Snow Day! Err Days!

Mike and Emily and I were all snowed in at home on Thursday and Friday. Emily's school was closed both days. Our workplaces were open, but it was too dangerous to travel there.

On Thursday, we got mostly freezing rain and sleet. On Friday, we got lots of snow. I think we ended up with about 5 1/2 inches of snow at our house.

We didn't go outside until Friday night. When we did go out, Emily and I went out in our pajamas and our snow boots (a very good reason I am not in any of these pictures.) I did take several pictures around our house, but I'm having a hard time getting them to upload tonight.

This is actually the first night we've had a consistent internet connection. Since Thursday, the internet has been off and on, mostly off!

This afternoon, Mike went outside and got all the snow and ice off the front steps. He worked on getting the snow and ice off the car too, but I'm not sure if he got completely finished. We hope to be able to make it to church in the morning. I don't know how many kids we will have because of the messy roads. It did not even get above freezing today so anything left on the road will refreeze tonight.

It will be nice to get out of the house tomorrow - to actually fix my hair, to put on some makeup, to put on something besides sweats and pink house shoes. I have enjoyed all the naps and the rest, but I am not accustomed to staying home so long.

We have had a good time being together though. We played board games, watched some TV, played Nintendo, did some cleaning, got caught up on laundry, and got as much rest as we could.

Well the pictures finally uploaded so here they are. Some of them are a little out of order, but this is what it looked like at our house this week.

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Dell Does the Right Thing

Well, after waiting a month and a half, Dell finally did the right thing by me. After emailing them twice and calling them twice to get them to cancel my order, they finally cancelled it last week.

They never emailed to let me know that it was cancelled, but I went online and looked at the online order status page and it showed cancelled. Lets just hope they don't decide to ship the cherry red laptop anyway.

That would really make me mad.

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Sunday School - A Good Day

We woke up to a cold and windy morning today. I decided to opt for honey nut cheerios for breakfast instead of German Chocolate Cake or cheesecake. I was feeling okay, but I didn't know if I would continue to feel okay if I ate something really sweet.



We had a good morning in Sunday School even though we only had two little boys in our class. During song time, something very unusual happened. We were playing some songs on a CD and both of the boys started singing and dancing. That is something that just does not happen in our class. The adults are usually the only ones singing.



I feel like this may be a turning point for our class. As the boys and girls get a little older, they are able to listen better and participate more. Almost all of them are saying their Bible verses each week. It's fun to watch them grow and develop in the Lord.



After church, we went to the grocery store, ate lunch at Santa Fe steakhouse (yum!), took a nap ... Well, I took a (3-hour) nap. Apparently nobody else in my house actually took a nap. After nap time, we mostly just played and did some chores until it was time for Emily to go to bed. Soon, it will be my bedtime too.

And, I can't wait to see what kind of crazy things happen on The Bachelor tomorrow night. That's one show I will stay up "late" to watch.

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Happy Birthday Mike!

I mentioned the other day that yesterday was Mike's birthday. After we dropped Emily off at school, Mike and I went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Eggs have a way of making me feel sick these days so I had some biscuits and gravy. Mike had the works!

After breakfast, we tried to run some errands but a lot of stores do not open until about 10am. We did pick up a few things before heading back home (to rest).

I got my hair cut in the afternoon and then took a nap before going to pick up Emily from school.

It was the 100th day of school at Emily's school. The Pre-K class had a 100th Day of School Party where they got to eat 100 items for snack. While Emily did eat almost all of her snack in the car after school, I think she was more excited about the 10 little cups that her snacks came in. She is still carrying those things around and wanting to eat or drink out of them.

So after we picked Emily up from school, we decided to take Mike to The Cheesecake Factory for supper. We got there early before it got too busy. Emily and I shared some (burnt) meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Mike had chicken fettuccine alfredo. Then, of course, we had cheesecake. Emily and I had the dulce du leche cheesecake and Mike had the Oreo cheesecake. Yum!

Emily and I made Mike a homemade birthday card and got him two dress shirts (and, of course, the printer.)

