Winter WONDERLAND

I asked for snow....and that is exactly what we got. The Weather Man predicted a "Nor-Easter." Just before bed, Brad and I looked outside and the snow was coming down so quickly that we couldn't see our neighbor's house across the road. Wind was whistling and snow was accumulating.

School was cancelled. What else is there to do than have friends over, and play in the snow until your fingers are frozen.

These kids had plans Dump Snow On The SLIDE. Slide DOWN. CRASH into the mound of snow at the bottom. PUFF!

We are dreaming of a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!

Our Church Christmas Breakfast

The girls made these adorable Reindeer costumes with the Young Women. Then Santa came. He read the kids stories, let them each sit on his lap and then gave them a candy cane.Liv has decided that she doesn't want to sit on Santa's lap this year. She prefers shaking his hand =0). On our drive home Liv was asking me all sorts of questions about how Santa got into the church. We decided that there must be a chimney somwhere in the building.

After Santa Left, some of the kids sang Christmas songs over the microphone. Liv was excited for a turn. Here she is with Alana singing, "I am a Child of God." They were practically professionals.

One of my favorite Christmasy things

Is definitely this adorable Little People Nativity Set. Our girls play with it constantly, and we are almost always missing baby Jesus, and almost always find Him tucked away neatly inside a purse, shoe, gingerbread house, etc. Its funny because in my mind I expected to have to really work to keep Christmas about Christ, but I feel like its a natural thing for children. Little girls make Christmas so much fun =0).

Gingerbread houses--Lowe's style

Lowe's has a monthly Junior Builder workshop. We took the girls over on Saturday Morning, and discovered that it was a complete hit! They have been storing all kinds of little treasures in their houses all week. I forsee a lot of Saturdays like this one in our wintery future. Fun Fun!

Liv's master piece

Gwen's Creation

Perfecting the Silly Face

Our First Real Snowfall

We had our first real snow fall last Saturday. It was the perfect winter day. Fresh snow, no wind, and warmish temps. We played outside in it as much as we could, and then again everyday until we woke up to 55 degree weather on Wednesday and all of our snow was gone. Luckily for us we did get a lot of necessary fun taken care of.
Plenty of Snow eating

And Snow Flake catching

Come back please snow.....we miss you already and there is a lot more playing to do!

St. Louis

I had a great time in St. Louis. I really LOVE my family and can't see them enough. I feel like I can't quite blog about all of our fun until I have some pictures.... KariAnn is sending me pictures soon, so I'll document it all here soon enough. I can tell you that Liv and Gwen were in Heaven. All 13 cousins were there. We missed David and Megan and of course Brad! And I am going to leave the rest for the pictures!

For anyone who has noticed my gratitude list to the right, you have probably guessed that one of us got sick on the air plane. Well, on our last flight we were coming down into Portland, ME, in practically hurricane weather. The plane was bouncing all over the place and I looked over at Gwen and she was looking really sleepy. It isn't like Gwen to rest her head if there is anything else going on around her. Just in case I pulled out my little complimentary paper bag from the chair in front of me, opened it up, and put it across the aisle and in front of Gwen. Just in time for her to throw up right into it. She repeated it a few times and then Liv looked over with a sympathetic little look and said, "Poor Gwen." Just then, Liv turned green, her face turned to panic, and she threw up just as I tried to catch it in the bag too. So I learned something new. Gwen gets motion sick, and Liv will puke out of sympathy. Thank you airlines for providing me with that nice neat little bag to catch the mess. And Thank you to the airline attendant who picked up the little package we left you.....I'm pretty sure it was all in there, and not on anything else...

THANKSgiving!

Look at all those Pilgrims and Indians!! My life has calmed down a bit so I have time to finally document our fun. It was Brad's mum's idea to dress up this year. It was a really fun idea and great that EVERYONE joined in! Even if the costumes only lasted about an hour....just long enough for pictures =0). Gary shot our turkey....thanks Gary (if you look closely you'll see the gun is still smoking)

Aren't Brad's sisters cute!
Poor little Gwen wasn't feeling well. She was still a good sport to wear her costume. Here she is cuddling with her daddy.

And then, after we ate, came my favorite tradition.... We start at Brad's parent's house. After we are all done eating, we clean up, pile dessert into one car. Send anyone too sleepy to walk in the car with the pies, and meet them and the pies at our house. We walk the 3 miles across town, talk, and work up our appetite. This year Liv walked the whole thing, probably double considering she would run up ahead of us, and then back to Nana over and over again the whole way. I love this picture. These are all of the walkers (minus Bridgette who is taking the picture) Liv is hiding behind the stroller on the left.

Entry: Some of my favorite things

Quebec!

Before I move on to our trip to St. Louis, and our fun thanksgiving (complete with pilgrims and Indians), I wanted to post a little bit about our trip to Quebec. Thanks to Brad's parents and Bridgette and Gary, who watched our kiddos, Brad and I were able to spend a long weekend away. Thank you so much for watching the girls, it was so nice to get away and know we didn't need to worry about the girls. Thank you Thank you!

