The kids received a very exciting letter in the mail today. Aunt Corinne sent them envelopes with the letters in their names. She even used their favorite colors!
This is something that the kids in their favorite movie, Boz the Bear receive in the mail. Our house is still buzzing with excitement! 
Hmm...this is interesting!
When we got to school this morning we found out that Jared had "Sharing" today--their version of Show-and-Tell. His teacher forgot to mention it to me on Friday, so we quickly tried to figure out something he could share beginning with their letter of the week, "M."
Jenny: "What about Mom?"
Jared: "No! Then you have to come into my class." (Ouch!)
Jared: "I like math. Maybe we could go home and get my calculator."
Jenny: "We can't do that, but what if we write down a few math facts that you know?"
Jared: "Great!"
So we sat on the floor in the hallway. He wrote his name on a piece of paper provided by his teacher, and told me, "I know that 1+1=2, and 3+3+3=9..."
So went his first Sharing/Show-and-Tell experience at school.
Look what he came home with:
I can't tell you how much these excite me--when I was a child, when I taught school, and now that I'm a mom!!! I always felt sorry for the kids whose desks were empty on the day book orders came in. Thanks, Mom, for always letting me pick out at least one book each time.
Speaking of books, I just read this great book yesterday:
And now, I MUST share with all of you what I'm snacking on while blogging this post...Mmmm!
Chopped edamame mixed with a little salsa and minced garlic and pretzel crisps for dipping. YUM!
Phil took the boys to see the new Veggie Tales movie, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.
They wore their shirts that Gramma sent for Christmas. Isn't Phil a great dad?
The girls didn't realize what they were missing, as far as the movie goes, but what they didn't enjoy was being excluded from the picture...especially Gracie!
On the way home from school today, Jared kept mentioning that he had made camouflage. We finally realized that he meant to say collage, not camouflage. So here's his collage of white objects.
Several months ago my friend Wendy asked me to post a few pictures of things around my kitchen. I'm embarrassed to say that I just took down my Christmas decorations this afternoon, so I'm finally getting things put back together around here...enjoy!
Here's a picture of our Winter Wonderland! I love having this as the view from our dining area.
Phil faithfully shovels our driveway and walkways every morning. We heard last night that Spokane Police issue $25 tickets if you don't shovel the sidewalk in front of your home.
We had snowball fights after dinner last night and used up the snow on the playhouse rooftop. Look how much accumulated during the night.
Our power was turned off for about an hour this morning. Phil made a fire so we could stay warm. We had somewhat of a picnic lunch in front of the fire this afternoon. I say "somewhat" because picnics don't usually involve people walking around stepping on each others' plates. It was more like a cake walk, I suppose.
The girls enjoyed finger painting this morning. I admire the person who invented these finger paints! They were much easier to clean up than this was!
My frugal husband found packages of these foam squares on clearance at Wal*Mart for $6.00! He's been pricing them online for awhile now, wanting to give the kids a softer floor to play on in the basement. He couldn't pass up this great deal!
Our house was already looking like a preschool, but now it's more of a combination of playground and circus. Don't ask who our Ring Master is. Several are currently competing for this position, and I'm not one of them!
Note: that's a shadow of his head behind him in the background. His head really isn't that big! :)
I never thought this day would come! Jared started preschool at our church this morning. He'll go to school 3 days a week. He was so sweet, and not one bit fearful. I surprised myself, too, by not sobbing and peeking through the windows for the first half hour. 
All done with his first day!
We enjoyed a warm (for us), sunny day yesterday in the 40's. As a result, most of our Christmas snow melted, but we woke up to nearly 6 inches of snow this morning! How beautiful it was to drive to church with a fresh blanket of snow covering the roads.
We stopped by Target on the way home from church so Jared could spend his birthday money from Auntie Patty. He really wanted a Word World toy. He picked out the Bug character, and had some money left over to spend. We walked around the store looking at the other toys, books and movies. I asked him if he wanted to save his extra money for another day. My heart melted when he replied, "No, I want to make God happy and buy the Sheep for my brother." If any of you know our sweet Caleb, he just loves sheep. He speaks of being a good shepherd someday. He even has a stuffed lamb to sleep with at night. Jared decided to use the rest of his birthday money to buy the Sheep character from Word World for his brother. I'm so thankful for my precious boys.
Wow! Last year went by quickly for us, due to a number of significant events. Here are just a few:
*We bought a house in Spokane, WA back in March
*Our girls moved from cribs to toddler beds (not by my choice, but theirs)
*Phil had 3 surgeries--one in which a piece of glass was found in his elbow a year after his accident!
*Caleb was potty trained
*Phil went back to school
*Our family camped in Mendocino before Phil started his summer quarter
*Jared, Caleb, Gracie, Lily and I spent the summer in California while Phil attended classes in Seattle
*We moved to up to Spokane in September
*Jared started reading
*We had our first white Christmas and lots of family visiting to enjoy it along with us
I'm looking forward to what God has in store for our family in 2008. I don't have any New Year's resolutions, but I want to live each day of this new year growing in Him and experiencing His goodness.
These pictures are especially for you, Gramma. We thought you'd enjoy seeing the boys in the jammies you sent for Christmas, all snuggled up for a bedtime story with Aunt Corinne.
Here are Lily, Corinne and Phil competing for the prize of getting dessert first.
Not really a game, but this little activity was just as fun as Pin the Tail on the Donkey!
The big 5 year old boy receiving birthday greetings over the phone this morning. 
These weren't necessarily a birthday gift for him, but a good deal at Target. Phil and I found this foam shape play set at Target last night--originally $129.99. We bought it for $32.48!!!
The kids enjoyed playing Jared's new bean bag phonics game.
