could throw the snow over the railing right on top of her! She didn't think it was too funny but the rest of us were busting a gut, watching through the window! It's always great when we can laugh at Lexi's expense. haha

Record Snow Fall

Wow! We've had 26 inches of snow fall in 36 hours and it's still coming down! School was cancelled for Aleah and McKenna. They were thrilled because they just didn't think it was fair that they had to go to school when Kaylyn and Lexi were sleeping in. It's great to have Kaylyn home for the holidays, especially with all this snow. A mom is never truly at ease unless all her children are tucked in safely at home!

So what does a family do when school is cancelled for the day and everything is shut down? We had a Cookie-baking, Lego-making, Movie-watching day, of course! Kaylyn and Lexi got all of our Christmas cookies and treats made. And even though the kitchen was a complete disaster afterwards, mom didn't mind cleaning it up because all the hard work was done. The BIG lego sets came out today so I suppose I won't see my kitchen table and coffee table for at least a week. And try keeping a puppy from trying to eat those little pieces! Cooper thinks we put them there for his enjoyment. Star Wars seemed to be the theme for the day: star wars lego sets and movies. We were determined to watch all six movies but only made it through two. Oh well, the night is still young!

Rob finally got tired of all the girls asking him how much snow was on the deck so he waded through to measure. As of 3pm it was 26" and still snowing. We set a record in Spokane for total snowfall in one day - 19". But in this snowbelt we live in, we got a lot more than that. Because it's been so cold (in the teens and below) the snow is light and fluffy. Thank goodness because that's a lot of snow to shovel. I went out last night and shoveled about 9 inches off the driveway (it really stinks having such a big driveway in the winter) and by the time I was done 45 minutes later, there was already an inch on it again. So today, I boycotted and Rob and the girls shoveled. And because it's not supposed to get above 20 degrees for a week, it's definitely going to be a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!

Cooper is cursing us for bringing him to live in snow country. He's thinking that somewhere like St. George or San Diego would have suited him just fine! Just when we thought he was getting so big, we realized that he's just a little squirt in a whole lot of snow! We had to shovel a pathway so he could get back to his relief spot or he wouldn't have been able to get out the garage door! You could barely see the top of him as he ran down the path. He's still trying to figure out what this white stuff is. He likes playing in it but can't understand why it makes him so cold. Or why he can't breathe when he sticks his head in it!

You can barely see the top of Cooper in the back yard!