Christmas Girls

Here are some pictures of the girls in their new Christmas dresses courtesy of Grandma Parkinson. Sara was her usuall uncooperative self and Melissa met the pavement in a little playground accident last week, so the pictures aren't great, but they're my girls!!

Snow Day

This is what a REAL snow day looks like, Nickell! The kids were a little disappointed because they had a field trip planned today, but once they went out to play, they forgot all about it. The sad thing is that now they have to go to school on Monday! There is more snow in the forecast for Sunday, so maybe we'll get lucky and have another snow day.

Meet Holly

The parakeet that we found in the driveway in Blacksburg, Polly, died last week. She was old when I found her and I honestly didn't expect her to live as long as she did! Her mate, Pete, was VERY distraught, so we got him a new friend and the girls chose the name Holly. She is beautiful!! The two birds are getting along great and now Pete is back to his old self again.

Graham Cracker Tradition

Time for the traditional decorating of the gingerbread (graham cracker) houses.

It's VERY serious business. Even Sara was really getting into it. She had frosting all over her face.

The finished products. From left to right--mine, Ashley's, Rachel's, Jason's, Sara's and Melissa's.

Here's our complete village on top of my new fireplace. If you look really carefully, you can see some flames. It's working great now!!

Our Tree

This is the first year we have ever bought a real tree. We were given an artificial tree for a wedding present and have used it for the last ten years, but this year I told Jason we are buying a real one no matter what. I took $30 cash with us to the tree lot so that I wouldn't be tempted to spend more. With that amount we both expected to come home with a three or four foot tree, instead, we came away with a ten foot Douglas Fir. Turns out trees are cheap here in PA! If it looks sparsely decorated, it's because it is. We don't have enough lights, tinsel, or ornaments to fill up a tree this size, but it smells so great and I love it!!

The Moment I've Been Waiting For!!

Finally, my pink and purple butterfly basement is gone and is now liveable! I once again removed popcorn texture from the ceiling, tore down the aweful butterfly wallpaper trim, and painted (a LOT!!). We then bought a new couch that I love and a fireplace to replace the gas heater on the wall that didn't work. The fireplace isn't hooked up yet, and we are planning on carpeting some day, but for now, I can live here!

This is a door to the outside. It was pink.

This was the purple all over the walls, complete with butterfly trim and butterfly curtains.

And believe it or not, this is the same room!!


My very first fireplace. I'll decorate once it gets hoooked up.

First Snow

I thought living in northern PA meant lots of snow. Not true so far! This is actually our first snowfall on November 18th, and now it's gone. Melissa and Rachel were so excited about it and really thought they would be able to make a snowball out of this dust. The town has attached 6-foot poles to the fire hydants, so I'm optimistic that there will be enough for the snowball fights later on.

Beauty in an Ugly World

After the election results yesterday (which did not come as a surprise, but still a disappointment), I needed my kids. They had the day off of school today, so we left the world behind to immerse ourselves in some of God's beautiful creations. I wish we could pack up a few things and find a secluded place in the forest to live out the rest of their lives where no influence of the world will ever find them. Unfortunately, that is not the Lord's way. I have to teach them to be strong and to know who they are. But for today, I just needed to be with them.

Tagged Again

O.k., I might get in trouble for posting this, but I was tagged by a friend who says I have to post the fourth picture in the fourth file on my hard drive, so here it is. This is Jason (obviously) just after receiving his first white coat in December of 2004 (I guess it took us a while to go digital!). The school did a whole big ceremony for the giving out of the white coats and the students also received their first stethoscopes. Jason wears a longer coat as a resident, so this one looks kind of funny to me now! Oh, and tag Justin and Crystal, Melanie and Tere.

Halloween

Sara was Minnie Mouse last year, too, but she doesn't know that and it saved me a lot of stress! It did fit her a lot better this year, too.

This is Rachel as Belle. She is my third daughter to wear this well used costume. Thank you Grandma Lauritzen!!

And yet another repeat from last year! Melissa loved being Elina (it's a Barbie thing) so much last year that she had to do it again. Fine with me!

So here's the only costume I actually had to make this year. This is Ashley as Brittney from the Chipmunk Great Adventure. It's a sort of genie costume.

Here's the group. Sara was so done having pictures taken. She just wanted to go Trick or Treating, and is pro, too! She went straight to the door, yelled Trick or Treat, got a candy, said thank you, got another candy, said bye-bye, got more candy. Life must be easy when you're that cute! I like how Sophie had to make an appearance in this picture, too. Maybe we should have dressed her up.

Halloween Family Home Evening

We traditionally carve our pumpkins the Monday night before Halloween for Family Home Evening. We had lots of fun getting messy! Sara kept saying "gucka!" every time someone removed a handful of pulp from theirs.

The finished products--Ashley's is the far left, a scared pumpkin, then Rachel's, a happy Jack o' Lantern, last is Melissa's fancy cat.

Birthday Girl

Another birthday!

Here's our now 2 year-old Sara blowing out the candles on her Minnie Mouse cake.

She loves her new little Dora couch--right now the only furniture we have in our basement!

She likes balloons, too. What kid doesn't. Happy Birthday, my Sara!!

Ashley's New Look

Ashley recently got glasses and picked out the cute frames herself. The picture is a little blurry because I had to take a candid photo. She's still pretty self-conscious about them. But doesn't she look great?? Her eyesight isn't very bad yet, but bad enough that she was struggling to see the chalk board at school and her piano books! Now maybe she can sit down like a normal person when she plays. It does make her look a little too old.

Some Before and After

Due to the lack of anything exciting happening in our lives, I haven't posted in a while. So here are a few of the things I've done around the house so far.

This is our upstairs hallway (and our realtor) before I got to it. Yes, it was sponge painted pink. No idea what they were thinking.

This is after. The carpet is still pink and it will be a while before that gets replaced, but believe me it is in the plan!! You can't tell in the pictures, but I removed all the popcorn texture from the ceiling and painted it as well.

The dining room before. There was wallpaper floor to ceiling and all the molding was dark green.

And after. Once again, popcorn texture removed from the ceiling and we hope to some day replace the carpet with wood flooring.

This is just a maple leaf Ashley wanted to show everyone. Trees really know how to grow out here!!