Today was Mike's "official" birthday party at Toby Keith's. We got a table upstairs and did lots of visiting and eating. Mike's mom made him a homemade German Chocolate cake and it was sooooo sooooo good. Luckily, we got to bring home the leftovers. I ate too much at lunch (even though I gave away half of my steak sandwich) so I have not gone in for seconds on the cake yet.

I'm thinking that the German Chocolate cake may be breakfast in the morning. But I still have a lot of my cheesecake from last night left too. I will be so torn in the morning. And if I'm feeling sick at all in the morning, I'll probably opt for toast instead of either of those anyway.

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Pregnancy 10 Weeks

For me, the word to describe this week of pregnancy would be FATIGUE. You probably remember that I said I took two naps on Sunday. Well, I would have taken two naps every day this week if I could.

The first day or two of this week were not terrible, but I definitely suffered from a late morning slump followed by a mid-afternoon slump followed by an evening slump. Then later in the week, it was a drive to work slump, a late morning slump, a mid afternoon slump, and an evening slump. Today was truly a full day slump. One of the hardest things for me to do is look at someone while they are talking. My eyes feel like they are just rolling around in my head as I try to force them to stay open and focused on the person in front of me. "If I could just close my eyes for one minute, I might be okay here."

And tomorrow - I can't imagine what tomorrow would be like. Except that I won't be at work tomorrow and I may be able to take a nap tomorrow, if Mike will let me! It's his birthday and I think he may have lots of things planned. Maybe I could convince him to take a nap with me. Ha!

Besides the fatigue, baby and I are doing good. (Even with the fatigue, it's still good!)

I am still taking the progesterone supplements. I can't remember if I ever mentioned that on the blog before. My ob/gyn started me on progesterone supplements after blood tests indicated that I had low progesterone. At 4-5 weeks pregnant, my progesterone was 9 and then dropped to 8.5. Generally, you want to see a number higher than 10 at that point in the pregnancy. And you want to see the numbers rising, not falling.

I will be able to stop the progesterone after 12 weeks of pregnancy. By that time, the placenta will be fully formed and will take over the progesterone production. And until that point ... I'll just keep taking the progesterone supplements (200 mg) and laying down for 20-30 minutes twice a day ... every day. Not that I'm complaining about laying down. At all.

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The Cat Lady

My sister, Heather, is always telling me to put funny stories from work on my blog. Well, normally, the funny things at work are not that funny. But I thought this one was funny.

The story is about one of my lunch friends. We'll call her Kay to protect her privacy. We've been eating lunch together for several years. For the last 5 years or so, she's been telling me about that stray cat that hangs out at her house. She calls him "TC", short for Tom Cat.

So she's been feeding this cat two meals a day every day for the last 5 years or so. She fights off other cats and dogs that try to eat its food. Sometimes she even uses a water gun to scare away other animals. But yet, she claims this is not her cat.

Today, she was telling me that she recently bought a different kind of food for older felines. She said it was supposed to be better for their digestive health. But "TC" didn't like the new food. He wouldn't eat it.

All this care and concern, but yet it's not her cat.

Feeding it for 5 years! But it's not! Her! Cat!

Love ya girl, but that's your cat.

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Two Naps and Naps for Two

This weekend has been fairly uneventful for us. We had a lot that we wanted to accomplish around the house, including getting all the Christmas items put away. Saturday was a rainy and dreary day, but we did get out and run some errands. We did not get Christmas put away though.

This morning Emily and I got up and went to Sunday School. Mike was not feeling well so he stayed home. After Sunday School, we came home because I was really sleepy. I could hardly keep my eyes open. When we got home, we found that Mike had been working on taking down the Christmas tree. After thanking him profusely, I told him that I was going to have to lay down for a bit.

I crawled in bed and fell asleep almost immediately. After sleeping for about 45 minutes, I felt like I could crawl back out of bed and face the day again. I got up and fixed lunch and then it was time for Emily's nap. She played around in her room and got up a couple times. It took her about an hour to settle down and go to sleep. But soon after she went to sleep, I fell asleep again in my recliner.

