What will Santa do?

Happy Winter Solstice Day! Today is the shortest day of the year. From here, we start working our way back to summer time. In only 6 months we could be back in the 60's or 70's. We could have snow on the ground still at the rate we are going.

Luke asked today what Santa will do if it is so icy out. I told him that Santa is a professional driver...all is good. I am just hoping I get to mall to finish shopping by then! Hee Hee.

On to FREEZING RAIN!

Today we woke up to a layer of ice on top of the snow. I heard Matt drive up this morning when he got home from work because he sounded like he was driving over a life size bag of chips. It took him an hour to warm up his truck enough to melt the 1/2 inch of ice off. He said it was a pretty crazy night at work trying to get around. He is off now until Wednesday and I am thankful we don't have to go anywhere in this stuff. We are now hearing that the ice/snow may last a little longer than first anticipated since things are really warming up. I better start getting creative with the boys!

Arctic Blast 2008---it's still snowing!!!

SO...it started snowing on Sunday and it continued off and on all week. The boys and I were out of school all 5 days. Unbelievable! Today, it snowed from sun up to sun down. We have at least 6 inches outside our doors and it is a very dry snow. The boys are just beside themselves with amazement. I don't think they have ever seen so much snow in their lifetime. For that matter, I don't know if I remember it snowing so much in a week's period of time. Today, we did get in some more sledding which was absolutely a blast with so much snow.

Thankfully, we were able to escape the house a few times during this snowy week. We hit the mall, had meatballs at IKEA, went sledding, shopped at Target, played games, baked cookies and have slept in every day. I have to say that I am feeling so rejuvenated from this forced early vacation. Now, Matt on the other hand, has had to continue to work his normal shifts. Personally, I think he enjoys the challenge of driving in the snow...a true dude!

Here are a few highlights of our winter wonderland. These pictures were taken about 1:00. Since then we have added a few more inches...the snow comes up to the curbs in the street.

Snow days!

Sunday morning we woke up to big, giant snowflakes falling. We quickly had about 2 inches of snow outside and the boys were ready to hit it by 8:30 a.m. We were able to hold them off until a little later when we could scrounge what winter gear we had left together. We realized that we will be adding a few more gifts of hats, mittens, etc. to the tree for the boys. Anyway, once outside the boys had a great time throwing snowballs and trying to put together their own "Frosty". They came in frozen and happy.




Monday was a snow day for all of us...no school!! Yippee! So, we hit the park with a couple other friends and the boys went sledding for their first time. They LOVED it! I knew they would but I was just amazed at how many times they were willing to slide down and then haul the sled back up the hill. The 25 degree weather didn't seem to bother the boys at all but we finally had to drag their pink cheeks away with the promise to come back again soon.

border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280251683181856706" />

The boys are busy!

The boys just finished football season. Luke's first season was a big success. He really started getting the idea of the game and I can proudly say was one of the best ball hikers! Unfortunately for Luke, he is cursed with his mom's lack of speed so anytime he had the ball he was quickly pursued and his flags pulled. It didn't seem to bother him a bit. Ryan played for his 2nd season and loved it even more this year. His favorite part was playing defense and "charging" the QB. Now Ryan is on to basketball season while the rest of the family cheers him on.

Ryan has lost 3 teeth since the summer. He has just one big 'ol toothless grin.







School really takes it out of the boys, especially Luke. This picture was taken at 6:50 pm and the boys were snoring! Mom just wanted to crawl up next to them on the couch!

Happy Halloween!

At 5 and 7 years old, I don't think that the boys have been more excited about Halloween. We had the countdown going for the last week and a half. The costume fun began last Sunday at our church Halloween party. They started stocking up on candy (and sugar highs) then! For Halloween we started at 4:00 by trick or treating the local Safeway complex. Then, after pizza, we headed to the neighborhoods. The boys ran up and down every street for hours. We finally got home at about 8:00 with about "230" pieces of candy...according to Luke. We had a fun night and definitely crashed hard. We didn't get out of our PJs on Saturday until 3:00 pm.

Pumpkin patch

October has been a beautiful month here in Oregon. The boys and I made the most of one Saturday by heading to the pumpkin patch with Christy, Bridget and their kids. We did the hay maze, slid down the hay slide, ate kettle corn and deep-fried apple fries, romped in the "nut house" and took several pictures in front of pumpkins! The most adventurous thing we all dared was the pitch black hay maze. I don't know why but the 3 moms and all the kids went inside a pitch black barn and tried to find our way through a maze with only a flashlight. Call us crazy but the boys loved it!!!!

Ryan could be jack-o-lantern this October. He has lost 3 teeth in the last month which makes his smile quite unique right now. I think it is cute!


We have been doing the pumpkin patch with these friends since they were all toddlers. Ali and Merilyn are always good sports to hang out with the boys! Luke, Ryan, Camden and Logan kept us moving quickly throughout the various attractions.