Getting Ready for the Holiday

We were lucky enough to have it snow enough to go sledding. There is a tiny little hill close to where we live, tiny, but good enough for a little sledding after school.

Ali making a Snow Angel


Sam

Andy

The other night we were all able to go to High School Musical on Ice. It was great family time and the kids just loved it....(Lacey and Jeff didn't think it was too bad either:)

A Nice "Ryan" hat came with the cotton candy bag.

I don't know what it is about our family but we all love trains. We have a couple that we like to get out around Christmas time and the kids just love them.

THAT DARN CAT!!!!!

Our little cat Milee likes to climb to the top of our tree and knock off all the balls! I thought it was the kids, but found out it was the darn cat. So our tree looked good for about 2 days, now it's pretty much a wreck!

More Thanksgiving Break Happenings

The day after Thanksgiving Rachel and I woke up and were at the stores at 4:00 am. I had never done the whole black Friday thing, so we thought we'd give it a try, it was pretty much insane, but I guess it was worth it because we got some good deals. It was also Jesse's birthday. We went to eat at Casa Bonita, a little mexican place that has cliff divers and a mexican band and a magic show, however they stuck us in the little room where the magic show was suppose to be, but it never happened! Bummer. Then we went to the Aquariam.
After the aquarium we went home and had cake and ice cream. Jesse and Andrew had a secret handshake that was way too cute and Andrew helped blow out the candles.

Also on our way home it was snowing!!!yeah the first real snow in Denver! It snowed so much that night that the kids built a snowman the next morning!

Yep, that's Andrew in a pink snowsuit, what can I say, it keeps him warm.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are so excited to have Greg and Rachel and their family here for Thanksgiving. So far we have had a great time. We started out with Rachel coloring my hair, it turned out a little...uhhh scary, quite a bit darker than we both thought, but hopefully in a week or so it will tone down.

Before

The hair dresser

After

Today we Rachel and I woke up and did the Turkey Trot (4 miles) in Denver. It was pretty cold, but a lot of fun. Rachel ran it in 28 min and I came in at about 41 min. There were so many people there that we couldn't find each other after the race so it took an extra hour or so for us to locate eachother.

We had a great Thanksgiving Dinner too!

A wonderful thanksgiving poem

Jeff is at the hospital for 26 hours so the kids and I had to find something to do. We made a "Thankful Door" It's always amazing at how profound their simple words are. We wrote as many things as we could that we were thankful for. And yes, I am thankful for Sam, our strong willed little boy, who refused to make a hand print. Guess you know which ones are his:)

I heard this poem many years ago and have always found it so true.

I Am So Thankful
For the teenager who is not doing dishes but is watching TV,Because that means he is at home and not on the streets.For the taxes that I pay,Because it means that I am employed.For the mess to clean after a party,Because it means that I have been surrounded by friends.For the clothes that fit a little too snug,Because it means I have enough to eat.For my shadow that watches me work,Because it means I am out in the sunshine.For a lawn that needs mowing, windows thatneed cleaning, and gutters that need fixing,
Because it means I have a home.For all the complaining I hear about the government,Because it means that we have freedom of speech.For the parking spot I find at the far endof the parking lot,Because it means I am capable of walkingand that I have been blessed with transportation.For my huge heating bill,Because it means I am warm.For the lady behind me in church that sings off key,Because it means that I can hear.For the pile of laundry and ironing,Because it means I have clothes to wear.For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day,Because it means I have been capable of working hard.For the alarm that goes of in the early morning hours,Because it means that I am alive and have a reason to get up.And finally...For too much e-mail,Because it means I have friends who are thinking of me.

Ali's First Grade Program

Tonight was Alison's first grade program. It was on all kinds of weather and they sang songs, danced, and played some musical instuments. She did a great job and was fun to watch. I thought I would grab a picture of us before we went, but trying to take a picture with our little clown proved harder than I thought.....(I wonder where she gets that from?)

Hey how come this one turned out so cute...I guess you know who wears the pants in this family:)

Ali playing the bells

Picture Tag

I thought this was fun. You are suppose to share the fourth picture of your fourth file. Heres mine. And I tag Rachel, Tara, Camie, Shan, Betsy, Stacy, Britney, Brandy

This is Jeff as a new medical student 4 years ago!

Star Valley

Last week the kids and I took a trip to Star Valley. Of course Jeff couldn't come and he was on call at the hospital all weekend, so I thought I would leave.

