Wisconsin winter wonderland...

This post is NOT about telling scary ghost-stories...

instead, it's how we started our day on Wednesday morning. Hannah and Noah had been "quietly" playing in their room (until it was mommy-approved-time to get up), when we last power. When I heard no surprised screams or scuffling around, I thought I better check out what these two were up to in their room. As I opened the door, I saw this adorable sight.... Noah and Hannah were looking at books, by flashlight! Too cute.

We woke up to a winter wonderland...
16 inches total of snow (I believe) was the final count!

It was only a matter of minutes
from when breakfast was complete and we were out the door!

Here's a pic of daddy trying to help the policeman
who got stuck in our unplowed street!

Very entertaining for us to see a plow come and help push him out!

I had my firefighter helmet on and was pleading to go help,
but mommy thought it be best for me
to stay clear of the spinning tires down the way.

First we "worked"....

(then we played)

The neighbor boys came over a little later and we did our best attempt to make a snowman. Unfortunately, the temps were dropping rapidly and the snow was not the good packing snow that we needed.

We did the best we could....

and at least ended up with a vertical creature :)

E-man wasn't allowed outside, so here's a picture of him staying warm inside!

A very fun, energy filled day. Boy, did bed feel good that night!

sleepover time!

As previously mentioned on my blog -

we have recently welcomed little baby Taryn
into our growing-extended-family!

I even got to hold her before she was a whole week old!

we thought it would be fun to have the
new big-sis/cousin over for a little sleepover;
to let baby Taryn get settled into her new world
(and her mommy a little "extra" rest....)

There were lots of giggles....role playing...music....and screams of delight during those 36 hours :)






outside fun...

(I promise...mommy tried and tried to convince Joy
to wear a hat! Eventually she was effective, but not in time
for these cute pics. Sorry Hol!)

Joy even got to help us get started with our Christmas tree decorating!

the bottom 1/2 of the tree looked splendid (and full!)

I don't know how we missed getting a pic
of little e-man with cousin Joy....
but we'll include a recent pic of him with this post
so you can see that he also part-took in the festivities.

more Christmas preparation/anticipation posts to come!

sleepover time!

As previously mentioned on my blog -

we have recently welcomed little baby Taryn
into our growing-extended-family!

I even got to hold her before she was a whole week old!

we thought it would be fun to have the
new big-sis/cousin over for a little sleepover;
to let baby Taryn get settled into her new world
(and her mommy a little "extra" rest....)

There were lots of giggles....role playing...music....and screams of delight during those 36 hours :)






outside fun...

(I promise...mommy tried and tried to convince Joy
to wear a hat! Eventually she was effective, but not in time
for these cute pics. Sorry Hol!)

Joy even got to help us get started with our Christmas tree decorating!

the bottom 1/2 of the tree looked splendid (and full!)

I don't know how we missed getting a pic of little e-man with cousin Joy....
but we'll include a recent pic of him with this post
so you can see that he also part-took in the festivities.

more Christmas preparation/anticipation posts to come!

One Fish, Two Fish...

This past weekend Noni and Papa treated us to
an afternoon swim at their Rec-Plex.

Hannah really takes some effort to convince her to
take the plunge....

This first picture is after 15+ minutes
of just sitting at the edge and singing songs
getting her to even touch the water!

So....the fact that she's standing up in the water was huge progress!


getting braver....

Light-bulb has come on....
"This is fun!"

by the end of the swim....she was showing off like a pro;
just "floating" in the water
all casual and all....

Me, on the other hand.....needed no convincing!

I couldn't wait to jump right in~!
LITERALLY!

This is my happy place!

Fearless...fantastic....fun

Even Elijah got included in this outing...

He was supposed to be taking a nap,
but it was pretty hard to keep him on task...
lots of distraction

But, eventually Mommy "won"....

Well...maybe for just a cat-nap.
He was up and alert again and wanting to join in!

It is no wonder that we were all quite wiped that night
and gave NO resistance when going to bed.
When does that happen?
(NEVER!!!!)


So, you can be pretty certain we'll be going back again!