Two naps in one day is definitely unusual for me, but it felt sooooo good. After nap time, we did get up and finish putting away the Christmas items. Now we're going to move on to organizing the office/spare bedroom. That needs to be done pretty badly, but it is a huge huge job. But better to work on it now than in a few months when I'm further along in my pregnancy.

Tomorrow, Mike and Emily get to stay home together for the federal holiday, but I have to go to work. I know they will have a lot of fun working in that office. Don't you think they will? I hate that I have to work and am not able to stay and spend the day with them.

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Bean Art

Earlier this week, Emily brought home a bean art picture of her name. I thought she did really well on this. They really do some fun things in Pre-K.







Isn't that some good work?

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Unintentional Early Birthday Present

Mike's birthday is the end of next week. Emily and I picked out a couple things for his birthday and then I thought of something else that he might like. So I ordered that too.

It was going to be a surprise. I had not mentioned this thing to him at all so he had no idea that I was thinking of getting it.

This surprise birthday present was scheduled to be delivered yesterday. Since Emily and I had Cubbies, Mike was the first to arrive home. He immediately noticed a quite large box on the front porch.

Mike started texting me at church -

"Are you expecting a package?"

"What is it?"

"Is it a birthday present?"

Hmmm ... this is not normal questioning about a package on the porch.

It's awful nosy questioning!

So Mike finally tells me that the package was delivered in its retail packaging - he could see exactly what it was .. and he figured out that it was his.

Bummer! How disappointing that a company would spoil my surprise just to save a few bucks on packaging.

Mike says I am really not having good luck with surprise gifts. First was the issue with the Dell order and now is the spoiled surprise with the Epson printer. And these are some of the biggest names in the industry and yet I am still disappointed.

What gives? Customer satisfaction is at an all time low and they don't make any more effort than this?

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Second Chance for Dell

Last Friday when I was home with Emily, I called Dell up again to see why they had no cancelled my order after my first call.

I called in the middle of the day and didn't have to wait long to get through to a live person. I probably waited less than 5 minutes after all the annoying "commercials" finished playing.

The lady said she saw that I had called before, but could I "tell her again why I wanted to cancel"? Yes, I want to cancel because you didn't send my order when you said you would.

Dell customer service lady: Oh, so the problem is with the delivery date, no? I can get you over to someone who can help with the delivery date ...

Me: No ... please ... I want to cancel my order. I don't want the machine any more.

Dell customer service lady: Okay, well I will have to email another department to ask them to process the cancel of your order.

Me: That's what the last person said when I called before and it was never cancelled. What is different this time?

Dell customer service lady: Maybe they did not get the message. I will email them right now. Please hold. Okay. I have emailed them and your order will be cancelled in 24-48 business hours.

Okay so 24-48 business hours from now, my order should be cancelled. Business hours? I wonder how many Dell business hours are in a calendar day? 8 business hours in a day? So in the next 4-8 days my order should be cancelled? Is this a game?

I will give them their 4-8 days, but I expect it to be cancelled this time or there will be no more Ms. Nice-Guy. Err, Ms. Nice-Girl. Err, whatever. It better get cancelled this time!

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Show and Tell

Emily's Pre-K class started doing Show-and-Tell in January. If it's your day to bring snacks for the class, then it's your day to show and tell. Unfortunately, Emily missed her first Pre-K Show-and-Tell day last Friday when she was home sick with the stomach bug.

Her teacher let her bring her Show-and-Tell item this week when she got back to school. Emily knew immediately what she wanted to bring to share with her class. She wanted to take an ultrasound picture of the baby.

I agreed to let her take the picture, but I secretly prayed that she wouldn't say anything totally embarrassing. And I do have reason to worry about something like that because she has said some pretty funny things about the baby situation in the last few weeks.

The teacher asked us parents to make sure the children were able to talk about whatever item they brought for Show-and-Tell. This morning before school, I was sorta quizzing Emily about the baby - where the baby was in the picture, when baby would be here, etc. She said "Mom, why are you asking me all of this? I just want to take the picture with me!"

She is one girl who is not afraid to say what she thinks.