While we were in Star Valley I promised to take Sam fishing. Thanks to Korry(Jeff's brother) and Tara who watched Ali and Andy. We went on the Snake River and it was freezing!!!! It was snowing off and on and the trail down to the river was snowy. I kept asking him if he really wanted to go and being the die-hard fisherman that he is he said yes. He caught a real nice fish about the second cast. It was enough to make his day! We stayed about 10 more minutes and were freezing! So we went back to grandmas house.

I love the excitement on his face every time he catches his own fish


Our Proud fisherman Sam



Its kind of strange going to Star Valley and not having grandma and grandpa Wheeler there.( They are on a mission in Mississippi and really enjoying it.) Any way we let the kids play with all their cousins and we spent a lot of time at grandma and grandpa Wolfley's cabin.

Usually every Thanksgiving when we are at the cabin we let the kids all do some sort of humanitarian project. One year we did hygeine kits and another time we did baby kits and stuff like that. It's fun because we get to spend the whole year getting ready making diapers and night gowns and stuff. Anyway this since we are not going to Star Valley for Thanksgiving we did it this weekend.

Ali sucking the air out of one of her bags.(makes it more compact)

Andy is very proud of his bag, he did it all by himself
He couldn't quite get the sucking the air out thing, he kept blowing up his bag.

Grandma decided we needed to do 72 hour kits for the kids. It was so much fun. I think they liked the whistle the best. Nanny brought them all outside and they all got to blow to their hearts content. Then at the end Nanny let them all pick a little stuffed animal that she has always had at the cabin for the kids to play with so they would have a comfort object with a good memory. They kids had so much fun

Grandkids blowing their whistles



Sam and the cabin animal he picked for his 72 hour kit

We spent one day with Angie and her kids (Jeff's sister). We went to Jackson and went to eat at Bubba's and went to the movie theatre. We spent one day with Korry and Tara and Becky and her kids. The kids love their cousins so much and have so much fun with them. Korry even cooked a nice Sunday Dinner for everyone!

The kids were very sad when we had to come back home. They had way too much fun.

Beautiful Weekend

This weekend was so beautiful. It was so nice and warm. Jeff finally had a weekend off and the only one he will have until Thanksgiving. We decided since it was so nice we would put up our Christmas lights. Sure it's kind of early but we thought it was a good time and we wouldn't have to do it in the cold snow. Or maybe it was because we are just so excited to have our own house to decorate, yup, that was probably the real reason for it. Anyway, I'm sure we got a few strange looks but now we're all hooked up and ready to go. We also finished up a few fall projects and raked the leaves. It is so nice to have Jeff home and spending time with us.

The other day I found the kids in the bath tub, I think they are already ready for summer!

Okay, and here are the grape nuts I like to make. Believe it or not they taste just like the real thing and my kids love them. One batch of grape nuts only lasted two days around here with Alison. She thought she needed them for every snack.

Whole Wheat Bread Rolls

Lately I have been trying to perfect a wheat roll recipe, and by golly, I think I've done it. I really wanted to learn to bake bread by grinding my own wheat. Making bread takes a lot of practice and a lot of time and patience. Every time it gets better though and now if an emergency strikes, we can at least eat bread that tastes good. My children prefer the white bread though.

Happy Halloween

For the real Halloween we went over to Nicki's house. They had a little fire pit out front and served hot chocolate and cider. Jeff was able to come right after work, and he decided to dress up like a Doctor. Someone asked if he was really a doctor or just dressed up. He told them he was just dressed up and they said it was pretty convincing.A couple of days before Halloween the kids and I spent some time raking up the leaves in our yard. However the pile of leaves ended up strewn all over the lawn worse than when we started. We had a great time anyway and believe it or not when we were all done playing I looked out the window and found Ali and Sam cleaning up all the leaves. What good kids!

This week was fun for Ali at school. They had dress up days everyday. Pajama Day, Spirit Day, Mismatch Day, and Crazy hair day. Both Ali and Sam had a Halloween Party at the end of the week.

Ali's Crazy Hair

And of course Halloween wouldn't be complete without carving pumpkins. We weren't going to do it this day but I came into the kitchen and Samuel, our persistant one, had his pumpking lid all carved off and was already pulling out the guts. And Andrew had a poker and had poked his pumpkin to death, so we made a night of it.

One day I came upstairs and Jeff was giving the boys a bath, I was quite surprised to find them both Shaving! (Don't worry, the covers are on the blades) Both boys thought it was pretty great to get shaving cream all over their faces and shave like daddy. Lets just hope they don't try this by themselves without the cover on!

Sam...he looks like a professional

Andrew...that looks like it hurts!