Snow Week

Seven inches. Seven whole inches of snow. Pretty much unheard of around here. It was enough snow to close schools for the entire week. Close JD's office for 3 days. But not enough to keep us inside!

Monday we had friends come over to play, play, play!

Front yard, obviously. 

All the littles. There were lots of them!

Chasing each other with snowballs.

Snow angels.

Helping the baby pack a snow ball. It's hard when the snow is super powdery.

My favorite of the day!

And the whole gang!

Tuesday we headed to the hospital to see the new baby!

Later that afternoon we got out because we were stir crazy again. (Not sure how everyone stays inside for days and days. I am super duper thankful for a husband who likes to drive and play on the ice!) What did we do? We went Letterboxing. Seriously? I know. I just happened to click on the website and someone else who was stir crazy planted one right down the street!

And since we were about 30 seconds away from some friends, we decided to drop in unannounced with three little girls. Fortunately, we are good enough friends I felt like we could get away with it. And while we were there we got in on a little MJ action. It was a 'thrilling' thing to watch.

Wednesday we took the girls home. JD and the big kids and Daddy Bodo played outside in the "sn-ice" and the 4 wheeler. I didn't get any pictures as I was inside sipping hot chocolate and loving on a sweet new baby. Pure joy!

Thursday I had to work. JD took me, just like the good ol' FW days. It was crazy! The office had been closed for the past 3 days. Shew.

Friday JD was at work while LilE and I stayed home. JD took the 4WD, so we were stuck. But it was nice to get some things done around the house after a week of being out and about!

Bodo Birthday

Our friends the Bodo's just had #8! We loved having the two little girls over while they were welcoming sweet Caleb into their family.

Monday morning they all hit the dress up drawer fresh out of the bed. Don't you just love the rock star look from my princess? Obviously it was before we got out the brush.

It snowed all morning, but those pictures will be in the next post.

Tuesday morning we got up and headed to the hospital to meet the newest boy. Oh how sweet he is!

The girls were mesmorized over their brother.

LilE was pretty smitten by him a well. She is told me she loved him so much she wanted to take him home with us. Soon baby girl, soon, we will take one of our own home!

Other Texas Stuff

While in Texas we did some other non-Christmasy things.

1. High School Friends. JD had lunch with some HS buddies. He took the camera, but forgot to take a picture.

2. College Friends. We had dinner with one of my college buddies. Heckler and family met us for dinner one night. We loved catching up with them. We had not seen them since their oldest was born. She is now 9. Too long.

3. Speaking of dinner, we had lots and lots and lots of Mexican food. And that craving was satisfied. Two Christmas dinners, Mexican pork and bean burritos by Nonnie, tortilla soup by Mimi, Mexican Inn, El Chico, and Abeulos. Plus leftovers. I was loving life!

4. Catching up with sister friends. You know the girls who are you sisters, even if you don't share genetics. Oh how I LOVE these girls. Friends you haven't seen for years and you can sit down and talk as if you just saw them yesterday.

J (on the left) is expecting her first baby in May and C (on the right) has 3 girls of her own. The four girls have grown so much since THE LAST TIME we saw them. LilE named her new Baby Sarah Cate after one of her friends. Guess they hit it off!

5. Home school. LilE played some school with Mimi. Lots of book reading and some worksheets she got in her stocking were on the list of assignments.

6. Game time. Pop got a new set of dominoes and Mexican train set for Christmas. We sat down several nights after to play. All aboard!

7. Letterboxing. You know we can't travel and not do some boxing! We traveled to the big city, where Brother and Elle live, one day and found 7 or so! A good day for us! Have you ever seen a cemetery in the parking lot of a Best Buy? Well, we have now. Interesting things you find while LBing.

8. Uneventful travel home. After a crazy trip out to Texas, the trip home was boring. PRAISE THE LORD! We were able to stop and eat lunch with some friends from Pine Cove, do some letter boxing along the way, and just enjoy each other. Such a GREAT 17 days in the Lone Star State!!

Christmas with the Smiths

Hmm...didn't know that was my maiden name, did you? You can say you learned something new today.

The night we arrived in C-town, we had a Mexican dinner with Mimi's family. I just love the little cousins. The girls, ages 5, 4, and 3, just played and played and played.