This afternoon, she would not tell us much about what happened at Show-and-Tell. She just said that she showed her picture and one of her friends said the picture was beautiful.

She obviously does not feel the need to share a bunch of details. "It happened. It's done. That's all." *grin*

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Emily's New Bed and Furniture

A few weeks before Christmas, we went with Nanny and Pops to pick out some new bedroom furniture for Emily.

Emily calls it her new bed and furniture (dresser, nightstand, and desk). She says it's "comfy". I think that means she likes it.

I took some pictures a few weeks ago, but I haven't posted them because the bed is not made and the desk is not neat and organized. I keep thinking that I need to neaten things up and then take some new pictures. But I've decided that I'm not going to do it. This is real. This is how things looked on that day.

Dresser with Mirror. It covers up Emily's name on the wall so something will eventually need to be moved. I originally wanted her bed to be on this wall under her name, but I didn't have time to measure everything out before the furniture was delivered.

Round nightstand and desk with chair. The desk has a keyboard drawer and a corkboard on the back wall. Emily LOVES the desk.

This is the design on the top of the desk.

For now, Emily's bed is still by the window. The side rails are adjustable so it can be lowered when we eventually get her a mattress with box spring. Right now, it's as high as it can go so that we can store more things under the bed.

A close up picture of the headboard.

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Snow Angel

Check out my very own adorable snow angel. This picture was taken a day or two after Christmas. Emily just had to play in the snow. She wanted to make a snow angel.

And soon after this picture was taken, she threw the biggest fit because she got snow on her hands.

Now I know - gloves!

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Slow Saturday

Today has been a low-key day for us. Emily woke up earlier than I would have liked this morning and then we just relaxed and played around the house most of the day.

Late this afternoon, we did bundle up and go out to eat at Texas Roadhouse. I had the ribs, Emily had a loaded sweet potato, and Mike had the chicken tenders. Yep, we went to a steak house and nobody had steak. The chicken was good though. I tried some. And Mike ate half of my ribs, at my request.

Truth be told, there was something weird in the ribs - it had the texture of a pig knuckle, I guess. I don't really know what texture a pig's knuckle might be. In any case, I was happy to share my ribs with Mike tonight.

After we left Roadhouse, we went to pickup my prescription at the pharmacy. I had asked my ob/gyn to write me a prescription for chewable prenatal vitamins. I'm going to be real with you all. I'd been having a really hard time swallowing the (large, pink, aromatic) vitamins that I take every day.

Really, I'd been having a hard time swallowing any pills. They feel like they get stuck in my throat every time. Mike calls it "pill phobia" and I'm not disagreeing, but it is still hard to swallow them.

I've tried several things to make the pills easier to swallow - drinking milk with them, drinking a pop with them, putting them in applesauce, putting them in pudding, buttering the pills and cutting the pills into smaller pieces.

The chewable vitamins are going to be a lot easier for me to take. AND the prescription chewables are covered by our insurance and they are going to end up being cheaper than the over the counter vitamins. Sweet!

I love it when things work out as they should.

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Things Are Looking Up

Emily is feeling better today. Her fever is down and she is playing more today. Her appetite is still not very good and she can't decide what she wants to eat. I get her 10 different things and she doesn't end up eating more than a bite of each one.

We have been cooped up in the house for the last couple days and I'm getting a little stir crazy. I'm ready to fix my hair and put on my makeup and go somewhere. Except that it's so cold. And do I really wanted to get out when it's so cold?

And is Emily really ready to get out? She would probably rather stay home and play with her toys. So we might have to wait to get out until tomorrow.

We really need to get busy putting away the Christmas stuff this weekend. We've got stuff everywhere and it's making me feel like my house is a wreck. I've done a lot of work on the laundry and kitchen in the last few days, but there is still lots more to be done.

But first, Emily and I are going to have a snack and watch some television. Ahh, what a life!

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Dell-Aware

In early December, I decided to order a new laptop for Mike for Christmas. After a lot of research and some careful consideration, I decided on a Insperion from Dell. Cherry red ... 17-inch monitor ... Windows 7 ... 2.53 GHz ... a real sweet machine. And it had an estimated delivery date of 12/16/2009. Perfect! Just in time for Christmas.

