Frozen Parts and Some Sleds

In all the years we've lived here (7), we have NEVER gone sledding; even though there is a fabulous hill very close by. The reasons are these...the big snowfalls always seem to happen on Sundays (true story) and we have never owned good sleds.

This year we bought sleds to give the kids for Christmas, but then forgot about them since they were hiding in the trunk of Randy's car. But as we drove home from Michelle's house in the snow on Wednesday evening, the kids began to talk about sledding and I surprised by them by saying, "We got you sleds, we just forgot to give them to you!" It was a bonus Christmas really.



So by 9:45am Thursday morning the kids were each calling a friend (on two separate cell phones, which was funny really) to invite them to go sledding with us. It was very fortunate that Parker and Madison were available, because that made the outing much more fun for the kids.

This is Landon's "It's really cold out here" smile.

The girls were even colder because poor Madison was wearing rain boots, but they managed to smile normal.


I spent the hour taking pictures of the kids and of the snow-covered plants nearby. Of course I felt tempted to take a turn sledding down the hill, but then had several "Fun Mom or Stupid Mom" flashbacks from adventures past and opted not to brave it.


Instead I stood contemplating the cold because I only had my foxy pair of rain boots to wear, so even with 2 pairs of socks on I still froze. The boots may keep the wet out, but they seem to celebrate the cold.

The hike up the hill drained them a little more each time.

She's just plain cute.

Landon and Parker tried all kinds of ways to get down the hill, but the girls stuck to sitting down and facing forward. (There's a reason it's almost always boys who end up on America's Funniest Home Videos.)

Now that's a better smile.

At one point, I looked down and saw Whitney just lying at the bottom of the hill...classic Whitney.


The discolored spot on the side of my nose looks oh so magnified these days because the dermatologist used liquid nitrogen on it the other day; apparently when it heals the spot will be gone (woohoo).

After an hour of sledding the kids were icy cold and exhausted, but I was the only one bright enough to take a hot shower when we got home. Hee.

**Have you gone sledding recently?
Did you remember any of those flashbacks?
Do you own snow boots?
Have you ever had liquid nitrogen on your face?**

Comment Window Tidbit: It feels like a Saturday, but it's really only Friday...I love it when that happens!

Creative Friday--Christmas Card Edition

The weather outside was frightful on the way to Michelle's house, and was definitely the kind of weather that makes me want to hibernate safely at home, but my desire to have Creative Friday with Michelle and to give Landon a day with Lucas was great so we braved it.


Max was strumming his new guitar and teaching himself how to play a song that he found online; he's quite good already.

Michelle made us tasty baked potatoes for lunch.

Whitney and Eva joined us at the table to work on some sparkly projects with the big bag of supplies Michelle's mom sent Eva for Christmas.

Kristi sent Michelle and I a Creative Friday Christmas gift (I love the way she addressed the box).

It's so pleasing to get unexpected gifts from a friend.

Kristi gave me this awesome mailbox and letter key chain (though I'm going to hang it in my office so I can see it) and a vintage odds & ends container she found at Goodwill.

It cracked me up that she wrote this in the card.

The cute mailbox even opens!

She gave Michelle this nice pink journal with lined pages inside (Michelle likes the lines) and this highly sticky monogram patch for her to put on something.


Michelle and I haven't exchanged Christmas gifts yet (we're not ready), but she gave me this set of nesting home decor books and a silver chain to replace mine that broke.


Randy and I are always late sending out our Christmas cards, but we have NEVER been this late before! We usually send them a couple days before Christmas, but haven't sent any yet and it's already the 30th! I'm horrified. I spent the entire 4.5 hours we were at Michelle's house addressing envelopes and getting them ready to mail.


I ended up with a bit of a headache and didn't enjoy getting a phone call during Creative Friday.


Late in the day, Max brought over a gift Michelle's mom had sent for us (woohoo, I love it when I am on her list), and it turns out she sent us several full spools of awesome ribbon from her store! We just need to divide them up and we'll be good to go.

These two spools didn't make it into the original box.

The boys had a Chess tournament, which involved Max telling Lucas he was using "the most annoying strategy ever".


Whitney and I had come to an agreement (before arriving) that she would happily play with Eva all day for $1 an hour. This made all of us happy and meant that we saw very little of them over the course of the afternoon.


The weather got really nasty right about the time we were getting ready to go, aargh! The wind was blowing the snow like crazy and Michelle's street was like a Slurpee. I got soaked and freezing as I scraped off the car so we could brave the drive home. The kids and I said a prayer before we left, then had a very slow (5 mph) but safe drive home. We said a prayer of thanks in the driveway when we got home, and I was glad for the teaching moment.

