Let In Snow!!! (Except Where Are the Snow Plows?)

Jake got an early Christmas present this morning... school being cancelled for today and tomorrow! He was as giddy as a school boy when he learned that he didn't have to go to work! It would have been better though if he hadn't gotten his car stuck in the driveway and had to help shovel the whole driveway this morning with Brad, Carlee, Tyler, and myself. The kids came outside too and had an absolute blast! (I think Jake and Brad were having a little too much fun too!)


This is Brad pulling Emmett up the snow in the driveway before we had everything cleared.



Brad sat on the sled while Jake pulled him down the driveway. At the bottom of our driveway is a steep slope. The guys had a fun time going down the bottom of the slope into a snow embankment.



This is Jake smiling and having sweet dreams of not shoveling snow for the next 6 weeks because of his leg surgery on Thursday. The stinker did that on purpose! I am positive of it!



Nathan liked the snow for about 10 minutes. Then he decided it was too cold and went back in the house by himself to play with his trains. (Notice Ellie and Addie in the background. They were trying to throw snowballs at Brad and Jake!)



Nathan wanted to help clear the snow so he picked up a plastic child's hoe and tried to push the snow around.



Ellie thought she was on top of the world. At least in this picture she was 3 feet taller than Jake when she stood on the snow mound.



Ellie and Addie are best buddies. They were so excited to play with each other in the snow!



Ok - so even with all of the playing Brad and Jake did get the driveway cleared. No sign of the snow plows that are supposed to clear the driveway for us! Jake and Brad kept calling themselves the "Sweaty Dudes" and are offering classes for a physical workout in our driveway each time it snows. They thought it was a pretty good take off of "Sweaty Chix Fitness" that Carlee and I like to go to!

Gingerbread Houses

On December 11th we met up with our friends the Hansen's and Hamricks at the Blue Lemon to make "gourmet" gingerbread houses. The girls had such a fun time together! We hadn't seen the Hansen's since they moved away in July... Heidi and Ellie were good buddies and went to preschool together. The girls talked about school (kindergarten is a BIG deal to these two!) and babies. Lisa is due in January and us in June. We wished that they hadn't moved but totally understand the reasons for doing so!

Our class had everything necessary to build the houses. It was really interesting to see the couple who had taken their child to the class that was sitting next to us. Their house turned out beautiful! Except the little girl didn't seem to have any fun doing it since the parents did all of the work. Now, Ellie and I for the life of us could not get our house to stand. The gingerbread that was supposed to be the roof weighed too much and kept collapsing. Once we got a better roof and had some serious help from Carlee and Lisa we were on our way to a fun house building experience. It was fun to spend some girl time with Ellie. We don't get to do stuff like that very often and it meant a lot to me. Especially when she said, "Next year Mom we HAVE to do this again!". Yes, Ellie we definately HAVE TO do this again. And hopefully the Hansen's and Hamricks will be there too!

When the Inn Keeper is Your Little Brother...

On December 4th the Ellinger Family had their annual Christmas party. A BIG thanks goes out to Dan and Calli for letting all of us into their home! We had a yummy dinner and then had the kids recreate the Christmas story. Its nice having the kids old enough to play the parts. Some are a little more willing than others though.

For instance, Elisabeth was SO EXCITED that she got to be Mary. Nathan on the other hand had no appreciation for the story whatsoever and DID NOT want to participate. When the adults prompted Nathan to go tell Mary and Joseph that there was no room he put the blanket on his head and walked the other direction. It wasn't until I told Nathan that he could go tell Ellie "No" that he took the blanket off and ran over to her. He firmly planted his feet on the ground and his whole body shook as he growled, "NOOOOOO ELLIE!!!" Then he walked away, picked up his blanket, and then went to sit with Grandma and her iPad. (He was really more interested in the iPad than Grandma!). Ellie just looked dumbfounded with the expression on her face that said, "I can't believe he just go away with that!"

With a performance like that I think Nathan has officially earned his title as the Inn Keeper for MANY years to come!

Libby, Mallory and Kierra were the 3 Wisemen who followed the star...



Keaton and Ellie were Joseph and Mary...



Nathan was the Inn Keeper who refused to participate until he was "prompted"...



Doesn't Ellie make a pretty cute Mary?