Winter Family Fun!

This is our 3rd winter in the Midwest and it has been quite the winter! We were in our first ever REAL blizzard a few weeks ago.
People were making a run on the stores while I was just buying my regular groceries that week. I am so grateful that our family has been working on Provident Living. We try to work on our food storage and emergency preparedness, so this storm wasn't really nerve-wracking for us.
In a 12 hour period we got over a foot of snow and it was a blast!!!! We couldn't see through our field and almost couldn't see the cars parked behind our house. There was so much snow, but it was the WIND that was totally INSANE!
The day after the blizzard the Elders came over and shovelled our walks for us. It was around zero degrees, so we headed out and joined in the fun in the snow!!!


Thanks a ton, Elders! It was a fun day!


"Happy" Emma from the snow!


It was so cold that Sarah's freshly washed hair FROZE straight! That used to happen to me when I was little and walked to school every morning. She thought that was so cool!

I don't know if you remember last year we went out sledding as a family and it was 0 degrees and we were freezing but having fun still. This last weekend we went to the same amazing elementary school again. But it was very different this year. It was 30 degrees and almost felt warm!

Oh we love snow!


Rachel laughed the whole way down!


Sarah is such a dare devil! They kept going down the steep part of the hill!


Sledding with the girls is so much fun!


Here is a happier sledding Emma!

The other thing about the Winters here is that you get a bit of CABIN FEVER after a while! So here are a couple fun things that we did the last few weeks.

With the money she got for her birthday, Rachel bought a Viking outfit from "How to Train Your Dragon". She loves it and brought most of it (minus the ax of course) to school for show and tell!

Rachel was the Star Student this week and as part of that she got to pick someone to come in and read her favorite books to the class. She chose Sarah and it was so much fun!!! It was so fun to see the girls together. Rachel was so proud to have her sister with her and Sarah was so fun to listen to!



The other fun thing we have started is playing Zumba on the Wii!
As you probably know, I love to go to the gym and do Zumba as a workout and it is so much fun on the Wii! The girls would do it every day if they could!

Group zumba!


Nice job, Rach!

Snowy adventures & Emma's sleeping habits

It's been kind of funny weather lately. "Warm" (I have to put quotes around that) and rainy and then cold and snowy. Today it was cold/warm and clear! We are just getting used to the weather.

Last week there was snow on the ground and the girls went out and played in it! They were making a snow pile and they had a blast! They both really needed the snow pants that day! It's like they were swimming in the snow! Every kids dream! (0:

Rachel with all the garb!!!

Sarah and the "pile", as they called it!

The other thing going on at our house is a little 2 1/2 year old who naps in the weirdest places. It started a couple of weeks ago. I went into her room to get her up from her nap and I couldn't find her. I looked all over and then I saw her blanket was sticking out from under her bed. There she was, asleep on the mattress under her bed. I have also found her in the corner sleeping, behind the bed and in the closet. And then the newest one started:

That is the middle drawer of her dresser. She climbs in there and falls asleep. She rolls around in the clothes and gets comfortable and falls asleep. Poor thing. She has a nice soft mattress, but she sleeps anywhere but there! Emma under her beloved ducky blanket, totally asleep in her drawer!

Take off, to the Great White North!!!!

Ok so we aren't in the North, more like the Mid-West, but it sure feels WHITE!
Snow yes, but more like white as in freezing cold!
Our week was full of Snow Days! I kind of have been wanting one lately because I am feeling a little lazy and I sure got what I asked for.
Richard had class on Monday night and he was supposed to have a test and then a lab. Well, early in the day he received an email from his teacher saying they would only have the test and do the lab on a different day (he has to drive an hour to get to the school). Well, then we watched the news and they closed school and the teacher fired off another email postponing the test until Wednesday. So, we woke up on Wednesday and the girls' school was cancelled as well as Richard's. So now, because of the Human Rights Day holiday on Monday, his test has been moved back until next Wednesday, 9 days later than it was supposed to be. It's great to have a little more time to study, but he kind of wanted to get it over, too!
Also, little Rachel had her Christmas program at school scheduled for the Friday before Christmas. Well, that day was a snow day. So then they rescheduled it for last Wednesday (another snow day). Her teacher joked the other day that by the time they got the their program it would be an Easter program! Oh well!
So our school attendance goes something like this: They had school on Monday and Tuesday. Snow days Wednesday and Thursday. There was teacher inservice Friday and there there is a holiday from school for Human Rights Day on Monday. That will be 6 days off school!!! If we had known this would be a big break, we would've driven to Kentucky (miss you!)!!!
JUST A SIDE NOTE: It was so awesome to hear that someone else watched "WICKED" and screamed her guts out at the end of the first act! I am glad to hear that there is another crazy out there!!! (0:
So being cooped up in the house has been our favorite past time this week! I don't know if you guys know, but the temperature here got so low, it was a record. Thursday was a high of 3 below zero and a low of 20 below zero. With the wind chill on top of that, it was a record!
So that is what people in the Mid-west do. Play inside their houses!
So that is what we did:



PS Check out my curly hair blog for a funny story about church!