Snow Much Fun!!!!

Last week was a week of wintery blast. We had temperatures of -20 that felt like -30 with the wind chill. We got probably about 5 inches of snow (Colby and I measured when it was at 4 inches). Now, I have an awsome little girl who in the sweetest way she can has been talking about making a snowman since winter started and about how she wants to throw a snow ball at me. Well, when she saw all the snow falling last Wednesday she asked and aske and asked to make her snowman. This would be her first snowman she had the chance to make and the first time playing in the snow that she can remember. I wanted to give her the chance to have a ball in this snow we were getting. We waited until the boys came home (they had a half day) and then after naps. Once they woke up we, as patiently as possible, spent the 15 minutes it took to get the boys, Madi and myself completely bundled. Keep in mind for those of you who don't live here, it was -10 out at the time and felt much colder than that. Once dressed we headed out and the first thing to happen was everyone grabbing what snow they could and attempting to make snowballs. Now wait, that's only some what true.... Madi's first thing was telling me to take her picture because she was so excited, but I made her go over with her brothers first.
They tried and tried to make those snowballs, but we came to realize this snow was dry snow. No snowballs here, which meant no snowman.
We made snow angels and Madi thought that was so cool, then sweetly she asked for the snowman. I did the best I could and made the most blob looking snowman I've seen, but when I told her I was done and showed her..... the smile on her face was awesome, until she realized he had no eyes or nose and she very sternly asked "Mommy where's his eyes and nose?". I explained that he was a different snowman since the snow wasn't snowman snow. We continued our snow adventure with snow baths (just throwing it at each other since there were no balls), more snow angels, sleds and finally getting dad. We went in about 20 minutes later due to extreamly cold cheeks all around. It may have been cold, but it was snow much fun!

3 Years Old

My baby is 3 and at times it's a bit hard to imagine. Whether I want to face it or not though, it came and we celebrated. We actually had her party about 4 days previous to her birthday since her Aunt Mimi and cousins were in town and they usually celebrate with us.
Now, she got quite a few things I must say, it's crazy, especially coming off of Christmas. She really enjoyed unwrapping gifts this year. She got a few things for her kitchen, lots of coloring things, a carrier for her babies....
her Dora crock slippers she was wanting very badly that she just knew her Daddy would buy her since Mommy wouldn't one day while grocery shopping. This picture shows her enthusiasm as she tells her Daddy how happy she is that he bought them for her and she knew he would. (By the way, who did the birthday shopping???? Yep, mom, but you can't tell her that.)
Then there was her cake..... She and I were all geared up for a "Rainbow Care Bear Cake", as she called it. I was gonna make a cake, the frosting light blue for sky, pipe in some clouds, draw a rainbow with different color frosting and then stick a few toy care bears she didn't have yet on the clouds and rainbow. Well, we went to Rachel's 1st birthday party and Madi saw her butterfly cake and the care bears flew out the window. She wanted this cake and was gonna get it. Winter so kindly made the cake for us. It turned out so cute, most importantly though, Madi loved it.
Now how cool are these candles?! We found these on clearance earlier in the morning while grocery shopping and Madi thought they would be great as did Rodney and I. The candles flames, as you can kind of see, burn the color of the candle. Seriously, that is so neat.
We had a fantastic time celebrating and eating cake. Later the kids played Hungry Hippo and Madi was so tired that when she only got one marble, she began to cry that her Hippo was so hungry and he wasn't getting enough food. Poor thing, she was very upset. On Wednesday (her actual birthday) all she wanted me to do was color with her, so we colored all day while we were home except the 5 minutes we took out to play her new care bear game. We had one piece of cake left and I lite her a candle, sang to her, she blew it out and we enjoyed the last piece together. It was a memorable day, as simple as it was. She will always be my baby, even in 20 years!!!

Christmas Faces

Well, better late than never, right!!!!

Here are a few faces from Christmas morning. My Madi sure loves babies and was quite pleased to get a couple new ones.
This one she had been eyeballing for weeks everytime we would go to Walmart. What a surprise to get it!

This one crawls and laughs. It's really quite cute.

This year we were blessed to have all 5 kidos wake up together Christmas morning. That is hard to accomplish.
Now this was a face I was truly looking forward to. Colby has really took an interest to hunting and so we thought of starting off small. He was a bit confused when we opened the stuff in our stockings first and in there was a container of pellets, but no gun in sight........ until the end.

This was a reaction we were looking forward to as well. Dakotah was consistent in one thing he asked for this year and that was a Darth Maul double light saber. His mom Leah bought it for him and this is why he has a phone up to his ear while he was opening it. She wanted to be in on his reaction as well. This was not only big for him because of the light saber, but because this is the first time Autumn and Dakotah have received something from their mom in 4 years.
Now this is one of the things Autumn got from her mom and she was happy about it.
As for this look, seriously...... you buy her something princess and what a look you get.
Here are the girls when they caught first sight of their new kitchen from Grandpa Rob and Grammy. They didn't leave that kitchen for 4 or 5 days except to eat, sleep and potty. This is my ballerina in the kitchen and for just a moment, we got a bit of entertainment as she sang a song for us.

Christmas Date

On December 16 Rodney and I had the opportunity to go out on a date to his company Christmas party. Our dear friends Winter and Jesse baby sat for us and even offered to watch the kids overnight. Well, anyone, especially any stay at home mom in their right mind would jump on this offer and we did. When we dropped them off Winter took our picture which I was excited about because Rodney and I since this summer have started to finally accumulate some picture together and this was a special night. He brought me flowers! I was so excited and for those who may be thinking it's really not thaaat big of a deal...... it was for me. This is the first time I have got flowers from Rodney!!!! WHOO HOO!!! They were a pretty purple like daisy flower and 3 yellow roses. The funny thing that dawned on us is that I wore a purple shirt and he wore a yellow one so we matched my boquet. We had tasty dinner, played some games, went to Walmart to shop for our Chrismas child for Operation Elf then went home. I was the wierdest thing actually to not wake up early in the morning to go potty with Madi as well as wake up to such a quiet house.

Cutie Christmas Girls

Here are our little ladies this morning before church. They were so excited this weekend finally came so they could get all dressed up in their Christmas dresses. This is Madis first time wearing a Christmas dress and she looks so beautiful.

Just Another Kid

It's been a year now since we have had Daisy and she is just a wonderful dog. She is perfect for us and we stand firm that God picked her out specifically for us. She is so sweet and such a joy to have in our family. Now I did say she was perfect for us, but I didn't say she was perfect. She seriously is just another kid. As soon as Rodney comes home, she circles him until he gives her some love, just like the kids. She wants to be outside playing with him all the time, just like the kids. (She is curled up here getting her nails done by Rodney and she fell asleep between his legs)

She leaves her toys every where and is constantly hungry, just like the kids. She chooses to ignore me when I am telling her to do something and will only really listen to dad, just like the kids. She tears up the yard and leaves her mess out there for dad to pick up, just like the kids. It is truly funny how much she reminds us of a kid and we just love her so much and really I couldn't see our family complete without her as a part of it.

Clean up Time

So on our way back in from Walmart I took a few pictures of what our drive way and yard looked like. The three trees we had such major concerne about didn't come down, but when spring comes they will be. Ever since we have moved here Rodney has been telling me he was going to take the 3 trees down around the house. I have stood fim in fighting for them even though they are over 100 years old and sick or half dead. Yeah, well after I heard the noises they gave off in this storm and saw that my van, house and family were in jeoperdy, I told him to go for it. Besides it will give him a chance to get a head start on cutting wood for the winter.