Today has been another enjoyable day off! Off of school, work, cleaning, everything...well, not really, but it sort of feels that way. It is nice to have a break from school. I have slowed down on my cleaning and I have been trying real hard to relax and enjoy every moment. I know that on Monday things will be back to normal and our lives will be filled with business.

The snowfall has been coming so fast. I am not sure our total amount of snow, but it looks to be about a foot! It was so beautiful today! I love the snow on all the trees!

The girls have been playing a lot in the snow. Olline built a mini snow man in the backyard and both girls made big snowmen in the front yard. So cute.

Also, it is so nice to have such great neighbors. Our neighbor Ray came over and plowed our snow for us in the driveway! He just did it...didn't ask, just did! I love that. So Olline and Melina took over a piece of apple and pumpkin pie for him to enjoy! He said he ate it right away and it was good!

God Bless you all!

The Day After Thanksgiving

I am hoping that all of you had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Did you eat and eat till your guts couldn't take it anymore? I hate to admit it, but I did! When you spend the last two days making the food, you just can't sit back and not eat it all! So, today I find myself overly full and salty!

The food was fantastic...turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberries, homemade rolls and our Pumpkin and Apple pie! Couldn't get any better. We had a very enjoyable day with just us four. God has truly blessed us and we are very thankful for all He has given us.

Here are a few pictures from the last few days. We have been getting snow and the temperature has been warmer. From 6 degrees (and below) to now a nice toasty 31! It feels great. It's amazing how your body gets used to the changing temperatures and when it warms up you really feel it.

We have also been taking care of the neighborhood roaming cat. He has been living quite comfortably in our garage. Not sure when we will let him out, but I am sure he does not want to go. He loves it in there. He is a very sweet cat and LOVES us. I hope I am not getting attached. I know the girls are. Yesterday, Jade was snow blowing and such...the girls asked where Cortes (the cat) was. I had no idea, I thought he was outside and that was that, but NO...I caught him in the house frisking on our sweet Kiwi's catnip toys!!! He is not fixed nor does he have his shots, so he is not allowed in the house! I picked him up and put him back in the garage. He was purring and so happy, so I made him a catnip sock! He went crazy and purred the whole time he frisked on that sock. It was super funny. Anyway, Cortes kitty is happy and we are not sure what his future will be...

11-26-10 Olline was back at it this morning, playing in the new snow!

11-25-10 Here is Cortes (or I like to call him Cesar...that is what Jade keeps calling him). He is grooving on his catnip sock.

11-25-10 Girls having fun in the new snow yesterday.

11-25-10 Swinging in the snow

11-25-10 Melina making a deck snow angel

11-25-10 Olline super happy and thankful

11-24-10 Melina helping me make the apple pie!!!!

11-24-10 Ooooo, that looks yummy!

11-24-10 Okay, I really wanted a piece of this apple pie, but I had to wait till Thanksgiving Day!!!! The smells are soooo very tempting!

11-24-10 I do believe it was 13 degrees (or was it 8?) when I took this photo! Burrrrr!


The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. Psalm 28:7

God Bless!

Crocheting is Fun

Today I thought I would share a couple crochet projects I had been working on over the month. This first one I just finished today! It is a Tic Tac Toe board game. I found the pattern on Lion Brand.com and made a few adjustments. Instead of X's I did all O's. Blue and green O's. They were just easier to crochet and finish off. I thought it was going to be easier that I thought. It ended up being quite the project. I finished though and I am very proud of it!!! My girls think it is pretty cool also.

Before I got into the Tic Tac Toe project I made a weighted crocheted cat. I made her white to match my real cat Kiwi. It was a very easy and fun crochet project and I found that one on Lion Brand.com also. My mom is making one as well and I can't wait to see hers finished.

I love crocheting. Very therapeutic.

So today, I actually did a little weighted workout and got ready so my dear husband could take me out for lunch! Where did we go? We went to my FAVORITE PLACE...Joel's!!! Yeah to Joel's. They have the most yummy Mexican food. It is fresh and oh so tasty! The best part are their Jalapeno Poppers! Those poppers are the best EVER!!!! The sauce they are in...well, it's like HEAVEN! So I was a happy girl today! Thanks to my man!

Then Jade left for a day hunting trip. He and his hunting partner got ready to hunt in this super freezing weather! It was like 27 degrees with major winds. I am so glad I wasn't out there. I haven't heard from them yet, so I am praying that they are safe. They were hunting for deer and if they got one we will turn it into smokies!

Here are my crocheted goodies:

Here's the backside. I sewed on buttons so the pieces would not get lost.

I sewed a liner to make it nice and smooth inside. The liner also covered all my yarn ends nicely.