So I place my order online and check that off my to-d0 list. I did not immediately get a confirmation email, which I thought was strange. Six days later, I finally got an email that said my order had been confirmed and it gave instructions to check the status of my order online. Good deal! So every day or so, I would go online and check the status of my order. It was in production so that sounded good. I knew it should ship soon since it was set to take 5-7 days for delivery.

A few days later, I went online to check my status and the delivery date had changed - to 02/23/2010. February? 23? 2010? Over three months past my original estimated delivery date? Are you serious? Their website said I would get an email if my estimated delivery date had changed. I hadn't received an email so I thought I would give them a day or two.

Two days later - still no email about the delivery date change. So I emailed Dell customer service to check the status of my order. Their website said that most emails are answered within 24 hours. Sounds good. So I wanted one day ... two days ... three days. No email. December 16th came and went. No laptop, no emails.

I sent another email to Dell customer service, again checking the status of my order and questioning my new estimated delivery date. No response.

This time, I called customer service. I waited on hold for about 15 minutes until someone picked up .. then hung up. Not nice! I called back and waited for about 20 minutes and finally got someone on the line.

Dell customer service: Hello, Mrs. S how can I help you today?

Me: I would like to cancel my order.

Dell customer service: Why do you want to cancel your order?

Me: Because you didn't delivery my item when you said you would.

Dell customer service: Well, let me check and see if you have an option to cancel.

(Me, silently: Yes, I do have that option and I will be cancelling this order.)

Dell customer service: Oh, yes ... (pause) ... I do see that your order has been delayed. Since your order has not been shipped, you will be able to cancel this order.

(Me, silently: Told ya.)

Dell customer service: I'll have to email another department to request a cancellation for you.

Me: Ok. Will you please send me a confirmation that you have cancelled my order?

Dell customer service: I cannot send you anything, but you can go online to the status page and it will show cancelled. Give us 24-48 hours to get the cancel processed.

Okay, fine, thank you very much.

That same day, I went to another store and purchased Mike a laptop. It may not be cherry red, but it's still nice. And it's not a Dell! Oh, and it was cheaper.

So here we are over 3 weeks after the call to Dell customer service. They have still not answered any of my emails to customer service. And, frustratingly, they have STILL not cancelled my order.

Let this be a warning to you - in my experience, this company has not acted reputably. And their customer service stinks!

Have you had a similar experience with Dell? Have you had a positive experience with Dell? Either way, I would love to hear from you.

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Sugar Plum

Many of you may not know this, but I like to call Emily "Sugar Plum". One night before Christmas, I told her that I hoped she had visions of sugar plums dancing in her head while she slept.

The next morning, she mysteriously had some "sugar plums" in the pocket of her pajamas. She gave those to me and I kept them with me all day.

Every morning since then, Emily has had sugar plums in her pajama pockets for me. Many days, there are hundreds of them! But now the sugar plums are getting silly. Sometimes they are dirty and need a bath. Sometimes they get lost. You just never know what's going to happen with the sugar plums in the morning.

Today, my sugar plum is not feeling well. I got a call from the school around 11am that she was running a fever. Mike went to pick her up and then rested in the living room all afternoon. She threw up one time. I hope it does not turn out to be a long night for us. Either way, I will stay home with her tomorrow.

It is supposed to be a very cold day tonight and tomorrow. The biggest school district in our area has already cancelled classes for the rest of the week due to the cold temperatures. So far, no word from Emily's school. She probably won't be there the rest of the week in any case.

Well, Emily's calling for me so I better run!

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Blessed Beyond Measure

In early December, Mike and I learned that the Lord had blessed us. We are pregnant with our second child. Well, *I* am pregnant with our second child.

I had been feeling dizzy several times a day, several days in a row. I thought that was awful strange. It's not something I even occasionally experience.

A few days later, we put up and decorated our Christmas tree. During all this, Mike said it would sure be nice if we were bringing home a new baby this Christmas. I had been thinking the same thing.

