Let Them Eat [very unhealthy] Cake

We had fun making Jared's Candy Land birthday cake.

When it was time to cut the cake, Phil let the kids choose their slices. Jared chose a slice with chocolate. It was supposed to be Molasses Swamp, but I didn't want to pour molasses on the cake.

Morgan wanted a slice from Lollipop Forest.

Lindsay tried a bit of the Peppermint Forest with a lollipop tree on the side.

Caleb enjoyed a slice of the Peppermint Forest, as well.

Gracie wanted the pink tower of Candy Castle, but it looks like she had one too many slices of pizza!

Nope! My mistake. She was probably just deep in thought.

Lily wanted the purple tower of Candy Castle, of course. If you're wondering what the adults had...well, we just toured the whole kingdom.

White Christmas

We trust you all had a very Merry Christmas! We spent the day at home with our little family. We played with new gifts, worked outside for a bit and then had a nice candlelight dinner in the evening.

White Christmas took on a whole different meaning for us this year. These pictures should explain why...

This happened at 1:30 a.m. The roof of our patio collapsed under the weight of the snow. Phil and I awoke to a very loud crash, as you can imagine. Yes, that's a wire running along the ground.

All night I was hoping it was just a dream, but the mess was still there this morning. I'm so thankful that it happened in the middle of the night, and not during the day while the kids were out playing in the snow. I'm also thankful that Phil is off of school for 2 more weeks.

This is what you'd see if you open our back door. It'll be awhile until we're able to use this door again.

Other big news in our home is that Princess Frostine, one of our goldfish, died this morning. I wish you could have heard Gracie discuss the whole ordeal. It wasn't Princess Frostine that bothered her as much as knowing that all fish die. On her way to bed tonight, she asked, "You mean we're just gonna buy more fish, put 'em in there and they're all gonna die?" You had to be here for the full effect. She's the most expressive just-turned-three year old I've ever known!

Christmas Eve Gift Exchange

On Christmas Eve morning we draw names for a family gift exchange. We spend the day working on making special, homemade gifts and keep them a secret until it's time to exchange them after dinner. This year:

Lily had Gracie

Gracie had Phil

Caleb had Jared

Jared had Lily

Jenny had Caleb

Phil had Jenny

Almost time to open gifts! Caleb is waiting patiently with his bear, Bearemy.

When I asked Caleb what he thought Jared might like for Christmas, he mentioned clothes for his Build-a-Bear. Caleb helped me make a felt super hero cape for Jared's Bear, Love. You can see it in the background. Caleb did a super job pushing the pedal down on the sewing machine!

I made Caleb a playmat for his sheep complete with "quiet waters," a puffy mountain, fencing for a sheep pen and a yellow pouch to store it in.

When I asked Gracie what she wanted to make for her daddy, she said, "tools." When I mentioned that it would be difficult to make tools, she said, "a toolbox." So we went down to the basement, found a box, made a lid out of cardboard and then decorated the lid. She insisted that it be pink.

She found a few tools to place inside of the box before she wrapped it. I wish you could have seen her sweet, happy face when she handed the gift to him!

Jared found these coloring sheets online all by himself. Phil printed them out and helped Jared find a purple folder to place them in. She squealed when she opened her gift!

Lily enjoys having hot chocolate with her sister everyday, so we made up little single-serving packets of hot chocolate powder for Gracie. We sat in the pantry closet to do this--quite a tight squeeze! She added the marshmallows to each bag and then decided to add our extra Hello Kitty birthday napkins to her gift since Gracie loves Hello Kitty.

Phil gave me an awesome gift! Anytime I want a mocha or latte, all I have to do is ask...and it expires in 2058. He'll be 89 years old by then. I should probably laminate this.

Christmas Eve Jammies

I love to give my kids new jammies to wear to bed on Christmas Eve.

The boys received outer space jammies this year.

