"When is it ever gong to snow again?"

On nice days, when time allows, I like to walk to school, picking up Madison and then we walk home. Madison especially has enjoyed this the last two weeks and has been trying as best she can to walk on the snow, jump in the mud puddles, trudge through the slush...you name it! As the temperatures continued to be warm and the snow began to disappear, she asked, "When is it ever going to snow again?" Yesterday, the snow storm began and left her a little ill-prepared for school. By the time I picked her up from school, it had snowed 3-4". She didn't have her hat, lost a mitten (I think we might buy stock in the mitten industry) and didn't bring her snow pants. As we walked through the snow to the truck, I said, "Who ordered this snow?" Madison answered, "I don't know." Apparently, she forgot her wish only a couple days prior. I suppose God didn't. It's pretty to see the snow everywhere piled up everywhere and it should afford us some terrific sledding weather when the Sechler cousins visit next weekend.

Isn't this cute? Rub-a-dub-dub. Three girls in the tub!

Fun in the snow

We have had quite a bit of snow this winter. In the past week, most of it has melted. But we have been out to use the sled, build snowmen and snow angels. Aliya is surprisingly very fond of the snow. She loves to be pulled in the sled and tries to walk in the snow.
Our first week back to school this year, we had quite a dumping of snow. It left me a little frazzled. First, we got stuck backing out of our driveway. Thankfully, my neighbor's suburban gave me a tug to get me out of the drift. Then, dropping kids off at school is a disaster when the district doesn't do any snow removal around the school. Apparently, by the time I got Breanne to preschool, I must have been a mess. At circle that day, Breanne shared, "This morning was a disaster!" Next time, Daddy's gonna leave us the 4-wheel drive!

Santa made it!

It's about time I get on with the blog! Christmas was nearly 2 weeks ago and I'm finally posting pictures. What in the world will I use as my excuse when the girls are all grown? Well, I suppose then there might not be much to talk about. I digress...

Santa made it Billings this year and we had 2 very excited little girls in our home. "Mom, when I woke up Christmas morning, I thought Santa was sitting in our chair reading a book, then I looked again, and it was just grandma," Madison explained to me.

We started our Christmas with Derrick's family coming in to stay with us. We attended our Christmas Eve service at Harvest and then took some warm drinks to go look at a few different Christmas light displays in town. We got home to have cinnamon rolls and even stuck a candle in one and sang "Happy Birthday Jesus!" Our girls got to open their presents from Derrick & I early on Christmas Eve.

Aliya totally got into opening the gifts, but when the wrapping paper was off the box (if there was no toy in sight) she was finished and ready to rip open something else, whether it was hers to open or not.

Here the girls are excited about their new presents and the excitement is about all I can handle!

We enjoyed a new game with Derrick's family: 6-handed triple-deck pinochle. I don't think we'll ever be able to play single deck again..it won't feel like we're holding any cards! We also played some RockBand. As you can see, grandma even helped Breanne with the guitar...all while holding a coffee cup. She's got skills!

The icing on the cake for Derrick and I was the opportunity to go skiing at Red Lodge with grandma and grandpa stayed with the girls. We had a beautiful day to be out and we didn't have any injuries.

Now, it back to the real world of school, work, Fusion, and all that good stuff. The break was fun while it lasted! Speaking of which, I better get to my Kindergartner!