That same weekend, I took down the crib that had been in Emily's room for the last 4 1/2 years. We were getting ready to get new furniture for Emily's room and it just seemed like time to take down the crib.

The next day - the very next day - I woke up and just had this feeling like maybe I should take a pregnancy test because there were all these signs. So I did. And it almost immediately looked like a big + sign. So I did the only sensible thing and called Mike into the bathroom to look at it. "I think there's a plus sign." "Yep, it looks like a plus."

I intended to wait a few days and then call the doctor. But I didn't. All the people in my office seemed to be gone from our office for a bit that day. So I took that opportunity to call the doctor's office and let them know. They wanted me to come in to do some blood work. Yep, I'm pregnant.

Wow.

Blessed beyond measure.

This morning, Mike and I went in for an office visit and an ultrasound. Baby looked like a tiny gummy bear. His or her heart was galloping at 176 beats per minute. Wow!

Everything looked good. We'll go back in a month.

God is so good!

We are blessed. Beyond measure.

More details later. Thanks for your prayers!

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Hello 2010

Hello 2010, I'm glad you've arrived.

I've been waiting so long for you. It's a new year, a new decade, a new chapter in my life.

Out with the old ...

In with the new.

I celebrated the New Year just like I always do ... snuggled warm and cozy in my own bed. We got up very early on New Years Day to drive down to visit my parents. It was our family Christmas/New Years celebration. We had a really good time, ate a lot of really good food.

We didn't get to play outside much because it was soooo cold. The kids did get to go outside and ride their power wheels for a bit though. They were all bundled up in their coats and hats and gloves. Sooo cute!

Tyler was a pro at those power wheels cars. Emily had a lot of trouble keeping hers out of the mud and Carter just kept driving his little car in circles.

Carter was so so so excited to see Emily. He just kept smiling and giving her love pats and following her around. I'm not sure if Emily knew what to think at first. She knew that Carter liked her, but maybe not that much.

We had to come home on Sunday. I was prepared to come home to see all the snow melted, but that was not the case. We still had a lot of snow ... a lot of snow everywhere! And it was so so cold by the time we got home.

It's supposed to just get colder the rest of this week. That's not what I want!

We've got some fun things going on this week. But more about that later.

Hope you have a great 2010!

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Christmas Recap and More Snow

Mike's mom and dad brought Emily home on Christmas evening. I think she was glad to be home. She immediately went inside and checked out everything that Santa left. She wanted to see if he ate any goodies - and he did. He also left a note for Emily saying that he was sorry he missed her.

After Nanny and Pops left, we all sat down and opened the gifts that Santa left for us. Emily got a Nintendo DSi, in pink, of course. She also got some games for it, a couple books, a Perfection game, an Uno Moo game, a baby doll, and some other things that I can't recall right now. I think Emily was very happy with the things that Santa left for her.

Mike got a laptop, a new electric razor, an OU t-shirt, and a few other things.

Santa brought me a Kindle e-book reader, a cover and book light for my Kindle, some bubble bath (my faves!) and some other fun things.

Santa was good to all of us this year!

After we opened presents, we had a non-traditional Christmas supper - BBQ meatballs with cheesy rice. I think I prefer the traditional Christmas dinner - turkey and dressing, sweet potatoes, hot buttery rolls and more!

On Saturday, we got out and went over to Mike's parents house for the traditional Christmas lunch with the family. After lunch, we did a white elephant gift exchange. Mike got some Christmas mugs, Emily got a small candle, and I got a large pink croco purse/bag. As you can see, it was a lot of fun.

On Sunday after church, we went back over to Mike's parents house to open presents with his family. We normally do this on Christmas Eve, but of course we were snowed out.

It was a busy and unusual Christmas weekend, but we are so thankful to have family close and so thankful that we were able to spend time with them.

This weekend, we'll go down to celebrate Christmas with my family. Lets just hope the weather holds out! We're getting a couple inches more snow tonight on top of all the snow that is left over from the Christmas Eve blizzard. I have had enough snow! I am ready for some warmer weather and some sunshine!


At least we're headed SOUTH in a few days. Hopefully it will be warmer down there.

Hoping ...

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