Gracie has new pink kitty jammies. She tells me all she wants for Christmas is a little pink kitty in her stocking.

We were very fortunate to find purple Dora jammies for Lily!

Angels among Us

Here are the sweet little angels we made after dinner last night. The angels' dresses are tracings of the kids' feet together, and the wings are their hands. These angels belong to Jared and Caleb.

Grace and Lily made these.

On another note, the kids like to watch a show about a talking dog on PBS in the mornings called Martha Speaks. It's on at 7:30, so that's the time I allow them to get up. This morning I walked into their room and said, "Okay...you may wake up...Martha Stewart is on!" They all gave me blank stares!

Our Little Infirmary

Jared is still not feeling well, so we moved him into the kitchen where all of the action is. We moved the kitchen table over to the window so we could make a bed for him on the floor.

He misses having his morning computer time, so Phil brought an old computer monitor upstairs from the basement and connected it to our computer upstairs in the kitchen. Now Jared is able to "help" Caleb play games on Club Penguin and Build-A-Bearville.

Meanwhile, the girls had a hot chocolate and Christmas cookie tea party.

Keeping Busy

Still trying to keep all of the little hands in our home busy. We stayed home from church this morning because of the weather and because Jared is still running a fever. Phil and Caleb put the electric train around the Christmas tree this afternoon.

We baked Christmas cookies last night and decorated a few after lunch today.

In lieu of Sunday School, we worked on a little project here at home.

We made a Nativity scene out of a paper grocery bag.

Highlights from our Week

I say that like we've had an exciting, eventful week. We enjoyed our first day of snow, but then it wouldn't stop snowing. We were snowed in--literally. The city asked all residents to stay put if at all possible. They just couldn't keep the roads clear and over 100 accidents were reported within the first few hours of the storm. We were able to get to the grocery store this morning. We had a small window of time to go out before the next storm. I certainly could not have navigated through the mess out there, so I'm glad Phil is home for Christmas break and able to take us where we need to go. We're supposed to get another 8 or so inches of snow tonight.

Jared had the flu later in the week. Caleb was completely lost without him, restlessly wandering around the house. These boys are best buds!

With one being potty trained, another with the flu, and the added bonus of little ones who weren't able to get out of their snowsuits quickly enough to get to the bathroom in time, I did lots of laundry.

We set up our lighted Christmas village.

Lily got stuck in a box. Yes, I ran and got the camera before I helped her out. You do things like that when you have cabin fever. :)

Phil shoveled a lot of snow!

We enjoyed doing Advent activities every night after dinner.

We watched snow fall from the trees in our backyard, filling the air with what seemed like gusts of white powder. Sometimes we couldn't even see out the window.

This sequence of pictures needs a little explaining, I'm sure. Phil and I found the girls playing peacefully in the living room this morning. It's always cause for concern when it's quiet around here. They made a car out of the couch. Lily is driving (the pillow is her steering wheel). I love how Gracie gets to lounge in the backseat with a good book. I'm sure that was her idea.

Then we found them spreading their blankets all over the living room floor

...to get ready for a little nap.

They're pretending to sleep.

Big Sister Gracie

I get a kick out of watching this movie with my kids. Back in 2005, the year our twins were born, Dora's mom had a set of twins, too. Lily just checked this out from the library the other day. I love the last scene when Dora and Boots arrive home after their little adventure in the forest and find her entire family (aunts, uncles and cousins included) in the living room wearing corsages. Mom had the twins while she was out and is now in bed looking great with the bassinet by her side. Dora and Boots peer into the bassinet to find not one, but two babies--one is a girl wearing a pink shirt and a pink bow, the other is a boy wearing blue.

Lily loves this part and always yells out, "We're twins!" But this morning, I had to laugh at Gracie's reply..."That's Gracie the girl, and Lily the boy!"

S'More Snow Pictures

We had over 2 feet of snow fall within 24 hours...a record for Spokane.