Here is my weighted cat. Isn't she funny? I need to stitch a real mouth and whiskers on her. I decided to Photoshop a mouth and whiskers to make her look good for this photo. Hee

11-18-10 Melina is so excited for the snow to be here. It still hasn't been sticking down here and the news said that we are going to get to about 5 (or less) degrees at night soon! OUCH!

But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. II Corinthians 3:16-18

God Bless!

Week of Sickness

It has finally started. Our first snow fall (at our home that is) happened the night before last and we woke up to this (pictured below)! It is just a dusting, but it is there. It was beautiful and exciting as our kids can't wait to ski. The snow melted and we are now back to all green, but the clouds have been trying to spit out some snow today as well. Schweitzer Mt. is getting prepared. They say it will be a good year for snow at the mountain. We will see, for I know that God is in control of that.

We have been dealing with sickness at our home. Both the girls came down with a horrible cold and cough last Tuesday! It was downhill from there. We tried and tried to do school, but it was no use. The girls just couldn't focus and I do not blame them. In my mind I was freaking out about getting behind school, but I understand that life just doesn't go smooth sometimes. Olline's cold ended up in her eyes and we had to take her in the doctor for eye drops for her pink eye!!! Yuck. Not good. We have kept the girls in a bubble and yesterday was Melina's first day back to swim. Olline will start back up swimming next week. We are trying to catch up in school, it is hard after having so many days off. I am just so thankful to our Lord for healing the girls. Yeah!

So here are just a few pictures. I haven't taken very many. I have only been taking care of the girls.

First snow fall!!!

Snow, snow, snow. Wonder how much we will get this year!

Last weekend I gave the Kiwi a bath! She was very upset during it, but in this photo she was happy and content. I think she likes being clean!

Kiwi is tempted to grab the string....heeee!

God bless you all. Hope your days are filled with His love!

Mountains and Hoya

So, thought today would be a better day for school. However our girls are still sick. I think they are a bit better. Melina was able to shower and sometimes that helps. I will probably get Olline in the bath also and see if that boosts her energy. This week has been a slow depressing kind of week. I just don't like our girls being sick. I know it will end and we will all be feeling fantastic in no time. I suspect next week will be full force "busy" into schooling and swimming!

Our weather is beautiful. Gorgeous clouds have been rolling by over the mountains. It is a cold 40 degrees and I hear it will get colder. I love cold days with the sun shinning! Makes me feel good.

God Bless your day!

I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord's name for saving me.

I will keep my promises to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Psalm 116:13-14

I took this today to show that there is a small amount of snow on this low mountain! Skiing and snowboarding here we come!!!

I like this picture just wish there weren't so many wires hanging in it! Dars snow in dem hills!



This is my Hoya plant. I am so excited about it because my mom-n-law gave my mom a start from her old and beautiful Hoya. My mom's slowly but surely grew into a big and healthy Hoya! I really wanted one and so during a trip out here, my mom gave me a start from her Hoya. Well, it lasted for a while, but ended up almost dieing. I pulled out the very small shoot I had and stuck it in a jar of water. Well, after maybe a year, I am getting my first bloom! Months ago I had a bloom starting, but it broke off. So sad! I have been babying this little start and have been enjoying it's beauty. It blooms about 8 flowers on one stem and in the center you can see it has purple/pinkish jewels! They hang down and if you had a bigger plant like both of my mom's, you would have a bunch of these to enjoy at once! Lovely!

I love my Hoya!

Sick Kids

I am so sad today. Yesterday, my little Olline kept telling me that her throat was dry. She said it didn't hurt, it was just dry. She would drink water and go off and play. We even had our sweet friends over, Briar and Oscar to play with us. As the day went on, Olline was complaining more and more. She said she wanted to swim and so we packed up and went to the pool. She barely made it through the swim lesson, but she never really said she felt horribly bad. After both girls swam, we headed home and by the time we got there Olline's eyes were watery and she just didn't look good. Melina was then saying her throat was hurting!!!

So, we ate dinner and Olline was getting worse. We got them both to bed and Olline's fever spiked to 102! It was so sad. She was up most of the night and this morning she is looking a little better. Her fever is down to 99.8 and I am still a little worried. Melina is sick but has no fever. Olline seems to always get the fevers with any type of cold. It's just how her body works.

So, today is a no school day. Which I was so hoping to get some done. I think I will let their bodies rest and hope we can do school tomorrow. I am also praying we didn't get our little friends, Briar and Oscar sick! It was my first time babysitting them and I really enjoyed it. It would be horrible if they got ill from us!

Here are just a few other Halloween photos...enjoy...