**Did you get any unexpected gifts this Christmas?
Do you love ribbon?
Do you mind driving in bad weather?
Have you ever walked in a Slurpee before?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I'm having some time management problems today and am giving myself anxiety over it. I need to get stuff done and relax at the same time.

Wordless Wednesday

Comment Window Tidbit: Mother Nature suddenly remembered that it's winter and is making up for lost time!

Blogging Beauties

Yesterday I was able to get together with two hilarious blogging friends who happen to be sisters.


I met up with Ashley and Brooke at Hagermann's for lunch only to find that it was closed for the holidays, so we tweaked our plan and went to Kneader's instead.


For once, I thought to take a self-portrait before we ate. It was funny posing for this picture because they are both so tall, I seriously felt like a member of the Lollipop Guild.


Since they are both Oreo lovers, I wrapped up a bag for each of them. These two have a gift for staying skinny despite their love of eating (why didn't I get that gift?), and have blogged hilarious stories about Oreos.

We had a totally tasty lunch and lots of substantial stuff to talk about. I love that blogging is a shortcut to friendship! These two are interesting, insightful, funny and real all at the same time. Good times.

**How do you feel about Oreos?
Have you read their blogs?
What blogger would you most like to meet?**

Comment Window Tidbit: My time off from work is flying by too fast. I was afraid of this, and rightly so!

Our Christmas

Oh how I love the look of the Christmas tree and presents before the frenzy of present opening begins!


Holy tamole, Santa shocked everyone by bringing the kids 2 hamsters and all the gear that goes with them!


Luckily, I had gotten up in the night so I knew that Santa had brought the hamsters (blatantly defying my "nothing that poops" policy), and I was excited for the kids to see them. But their reaction was so underwhelming and calm that it was downright disappointing. They have since shown evidence of true giddiness, so I can only assume they were speechless at the time.

I suppose this is an expression of giddiness.

Their pre-present opening, bed head look.

They actually woke us up at 6:05am, but I didn't have my wits about me until 6:20. Landon actually woke up at 5:15 and painfully watched the clock until the "authorized" hour of 6:00am. He said, "The most painful minute was 5:59!"


This is Landon's reaction upon opening a charger for his DS. He lost his charger awhile ago and hasn't been able to play with his DS, so this actually made it onto his Christmas list.


Landon is such a sweet guy, he gave Randy $10 and had him get me a gift certificate for JCW's. I know I didn't part with my money as freely when I was a kid!


When Randy and I were out shopping one evening last week, I pointed out that I'd like some new Velcro rollers. The ones I've been using have lost their Velcro-properties (they're 18 years old) so it was time.


Whitney thought it was funny that we gave her a Costco-pack of tape, but she does a whole lot of taping with her many projects so it just made good sense.


The kids received a couple DVDs and this was their reaction after opening "Despicable Me".

Randy gave me 2 pedicure gift certificates, woohoo.

Whitney sewed this tiny pillow at my mom's house awhile ago and turned it into a Christmas present for me.


Whitney has been asking for the dolphin Pillow Pet for months now so her reaction to it was quite appropriate.


After the gift opening, Randy and I went back to bed for a few hours, but I had a hard time recovering from the weird sleep schedule. Landon spent a good part of the day watching basketball and eating candy from his stocking.


This is Landon's stash of Christmas gifts all laid out on the futon so my mom could see what he got.


I was surprised the hamster set up could fit on their dresser without some serious reconfiguring, but it fits right into the mess that's already there.


The hamsters are seriously cute. They're both girl (sisters we think) and after several name changes have been officially named "Magic" and "Trixxy".


Whitney spent a long time playing with her new veterinary clinic, new squishy sting ray and new dinosaurs. She left the plastic price tag bands around their necks so she could pretend they were tracking collars.


My parents, Andrew, Lori and Robyn came over later to see the kids' loot and to hang out. We set Andrew up with a movie in the kids' room and he kicked back with a can of Caffeine free diet Coke and a bowl of popcorn.


The rest of us hung out eating some leftovers from the night before and talking.

**How was your Christmas?
Do you use Velcro rollers?
What time did you get up that morning?
Have you ever had hamsters?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I went to the dermatologist today and had my first experience with the crazy magnifying glasses and the liquid fear of having something removed. I think my proximity to having a giggling fit from the glasses helped take the edge off the terror of the needle and scraping!