*Hoping my mom got a better picture than I did. Waiting on that CD to come. Hey Mom, Can you burn a CD? Thanks.*
Elle made these super cute toboggans for the little ones. Doesn't K look like a gangsta with the toboggan and jewels?

After the extended family left, we did our traditional one gift on Christmas eve. Typically we do PJs all around, but this year we rocked the boat. For as long as I can remember, all 30 something years, my parents have purchased PJs for Christmas eve (except that one year...). I love it! And it is something that I want my children to remember that their parents also did for them. So, the torch has been passed and now the grandkids are the only ones getting PJs from now on. There you have it...I ruined Christmas (HA!). 

 But we still got a picture of the big kids.

Christmas morning LilE woke up to a plate full of cookies, just as requested. 

We played our games while opening presents.

This year, Christmas Bingo.

LilE got lots and lots of goodies. She received a new ballerina outfit in hopes of taking some lessons this year (which she immediately went to put on and wore for the rest of the day)

and a Bitty Baby of her own (since Momma will have her own come June).

Did you know newborns like to play airplane on the day they are born?

Oh, and LilE got her gangsta hat too.

On the 26th we headed to visit Pop's family. More cousins!! I really wish we lived closer to our family. Both sets of kids had the best time! Obviously, dress up was a fun time for all.

We had such a great time with our extended family!

We are so blessed with family who we also call our friends.

Sprinkles are Good

Our friends have let us be a part of their little tradition of decorating cookies. Some years we are in town and some we aren't. Take a look at how the kids have grown: 2007 and 2008.

We were glad we were in town again this year. The girls just love it! They are super serious about getting those sprinkles just right...all 10,000 of them...per cookie. I love it!

And theEdge was just about eating the cookies. Who can blame him? They were delicious!

Disney on Ice

One of our church families gifted us with tickets to Disney on Ice. Blessed are we!! LilE took the day off school and I took the day off work for us to enjoy this day as a family.

All the princess stories were told and we just sat back and enjoyed! And of course LilE kept asking TONS of questions. That is what she does best these days.

It's really hard to take pictures in the dark. But we tried. Here are the more decent ones for us to remember the day.

Fall Festival

Last year, for multiple reasons, our church did not host a fall festival. But this year it was back and bigger and better than ever! Wow! Two ball fields and a park covered with food, inflatables, carnival rides, and games. And it was a good thing it was spread out. There were over 3400 people there! Holy Smokes!

My Little Cowgirl

LilE and I arrived a few minutes before start time. Perks of living with the man in charge. :) She was able to ride the Ferris Wheel and hit about all the inflatables before the lines were formed. Once the people arrived we played some games for candy and rode two different trains.

We then went to eat our hot dogs, boiled peanuts, popcorn and cokes before scoping out some more candy.

Such a great night to be out. The weather was perfect and God provided for all those who attended. What a blessing to be able to share with the community. And what is even greater is 150 people asked about having a relationship with Christ!! What an opportunity we have as a church to spread the love of JESUS!

JD on Belay

One Friday while I was working, JD took LilE rock climbing after school. He loves to climb. Remember the USNWC climbing wall? I am sure he had some great lesson about trust to incorporate into the climb. They had a great time and JD even took some pictures for me so I could see how much she enjoyed it.

She said her favorite part was rappelling. He would have to pull her up so she could bounce all the way down.

She has such a GREAT Daddy!! Oh how we both LOVE him!

Takin' a Ride on Green Pastures

My fourteen year old niece is amazing! She is beautiful on the outside as well as the inside. She is smart. She is a very talented barrel racer, complete with a couple of belt buckles she wears with pride. She also has a love for her family, particularly, the little ones.

Since she first met LilE the summer of 2006, she was smitten. And LilE took right to her as well.

They also share a love for animals. Fortunately for us, we can go visit all the animals on Jess's farm. Here they are with both George's.

As she continues to grow into such a precious young lady, she did not complain about not getting to sit at the "grown up table", but embraced having tea with LilE.

Last Christmas she taught LilE how to text.

While in Texas this October, we were able to stay with Jess and family. They were able to rearrange their schedules (aka skip school) to play with us! LilE is still talking about her day with the horses! Jess was so great with the two little ones. A gift for sure!

And I love this one from behind... 

And couldn't end without letting you all see the champ in action!