Our Snowy Girls Weekend

This weekend we had lots of snowy fun! We had an awesome storm blow through and dump about 9 inches of snow over Friday and Saturday. We hardly had any snow last year, so this has been exciting for the kids. 

Adam had an exciting weekend of his own, but we will write about that later. Eric was up at school all weekend, so it was just us girls. 

On Saturday, when the snow started to let up, Tessa and I bundled up and headed outside for some snowy fun!

 Even all bundled up, something on Tess has to sparkle. She loves her sparkly pink boots.

 While Gwen napped, I shoveled the driveway while Tessa got right to work on her snow angels. It took me over an hour to shovel all that snow.

 Queen of our snow mountain!

 Once I had the driveway cleared, Tessa had some fun with her trusty red tricycle. 

Oh, that face!!! She just melts my heart! 

When Gwen woke up we got her bundled up and went back outside for more snow time. 

 This is Gwen's first time in snow. Between the deep snow and her puffy snowsuit, she couldn't move and she didn't like that very much. 

 No one was prepared for this amount of snow. We still had lots of toys in the backyard that are now buried.  Tessa had fun trying to find some of them. 

 We played a lot of "kitty lost in the snow". Tessa loves to pretend to be a cat. 

 There was so much snow on our back stairs, Tess just slid down them on her belly.

It's been a fun weekend with just my girls. They are both too cute for words!

Election Day Party

Election Day has always been a big deal at my house. Growing up, I remember staying up late with my parents to watch results come in. My Mom has worked more elections than I can count. I remember taking the ballot boxes to the city offices with her a couple of times when I was a kid. I felt so important having all the secret votes in my car. There were at least 2 times (I think that was all) where we actually had the polls in our little home. That meant moving every piece of furniture out of our living room to make room for the booths. All the living room furniture was moved to the 3 bedrooms that we had. As kids we loved it! Since we were homeschooled, that meant we were home all day to watch the action and see all the voters come, and we got to have the tv in one of our bedrooms. One year I remember watching the news most of the day as a good chunk of southern California was on fire-again. And I was naughty and got to watch some General Hospital:)

My parents always taught us the importance of Election Day and what a blessing it is to be able to vote for the leader of your choice. Even if the outcome wasn't what you were hoping for. Sadly, that was the case yesterday. We were very much hoping for a different outcome, but I am grateful that over the past couple of weeks, I have had the opportunity to teach my children the importance of Election Day. Adam has been so curious to see how we vote, so after we picked him up for school, I took all 3 kids to vote with me. They proudly wore their "I Voted" stickers all afternoon and evening and were anxious to see who was going to win the election. 

I decided to make the day special, so we threw a little party. We busted out some of our red, white, and blue decorations, had some all-American food for dinner, and watched the news all evening to see the outcome. 

 After school, Adam got right to work on making some encouraging signs for the party. 

 Some of my family came to spend the evening with us. We had hamburgers (with a couple of side dishes), apple pie and root beer floats. 

 We ate and flipped through the news stations for a couple of hours hoping to hear better results. 

 I printed off some pictures of the Untied States for Adam and Tessa to color either blue or red as we saw results come in. Adam was so hoping Romney would win. He was very disappointed this morning when I told him how it all ended. 

4 more years seems so very long right now. I am thankful for the wise words my Mom and Mother-in-law both shared with me this morning from President Monson, "Your future is as bright as your faith". So now we will go on, praying that our leaders will make wise and righteous decision and I will focus on teaching my children the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Making sure their foundation is a solid one and that they grow up appreciating the freedom we have and the understanding the blessing it is to vote on Election Day. 

10 Months Old

10 months? Seriously? I cannot believe how fast this year has gone with Gwen. She turned 10 months old yesterday (November 3rd) and she is one active and expressive girl!

Taking pictures with her now is a challenge because she won't sit still. She moves so fast and loves climbing on everything. She is so close to walking on her own. She babbles like crazy and loves to chase people around the house. She still hates that we have blocked her from the stairs and as soon as she sees or hears the gate come down, she goes charging for them. She is still such a happy little girl and we love her so, so much!

 She would not sit still, so we adapted. 

 Playing "Where's Gwen?" She loves this game!

 Whenever she gets shy or nervous, she puts her hands on the side of her head. She has done this for months and it is so cute! I love when she gets shy.

 I love seeing this happy, messy face every night during dinner. This Blue-Eyed Beauty brings so much light and joy to our home!

Happy 10 Months Baby Gwen!!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween! The kids have been so excited for Trick or Treating and to wear their costumes. Adam and Tessa both wore their costumes all day and Gwen did really well keeping her hat on when she had her costume on. 

Adam had a Halloween parade at school this afternoon, so the girls and I went to watch him march in the parade. 

 The cutest Cat in the Hat! Eric thinks we should call her Kitten in the Hat. 

 I am loving these blue wigs I made for them! You can spot them a mile away. 

 Adam with this 1st Grade class.

 We went to Ma and Pa's house for dinner and Trick or Treating so we could go with Ares. Before the kids headed out, Ma read them a Halloween story. 

 Ares, Tessa and Adam

 Gwen's first Halloween!

 They had so much fun and got so much candy! Everyone loved their costumes!

 Last year, Tessa ran around yelling, "Candy, here I come!" This year she ran around yelling, "Charge for candy!!"

 We were so surprised to find Santa Claus sitting on a porch, waiting for the kids. He handed out candy canes and some Halloween candy. He reminded the kids to be good and that he would be back in 2 months with more treats. Seeing Santa was the highlight of the night!

 Poor Gwen was worn out by the time we finished making our way around the neighborhood. 

 They wasted no time dumping out their candy to see what and how much they got.

 We will be eating candy for months.....

We got home in time for Adam to catch the last quarter of the Jazz game. He got a few peeks at the score while we were Trick or Treating. 

Another fun Halloween come and gone. I am sure that Adam and Tessa will start planning next years costumes tomorrow morning. I love making these fun memories with them. Eric and I just wish they would stop growing up so fast.