Brad and I drove up the first night. We talked, drank our Moxie, and watched out for moose. We did eventually see and successfully navigate around one who was standing barely off to the side of the road. When we finally got to Quebec, we found the city to be bustling. The night life was interesting {in a good way}. Just across from our hotel, there was a dance club with 2 story tall ghosts that danced outside it's doors. We got the least expensive room we could find. Brad carried our bags upstairs and just before he opened the door, he looked back at me and said, "Don't expect too much." He carefully opened the door and smiled. We were pleasantly surprised at our small, well decorated, funky, clean room. Clean being the most important part =0). We spent our days there doing whatever we wished. We went on a great AAA walking tour, thanks to our handy AAA guidebook. We walked all over the city, ate some of the best sushi we have ever had. Ate a few interesting things Brad ate on his mission. etc. etc. My favorite thing we did was definitely visiting the many art galleries in the old section of the City. Although eating pasteries was high on the list......insert licking of lips here. Oh the food.....the beautiful, interesting, delicious food, I could go back just for the food really! Here are a few pictures.

Part of the walls that surround the old cityA mural depicting the history of QuebecBrad checking out breakfast menusOne of the great festive Halloween decorations. All of the stores and even the water towers were decorated.Me on the way down from upper town to lower town.

Here's to a weekend with 3 of my favorite things My hubby, good food, and something interesting to do, see and learn about.

So...

I know my posting has been sporadic lately, and I know my blog template needs some serious work. But no time for now. I'm on my way to visit my family!! SO, you'll have to live with this as is until I get back. See you then.

-Betsy

Happy Birthday Papa!

I am the luckiest girl. I really have been given the greatest parents. My dad is perfect....really. I would say he is a gentle man, very patient, kind, sentimental, and always has a twinkle in his eye. He is incredibly creative and is always coming up with new ideas of things he can do or ways he can do things. He has always let me know how much he loves me and how much he thinks of me. And I love him too. For his birthday Liv sent him an email. I am going to share the email chain, and then explain one of the best lessons I have learned from my dad.

November 4, 2008
email from Olivia to Papa Kent

hapee birthday popop (happy birthday papa). I luv yow. I can spel wrds: cat, dog, hat, frog, car, the, olivia, she, brd (bird), grl (girl), sun, pen, popo, mom, dad, gwen, book, zoo, food, iscreem (ice cream).

Luv Yow- Olivia

Happy Birthday Dad! We love you and wish we could be there with you. Liv has been talking about your birthday for the last 3 days. She doesn't understand why we can't be there. We really love you and can't wait to see you. Hope your birthday is perfect!

Love- Betsy

November 4th 2008
reply from Papa Kent to Olivia and me

Dearest Olivia,
Thank you for the birthday message. It is soooooooo gooooood to hear from you. I miss you and can't wait to see you soon!!!

All my Love,
Papa Kent

Hey Betsy,
Thank you for your email. People all the time ask me why I have that little grin on my face. I have to tell them that it is because of all the many blessings that I have. I just can't contain myself! Each time I think of my "little Betsy" and her special little family I grin even wider. I wish you were here. I am sooo looking forward to your visit. Please give the girls and Brad a big hug for me.

Love,
Dad

November 5, 2008
email from Olivia to Papa

I luv yoo popop

Liv

Reply from Papa

Liv,
I luv yoo too!!

Popop

I hope this email wasn't too personal to share, but I think it is the best description of my dad. As I was thinking about him on his birthday and this email that he sent to Liv and I, I was reminded about one great lesson that I see in my dad. "Count your blessings." My dad is so good at remembering how blessed he is. He really does walk around with a little smile on and a twinkle in his eye. So, I am going to try to do better at counting my many blessings too. Such a perfect reminder for this month. I love you dad and I hope your birthday was a perfect one. I can't wait to see you.....less than a week!!!

Happy Halloween

I finally got our computer to work for these pictures. YEAH. Liv and I had fun putting these costumes together Halloween day. Liv's Cheer bear is Sleeping Beauty, and Gwen's friendship bear is a bumble bee.
Liv posing with her bears.
A close up on the jewels Liv made and glued onto her bear's mask.Friendship bear's stinger was Liv's idea =0). I thought it was a great one!

I call him Buck

I can hardly look at him, especially with he has his mullet on. Gwen wouldn't go to him, she cried when he held her and carried her to the car, and then let out a very relieved giggle when he took his teeth out. Liv thinks he's pretty funny, and He said this is the best he has ever looked.

Brad went to his office Halloween day and came back with this hand made mouth guard/denture. Complete with rotting, dead teeth and gingivitis. He and his dad asked me the same question, "Would I have dated him if his teeth really looked like this." and my answer was the same both times, "No Way!" Do you blame me?? (by the way, Gwen dressed up as a China Doll for the Church trunk or treat and one other time, and then decided to be Pocahontas for Halloween Day.)

I have cute pictures of the FUN activity Liv and I did while Gwen napped. We made costumes for their Care Bears out of construction paper and rubber bands. They turned out adorable, and we had fun making them. My computer is giving me fits with saving them and uploading them on Photobucket. Does anyone else have a problem with this with a MAC?? I really hope I can figure it out...argh.

We also went to a friends house for a FUN Halloween dinner where we ate Vampires Delight, squirmy little worms, flaky skin, and eyeballs.....yum! Thanks Amy for such a Great time!