Snow Day!!

Harrison and Hunter this morning, going to meet the neighbors to go sledding.

Gretchen last night walking over to the neighbors.

We had so much fun yesterday after school with snow coming down. Before bed we found out that school was already a 2 hour delay, with the possibility of a cancellation. Wahoo!! We woke up not having to rush around. I turned on the news to see at the bottom of the screen "Corvallis 509J schools closed".

What a fun day we've had. The kids quickly ate breakfast and got their gear on to play in the snow. My wonderful neighbor toke all of the kids except Graham to some hills to go sledding. I stayed at home with Graham and cleaned the bathrooms while he slept. Who doesn't love a snow day!!

How things have changed

The other night, while I was cleaning up after dinner, I heard the bath water starting. It took me back to the days not to long ago. when I was a one mom show. I thought about the dinner, baths, homework and bedtime, I did by myself most nights. It made me so grateful for Aaron and all of his hard work. Between working 12+ hours most days then going to church meetings and activities. I'm grateful that he was willing to do all of that so I could stay home with our kids. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Thanks Aaron!

Harrison is 3!

Harrison kept trying to blow out the candles before we sang. Luckily he was lower than the candles to actually blow them out.

Yes, that is how old he was the day before.

Now he is 3. Saturday was Harrison's birthday. He was so fun. He really didn't care about much that day, but when was he going to eat his cake. Harrison is our comic relief. Not that the other kids don't like to make you laugh, Harrison is just a natural. When you hear him speak you don't think he is only 3. He speak circles around a neighbor boy who is 5 months older and is bigger and taller than Harrison. It is very handy that he does speak so well. I don't have to play the guessing game as to what he is needing.

The Family Game

Gretchen had her creative juices flowing yesterday. Since she was home from school for pink eye, Gretch had all kinds of time. Before dinner she started to putting something together. I heard the kids telling each other to roll the die. I was so excited to hear them playing so nicely. After dinner I got to see what had been going on upstairs. Gretchen called it the family game, each pillow or cushion counted as space. The game also had booby traps, which were like sticky squares in Candy Land. When you landed on a booby trap, you lost a turn. I love it when the kids come up with these fun games. I think they get that from their dad. As you can see Hunter is also camera shy, another trait from his dad.

You can see the cushion in front of the armoire. That was towards the starting point of the game. Then the game wraps around the loveseat where Gretch is and you can follow it past the boys and on.

It contined out the door of the Family Room, into the hall and ended in my bedroom. What fun!!

Back to School

Today was back to school for Aaron, Hunter and Gretch. We woke up to a call at 5 AM from the superintendent of Aaron's school district. There was a 2 hour delay because of snow. He quickly started the phone tree, then turned on the T.V. to see if Corvallis was a late start too. Thankfully it was. I went back to sleep. Aaron got up with Graham at whatever time that was and Gavin followed soon after. I did get up before 7 and started the morning routine.

Gretch got to have an extra day off of school, Pink Eye. We got to go to the doctors and get the drops needed. She'll be back at school tomorrow. It is sure nice to have her home. Gretchen is so great about helping out or playing with the boys.

We had a great weekend going to my cousin Mitch's wedding reception. I was able to see some Aunts, Uncles and cousins I haven't been able to see in awhile. I also got to visit with Lindsey also a cousin, actually a second cousin, and Jenny her sister. It was fun to visit with all of the family.

Sunday it was off to church with a later time schedule this year. I'm not really a fan of later church. I like the early time. It does give me more time to put something in the crock pot.We got the kids to bed early so they would be bright eyed and bushy tails for school, all for not with the two hour delay. But the kids were in fine moods.

Here's to back to schedules again. We really enjoyed having Aaron home for Christmas break. Of course we would have loved it to be much longer. Reality we've got to pay the bills with something. Hope you all had a great weekend.

Christmas!

We hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house for Aaron's family. It was only the Coles, Aaron's parents and the Fillmores (friends in the Cole's ward). It was a great time. Aaron had requested a turkey. I was a bit nervous about it. I had never cooked a turkey before. Crazy, we've been married for 12 years and the is my first attempt. It was delicious. Yeah! We had lots of other great food to eat. Aaron read the Christmas story from Luke. Hunter played some Christmas music on the violin and Gretchen played some on the piano. We got to talk to Jared and Lydia in Korea. They had already had Christmas morning.

The kids got to open some gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Hale. And of course the jammies that I make them every year. The pictures that were taken that night were blurry (still trying to figure out the camera). We had a wonderful night.

Here the kids are Christmas morning, new jammies and all. Hunter is minus is jammie top because he got melted chocolate on it. He was doing a project with Grandma Hale. We had a great morning. Hunter got a wonderful surprise a new Beaver shirt and he and Aaron got to go to the Beaver bowl game in San Fransisco. They went with Darin and Ian Cole and Zach and Cole Hansen. They met Adam and Phil Sanchez there. More on this later.

This is a video of the kids getting their gift from Santa. This was an idea of Aaron's to do 'This little piggie". We headed to my Mom and Jim's for the rest of Christmas day. We even got Mom and Jim to play the Wii. It was a great day!!

Gavin's 5!!

Yesterday, New Years Eve, was Gavin's 5th birthday. He had a great day. We played the Wii. He loves to play the cow racing. Then Gavin chose to go bowling. We all had a great time. After bowling it was on to Gavin's choice of dinner, MacDonald's. Then home for some cake, ice cream and opening presents. Then some more cow racing. What a day!
He was so excited that he got a scooter. The neighbor kids have some scooters and he is always talking about how much he wanted one and if he can borrow theirs. No more of that now he can hop on his and ride.
It's hard to believe he is already 5. He is such a jokers and always wants to make you laugh. We are so blessed to have him in our family!