Olline and Briar enjoying the Halloween evening. After I took this photo, Briar said to her younger brother Oscar "Look Oscar there's that Lightning"...I may have not remembered her exact words, but I thought it was funny because she was referring to my bright flash on my camera!

Do you think that Olline is happy? I love this picture. Makes me so happy!
(Here is my On Cloud Nine photo! Go to the link at the bottom to visit more On Cloud Nine Photos!!!)

Olline is almost done Trick or Treating!

Here is the other side of Jade's pumpkin. The scary side! Moooaaahhhhhhh!

Hope your day is Blessed with God's love!!!!

Daylight Savings

Did everyone set their clocks back? We would have forgotten, however, our cell phones automatically do it...so our alarms went off at the right time. Though, as I was sound asleep, I was awoken by music playing in the bathroom. I slowly woke up and looked at my cell phone and it said 5:30am!!! I thought, "who is in the bathroom?" and I realized Melina woke up. In her mind it was 6:30am and she wanted to shower early so her mom and dad could as well before church. I felt so bad, because we forgot to set her clock back. She could have used that extra hour of sleep. So she showered and the rest of us had an extra hour of rest. Bless her heart.

Thankfully, we all made it to church. This was our second time going to Cedar Hills Church and we are liking it very much. Melina attended her age group class for the first time and seems to really like it. Olline said that she really enjoyed her group as well. So with Gods guidance we will keep trusting in Him to go to this church.

It is a rainy day. Yucky looking. However, we are now in our comfy clothes relaxing and spending time together. Jade has been reading NOVELS! I typed that in bold because I have never seen him read a novel. I believe he is on his fifth or sixth novel! I am so proud of him. I can't believe it and I know he is proud of himself.

I have been reading Emma by Jane Austen. I highly recommend it. It is very hard to read, only for the fact that it is very "English". It is written well, but I have to read it slow so I can understand the way the author wrote it.

Olline is reading all the Junie B. Jones books by Barbara Park. She loves them and has finished about five books already.

Melina has been reading the Harry Potter books. She is finishing book five. She loves all things Harry Potter and is looking forward to the new movie coming out.

Both girls have also been reading all the Garfield comic books. They get them at the library and read and read and read, until they can't read anymore. So much fun.

Well, here are my next group of photos. Hope you enjoy them...

Here are Melina, Olline and Briar. This was their first house of Trick or Treats. I think they were excited to get things moving.

Here are the girls before the Halloween evening. Pretty sisters.

Well, whatever Melina was...an Arabian princess, a dark fairy, a mystical nymph, it really doesn't matter...I just thought she was very beautiful and enjoyed that she was happy with whatever!

Here is our Pink Fairy Olline. She didn't wear her wings because she said they were "irritating". So her imagination was all she needed!

Here is the gang. Briar, Oscar, Olline and Melina! I love them all! Briar was a rainbow unicorn and I thought her mom did a fantastic job!!! Little Oscar was a gorilla and was so cute! We had a great time Trick and Treating with the Williams family! (Thank you Sarah and family for coming with us! We enjoyed every moment)

My beautiful Melina!

Thought you might like this one. You know that saying "who let the cat out of the bag?", well, I like "who let the cat in the bag?"! LOL!

Just wanted to show you another shot of Jades big pumpkin! He worked hard on that 51 pounder and it deserves extra pictures! Remember, on the other side was a scary face. Did I show you that side? I will have to look for a photo of it if I didn't.

Catching Up

I am finally on the computer to update my blog. It has been a while and I wanted to get my Halloween photos up before Christmas arrived!!!

I will post pictures of Halloween for a few days. Hopefully you will not get too sick of them, for I am certainly glad Halloween is over.

We struggled this year as to what the girls were going to be. For instance, Olline wanted to be a vampire, then a bean plant, then a Venus Fly Trap plant, then to a bird lady, and finally a fairy!!! Melina wasn't sure as well and even on Halloween day she just didn't know what to call herself (I will post the girls costume photos tomorrow!).

So here is the first set of photos to take you through our Halloween adventure.

10-27-10 This is the final product of our pumpkin carvings!!!

(from left to right...Olline's, Melina's, Mom's and then Dad's)

I think the girls had a great evening carving our pumpkins. It is always so scary to have your kids try to take that knife and try to carve!!!

Olline and her pumpkin before carving.

Melina and her super big pumpkin! I think it weighed about 35 pounds!

Me and my pumpkin...nice and small.

Then you have Dad and his 51 pound giant! HUGE! Look how it compares to my 6'2" husband!

10-25-10 Just a cute photo of Kiwi and Melina

10-25-10 Thought I would show you Olline's science project! She has been learning about habitats and this one is about the Forest. She made this Forest Habitat and I think it turned out great!

So stay tuned...I will post more tomorrow!

God Bless!