ARTIC CHILL 2008!!!!

What a crazy couple weeks. Actually, I realize now its only been 1 1/2 weeks, but it seriously feels like at least 3 have gone by. So we came home from San Francisco to some snow on the ground (see highlights of that trip below. ARGH! I just realized that post got deleted accidentally. We went to San Francisco and had a blast. Maybe I'll REWRITE the post later. Ugh.)

Snow snow snow. We've had 12+ inches on the ground for many days now and expect more tonite & tomorrow. At first we kept very busy doing cozy things like making sugar cookies. Saben loved it and Annika was relatively unhelpful the day we rolled & cut them. She kept grabbing handfuls of dough and carrying them around.

It seemed like every time I moved a cookie to the baking sheet she had either made a mess of the rolled dough, stolen something off the table or gotten flour all over the floor. Partially my fault, I tried to include her by doing it on their little table in the kitchen where she could reach. I seriously underestimated my daughter, she was all over everything. Here's some of the stolen goods that she put in her toy kitchen. There was cookie dough in the measuring cup in the microwave.

Finally they were all baked and I wisely decided to frost & decorate them while she was napping. Saben did such a good job, we had some fun one-on-one time & they turned out great.

Last week I was also working hard at getting this picture finished for my Grandparents. I saw a sample at Treasury of Memories and was so excited to try making one. First time ever doing a scrapbooky canvas & I think it turned out great. Although I did learn some important lessons about being too wild and carefree with Modge Podge.

You may notice the big black square - that's a story unto itself. My brother and sister-in-law are currently in California awaiting the birth of the son they will adopt. The birth mom, is being induced as we speak (because she was due December 10th) and I check online every hour for the last 5 days to see if any new news is up on their blog. It is very exciting (my first nephew!) and nerve wracking. (if you're nervous now too, you can check here for updates & the whole story)

The heart in the righthand corner is in honor of my cousin's mom, Deanna. Her story is here in case you missed it.

Saben's Christmas program at preschool got cancelled because of the snow and I was so sad. Hopefully they'll do it for us later....I was really really looking forward to it. It kills me that I haven't gotten to see my son sing with a group in front of an audience yet. Watching little kids sing like that is one of my favorite things on earth.

On Friday, I decided to brave the roads and drive down to Mount Vernon to meet my Dad so he could take the picture to my Grandparents in Wenatchee. We met my Dad, then met up with a good friend for a McD's playdate with her kids. It was nice to get out of the house & relax while the kids burned some energy. On the way home, Saben suggested that all four of her boys come over to sleep in his room (Maverick could sleep with Annika in her crib) and Rachael could sleep in bed with Kyle & I.

The roads ended up being nearly dry & ice free, but unfortunately I had no idea that you are not really supposed to drive in 4-wheel drive on the freeway and managed to blow out our 4 wheel drive on the suburban on the way home. (and scare myself to death in the process) So now both cars are two wheel and we have no good way of getting around in the snow. Which could be a huge problem if we get another 4-6" on Christmas eve.

Our weekend was uneventful, we got lots of Christmas activities finished & tried to play in the snow, but Annika hadn't been cooperating since that first day that she had lots of fun. Every time we got her all bundled up and headed outside, she'd start crying after 10 minutes. We finally managed a walk downtown with her in the backpack, saben in the sled. It was so beautiful & nice to finally get some exercise after being cooped up all week.

Monday, my parents made it up here to celebrate my Dad's birthday. It was such a huge relief to have some distraction & get out of the house with my Mom w/o the kids. I finished up all the last minute Christmas shopping. Phew!

We had a really fun time playing in the snow because I figured out that Annika basically needs full time undivided attention when she is out there. Her mittens fall off every 2 minutes (I seriously contemplated hot gluing them to her hands) and she needs help up when she falls down. (at least once every 2 minutes. Usually the mittens fall off as she gets back up) She prefers to just walk on the compacted snow holding your hand or sledding on someone's lap. Luckily Grandma was around to help.

And papa was around to keep big brother happy.

Which left me to shovel the front walk & build a snow fort for Saben (which I probably enjoyed more than he did). Yet another much needed chance to work up a little sweat.

Later in the evening, Saben was watching some videos on the computer (cars in the snow) and papa put on a video of a baby elephant playing in the snow. Saben goes "Does the elephant know how to make a snow angel?" So cute.

We finished off the evening with dinner & lots of naked running through the house. Uhhh...the kids were running naked I mean, that is their favorite pre-bedtime thing to do. Saben told the adults where to sit so that they could try to tickle him as he ran by. Annika also jumped for the first time! She also seems to love being naked and screamed like crazy when we put her jammies on.

I also managed to catch my first cold in THREE years. I never got colds when I was pregnant or nursing either child.

I will leave you with a picture of the rainbows Saben made for our Christmas tree. I probably won't save them, but thought they were adorable. (I have already laminated a couple glittery rocket ornaments he made & will keep those ones forever)