Snow is Falling All Around

We had some good snow fall here this week, which made for a snow day on Monday. We had another storm later in the week and on Saturday we (Adam and the kids) shoveled the driveway and worked on a lovely snow person (Madelyn insisted it was a "she" while Parker was adamant that it was a "he"). Madelyn donated a scarf, Parker gave his mittens to the cause, and they all searched for the perfect natural elements to make the facial features. They came into the house quite pleased with themselves and proudly looked out the window. A half hour or so after they were done, Parker looked out the window and reported with dismay that the snow person's head had fallen off! Apparently it was a bit top heavy. Seeing as how all their snow gear was thoroughly soaked, no one wanted to go out to fix the situation, so now our cheery winter scene looks more like a morbid Halloween scene; I'll spare you the gory picture!

Dinosaur Comforts

Parker is our local dinosaur expert. He knows things about the species I had yet to learn in my 32 years of life, like the fact that the Compsognathus was the size of the modern chicken and Deinonychus had a sharp claw on one of its toes. He routinely begs for us to go in the woods behind our house so we can go fossil hunting.

Monday was a snow day here and Parker thought it would be great fun to go fossil hunting. I told him that it would have to be done in the house until the spring time when we could reasonably dig around in the dirt outside. He dressed in his fossil hunting garb and disappeared. After a while he came asking for a piece of tape so he could put a sign on the bathroom door. Admittedly, I was a little suspicious of any sign a five year old boy would want to put on a bathroom door. When I read the sign I had to laugh; if there are any dinosaurs passing through the neighborhood they'll now know where to stop in for the comforts of a lavatory thanks to Parker!

Rhece's Two-fer

His first two teeth for the price of one teething session--I do love a deal! When I poked around in his mouth last week there was nothing, and then yesterday these two little teeth. I was surprised because he has been a bit fussy, but not teething fussy.

In other news, Adam is in Lake Tahoe for a fellowship interview this weekend. I don't envy his travel schedule (although I wouldn't mind a trip!) which usually includes late nights and early mornings with lots of driving and/or flying in between. We'll be glad to have him back more regularly by the end of the month.

Madelyn and Parker have both started piano lessons. We planned on starting Madelyn now, and then Parker later. However, after the first lesson, Parker was completely distraught that he couldn't start too. For now they both practice happily and frequently. I thought I'd better record that in writing. I know that is liable to change at some point! If you're looking for a peppy rendition of "Skip To My Lou" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb", come on over for a recital!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town . . .

Rhece was really curious about that curly white beard.


With four kids, Santa had to move from his wing-back chair to the full-fleged red gingham sectional (I loved that sectional)!



This was our 2003 visit.


We were on the eastern side of MI Saturday and took the opportunity to stop in Ann Arbor where the nicest Santa in the world visits every year in the most quaint little country store. He brings his reindeer on the second Sunday in December, so we missed that. It's been a few years since we visited him there and it was a lot of fun.

Impromptu Track and Field Night

Winter has arrived here and so our indoor "help-the-kids-run-off-their-energy" activities have also begun. The other day what started as simple tower building ended up as an impromptu obstacle course and high jump event. Madelyn's determination showed up as she insisted on getting her tower up to ten blocks and then leaping over without knocking it down. There were hits and misses, but overall it was pretty impressive to watch. Before it was all said and done we had all taken turns in the events, although Meredith's goal was not to leap over the tower, but to run through it. I think she liked the crashing sound!

What do you do for fun in the winter?

Arizona in Review

We're finally home and back into the swing of things around here. I have hundreds of pictures from the last two months. Don't worry though, I will spare you all but a few of them :) I haven't edited all of the Utah pics yet, so we'll start with Arizona.

Pops and Granna with all nine grandkids. It was kind of like herding cats to get them all in one place long enough to take the picture, but it turned out to be well worth it!


Here they all are again sporting their new matching red hoodies.



Parker and Madelyn at a park in Pine Top, AZ


The train park in Scottsdale, AZ. We had a great time meeting up with the cousins again for this outing. They were pleased as punch to be able to take the train ride.

And the carousel was a hit too. At the zoo in UT we also went on a carousel ride which had all sorts of animals to choose from. Unfortunately for Parker it took him the whole two minutes on the ride there to decide just as it was ending that he wanted to go on the peacock. He was devastated that he couldn't ride. Thankfully the carousel in AZ only had horses to choose from.

More to come!

The Conquering of Toad Rock

It is becoming a tradition that when we are in Utah we must hike to Toad Rock. It is part way up a mountain near where my mom grew up. I remember hiking to this boulder on our Utah visits when I was a child. It used to be that you felt like you were in the wilderness once you hiked up there, but with the way the area has grown, you now feel more like you're in the neighbor's back yard!

Adam and I took Madelyn, Parker, and Meredith on the hike, leaving Rhece home with Grandma Tamara. In retrospect, Meredith probably would have enjoyed a play date with Grandma too since this is how she was hiked up there :)

Here is the earthen toad in all her glory.

Here we are before anyone had climbed to the top of the rock.

This is the view of the valley below. I love this view so much!

Once we got to Toad Rock we thought the kids would like to climb to the top of it. Madelyn refused, and consequently, so did Parker. Sensing a fear that needed to be overcome, Adam climbed to the top and encouraged the kids to do the same. Seeing him up there safe and sound, Madelyn decided that she might be able to try it. She was really nervous and tense, but I saw a look of sheer determination set in on her face. I love watching her go after something that makes her nervous and then seeing the confident smile flash across her face as she realizes that she can do it. That is what this picture below captured when she was about half way up the rock.

The look of sweet success!

Unfortunately the more determined Madelyn was to make it to the top, the more determined Parker was to stay at the bottom. He did eventually get to the middle but refused to go up any higher. Maybe next time :)