Snow Days

We had aLOT of snow during the Christmas break here are some snow activities enjoyed during the last few weeks. We visited with Carolioness and Nagol at the beginning of January. Mimi Buddy and Sweetsa started helping Nagol make a snowman, but by the time the balls for his body were rolled they were ready to be done. So I finished the snowman building with Nagol and he gathered the decorations (painted rocks fro the backyard. Makes a pretty cute snowman, don't ya think!? The funniest part for me was when he chastised me for wanting to use a rock for the snowman's nose...it needed to be a carrot. What was I thinking!?




The day Mimi got her tonsils out D made a snow fort in our front yard. Sweetsa and Buddy demonstrate how they use it (first hide and then ambush unsuspecting passersby.)











Meanwhile Mimi did a lot of this:



She is doing much better now, and is finally not taking the prescribed pain killer. Her voice is still a little different, but I'm that will soon remedy and our Mimi will be better than ever!

Miscellaneous

Here are a few things I found in some drafts I had started and never finished during the past few months.

Sweetsa, after singing "Popcorn Popping": " I like poptorn a lot." pause "And mataroni!"

Sweetsa, when told it was bedtime: "So I tan be weady for Twismas in da mowning!" (This was two days after Thanksgiving, and she was very disillusioned when Santa had not left presents for her to open the next morning when she woke!))

Mimi, after reciting her Christmas list (An easel, the Barbie Christmas Carol DVD, The Barbie Crystal Castle? DVD, one other movie,and a bunch of chapter books.) was asked if there would be anything left for the other kids. Her response : "Well, I guess I don't have to have LOTS of chapter books."

Buddy loves the computer and anything played on the computer. He has described at least twenty different games to me and gets frustrated when I can't seem to keep them straight.



Sweetsa in the bath last week "Mommy, I want you to dive me a bone."
Me (so eloquently) "Huh? A what?!"
Sweetsa: "I want a bone in my hair ... like Mimi!"
Me "Oh! You mean a bun!"
Sweetsa:" NO! I want a BONE!"
(It really was a bun, she just really thinks the correct word is Bone)


Baby B is very close to really walking. She has actually taken 4-6 steps by herself a few times. She has 4 teeth, claps her hands, says Dada and uh-oh, she weighs 19 pounds (only 4 behind Sweetsa now)and gets into drawers, boxes and bins as often as she can. Yesterday she went from emptying my bottom dresser drawer, to emptying the bottle/sippy cup drawer, to pulling things out of the pantry cupboard, to totally emptying the toy box. She is busy!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents, the Mixed Nuts, and Beezhe Buns (HOW do you spell that?!)
We ate our traditional meal: Jell-o Ribbon salad, ring bologna, crackers, cheese, chips, veggies, dip, ham and rolls and of course egg nog.

And then we started getting into costume for the "Come Let Us Adore Him" FHE program that our family has been doing since 1968? (Did I get that right...or was it 1970?)


This year Sweetsa was Mary;

Uncle Woeful was Joseph;

Aunt Woefulgal was the Sheep;

Granpa Daddy-O, Gramma Sph-1, and I were wise guys (I guess Baby B was too);

Mimi and Breezy were Shepherdesses

You can see that Mimi was the Shepherdess from da hood , sporting her do-rag!);

Uncle Beezhe Bun was also a shepherd;

and Daddy D and Buddy were the angels.

Did I get all the key parts and participants?

Now, since Sweetsa was Mary, there were some new plot twists to the story. First she had a wardrobe change...the starry white fabric wouldn't stay on her head, and worked much better for hiding under than for being the lead in the annual nativity.

So after costuming was completed, the story began. When the wise men brought the gifts for the baby Jesus, Sweetsa was happy to share with the baby, until she found the "hidden treasure"...the gold coins inside one of the boxes.

After finding those she said, "These are for me!" And she hid them, so she wouldn't have to share.

She didn't even want me to take a picture of what she was hiding in the swaddling clothes (besides the fact that Snow White was playing Jesus this year.)

And so, the Wise Men brought gifts for the newborn king, frankincense and myrrh, and for the Mother Mary, Chocolate Gold Coins.


Merry Christmas! And stay away from the gold!

PS Sorry about the blurry pics sneaking in, I couldn't tell they were blurry when I uploaded them. Also did you spot the "discreet" nursing pic...oops didn't notice that one at first either!

Here's to new beginnings?

Well, so I haven't been so good about updating or even checking blogs for...uh the past three months. Things have been a little intense ( sometimes good sometimes bad). But like I said, here's to new beginnings. How about I post some pics to catch y'all up on our lives over the past little while. I'll try to post some explanations, but right now the baby is screaming...again! (sigh!)
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the look on Baby B's face in this pic. She looks absolutely shocked, but I think I just caught her about to sneeze. But I had to share my shocked baby pic!

We went to the Living Planet Aquarium for New Year's Eve (D won tickets on the radio!) They had a mid-day family celebration. The kids had a fun time with cousins, and seeing all the water creatures. Here D is petting the sting rays.

Here the kids are seeing how they measure up to a full size walrus. Did you know adult walruses are bigger than adult polar bears!?

Look out for Pirate Baby--ARGG!

Sweetsa helped Gramma Midge roll out scones on Christmas Day. I love the look of concentration in the second pic. (I do the same thing while concentrating!)


Here are Mimi and cousin E-beth modeling the dresses they got from Gramma M for Christmas. Gramma said it's getting really hard to find nice modest clothes for these girls.

This was at our Patrick Family Adult Christmas Party. I thought I'd throw a pic of me in there. Don't ask what I'm doing with my hand-I have no idea. Baby B was pretty sick that night...she was just starting her second course of antibiotics for an unresolved ear infection (She' is still fighting that same infection. She may have to get tubes if it doesn't clear up soon.)

This is the snowman we built before Christmas. He was as tall as me when we built him.

Baby B is pulling herself up and cruising now. It won't be long before she's walking, I'm sure. She loves to follow Sweetsa around and play with her. They are really cute together.

Sweetsa with her "Gingerbread House" built at the Patrick Kids Christmas Party at Gramma Midge's. Each child gets to decorate their own house...they love this tradition so much!

Mimi got to read the story to all the little kids at the party this year. She did a fantastic job!

Gramma Midge and Peggy made ornaments for their tree with each of the grandkids' pictures. Buddy is posing with his here.

This is one of the best pics I have of Sweetsa's eyes. It is significant because they have turned green this year (They were blue before). Oh yeah, and she kept the flower barrette in her hair for more than 2 seconds!

Sweetsa loving Daddy! Aren't they sweet!?

Baby B was only army crawling at this point, but has since mastered real crawling, and does it super fast, too! She is also learning to climb our basement stairs (something none of the other kids did, since were weren't in the basement then.) She keeps us all on our toes!