Snowy Day Fun!

We were all so excited about the snow.  The kids spent most of the day outside in the snow having lots of fun.  Barth worked from home, which was nice.  Even Katelynn was excited to go outside.  We tried to get a few shots of everyone together!

The snow was perfect and plenty deep enough for snow angels.  In all, we got just less than 6 inches! 

Brian makes a beautiful snow angel doesn't he? :)

We have never had this much snow so early in the school year!  But it was fun to have a day off and then a one hour delay yesterday.

Katleynn was too tall for the blue snowsuit that everyone else has worn, so I stuck her in some size 3 snow pants (those were too big, but we made them work), boots and her big puffy coat!  She tolerated it for about 2 minutes.  And then she began to cry.  I tried taking her to the driveway where she could walk around better, but it didn't make a difference.  After that, she just stayed inside!

It felt like we were walking around all morning in some other place entirely!  We were truly "Walking in a Winter Wonderland!"

The boys got to work making a snow fort.  That didn't last long though.  They were more interested in sledding!

I think every single one of the kids made a snow angel.

Aaron said to me, "Take a picture of me!  This is the first time anyone has ever snow swinged!"

Everyone thinks that it is so fun to shovel the driveway.  I don't mind!  :)  It gets my driveway clear!  We are all so thankful that Auntie M went to BYU-I all those years ago and that we could have her hand-me-down scarves, hats and gloves!  They have gotten a lot of use over the last so many years that we have lived here!

Time for sledding and snowboarding!

Aaron and the perfect snowball that he made all by himself.  No help from those snowball makers we got a few years ago!  He did a great job.  He hid it under a bush while he went sledding so that no one would bother it!

Let the fun begin!!

Brian love, love, LOVES snowboarding!  One of these days I would like to take him to go snowboarding for real.  I bet he would love it!

All the boys out sledding together.  I am so glad that they still enjoying doing things together.

Aaron

Brian

Weston

Evan

I had to get one picture from across the street of what our house looked like in the snow!

Taking a break in the snow!

Hanging out while we wait for the snow plow to pass so that we can sled again.  Our hill is too fast and if there are cars, they have to stop the sleds.  On most snowy days there are little to no cars, but I don't want anyone to get hurt.

Here is Weston working on the jump that they built towards the bottom of the path that they were using for the snowboard.  They love to build up a jump!  So fun!

Yesterday was soooooo cold!  It only got to 18.  Today is supposed to be warmer, up to 30.  By the weekend it is supposed to be 60 again with thunderstorms.  And then back to more snow for Thanksgiving weekend.  I think that the crazy Texas weather has moved up north with me!!!  :)

Snow day

The first snow day of the year occurred much earlier than we hoped for or ever thought would happen! Regardless, it is beautiful out there this morning.

Prepare for lots more snow pictures coming up soon. My kiddos are itching to get out in it! The trees that still have their leaves are bending terribly like the one you see in the picture above.

We are going to enjoy our spontaneous 3 day weekend!! :)

Fall Fun!

 On Monday and Tuesday of last week we had the last 2 warm days of the year!  So we took full advantage of those beautiful days to go out and play.  Evan, Katelynn and I went out before picking up the kids from school that afternoon.  Evan wanted to rake and Katelynn wanted to ride her bike.

 Evan had a great time raking up his own pile before his siblings got home.

 The leaves fell fast this year.  On this Monday, Aaron wanted to rake a huge pile all on his own with no help from anyone. so he got busy right away.

 Getting so big!  I think there must have been a smudge on my lens because quite a few of the pictures came out blurry from this day and the next before I noticed it!

 Amber got started on her own pile too.

 It was the perfect afternoon, and since we didn't have school the next day, there was no rush to get inside and get the gobs of homework done that everyone seems to have this year!

 Weston, Brian and Evan decided to make a huge pile together.  It was quite a windy day, so the leaves kept blowing, but they didn't care.  Katelynn loved to watch the raking going on.

 Barth picked up the blower at a garage sale a few months back and Brian was having a ball blowing all the leaves with it.  Katelynn HATED it!  She is not fond of any loud noise, so she was not very happy once they started using the blower.

 The fall has been very wet, rainy, and windy.  That means that the leaves turn and then fall to the ground very, very fast!

 Since Tuesday was election day, there was no school.  That meant that after the kids had cleaned out their closets and drawers, they were able to spend lots of time outside playing in the leaves!

 Weston, Brian, and Evan raked up this huge pile and then put the leaf blower in it to make the leaves all blow up in the air.  They played this for hours that afternoon!  It was so fun!

 And then, of course, they had fun jumping in the piles too!

 Aaron and Amber raked a huge pile up.  And then Aaron hid in the leaves.  I couldn't even find him in there!  Finally he poked his head out and I snapped a picture!

 It was such a great few days outside!

 But now the cold has arrived and it will probably be cold from now through April.  There is snow in the forecast for 3 of the next 10 days.  They are saying that this is supposed to be the worst Winter in 100+ years.  Last winter was pretty bad, so I can't even image one that is colder and snowier than that!!  Oh well!  The kids will love it!  :)

Cute Girls

  A few weeks ago I got a few new hand-me-down clothes for Katelynn from a friend in our ward.  One of the new things that came over was this beautiful green dress!  Since the cold season is now upon is, I dressed Katelynn up in the pretty dress today for church.  When Amber saw her in it, she wanted to wear her just-about-too-small dress that she had gotten last year from Grandma.  Since they were looking so cute, I decided to get a few pictures today after church!  I especially loved this top picture!  It shows how much Katelynn loves her big sister and how kind Amber is with her (for the most part!)  :)

 Two sweet sisters! I am so thankful for my sweet girls!

 My sweet little Amber!  She is growing up so fast these days!  It seems like just yesterday that she was born and a baby.  Now she is s great little reader, leader, and helper!!  Time flies so fast!

 Some days Katelynn doesn't seem to have much curl at all and then on other days she gets cute little ringlet curls back there!  I love them!  I don't think that her hair will be as curly as Brian's, but you never know.  She still hardly has any hair and now that it is getting to be the winter, the curls are less obvious

And honestly, that sweet little smile and her happy personality melts my heart!!!  I am thankful for my last little one.  It is hard to believe that she is getting ready to start nursery!!!  Where have the last 18 months gone to?

Aaron's first academic team match

Aaron was sooooo excited when he was chosen to be on his school's 4th grade academic team this year. :) Last night was his first match! He was excited and nervous all at the same time. Above is the 4th grade team introducing themselves. Aaron played the second half of each period. He thought it was so fun!!!

Here he is playing. The parent seats were packed so I didn't get a very good seat and so pictures are not the best. He tried to answer a question and even though he got it wrong, I was happy he was trying. :) Their team won their match 18-6!!! He was excited to come home and tell the family all about it!