Sophia's antics at 9 months

Sophia can pull herself up on everything and anything - stairs, playpen, pant legs. And she is cruising a bit. I'm predicting this girl is going to walk earlier than the other kids. She is determined.
She loves to find any source of paper to chew on -- even the paper waiting to be recycled. Sophia is really motoring around now. She can make it down the hall and into Pat's office in 20 seconds in hopes of a quick taste of Daddy's important papers.
She is very huggable.
Sophia loves to go sledding -- she giggled the whole way down the hill each time today in her little sled.
Today she started waving hello and goodbye when we were outside sledding.
She has learned to say baby and knows what it means. Tonight she picked up Hannah's baby doll and said "baby" very clearly.
And she is still Hannah's guinea pig for fashion.

A Blizzard Survival Guide

1. Make sure there is enough ice cream in the house (Lois drove into town this morning to stock up before the blizzard hit).
2. Start the morning off right with a candlelit breakfast (Luke's suggestion) -- with eggs, french toast, and bacon.
3. Have fun dressing alike.4. Make fudge together, being sure to test it several times in the process to ensure the right consistency.5. Brave the elements and take the kids sledding and out to play in the giant drifts in the backyard.
6. Take several expeditions outside to the end of the driveway to see how the drifts are forming across the driveway. (Lois and Pat both took turns doing this.)
7. Follow the storm on NOAA's weather page. (Daddy's idea of fun. Jacob even got into this today.)
8. Dream of warmer weather as you search for houses in warmer places.
9. Watch the neighbor bring a new bale of hay for the horses and then shoot the breeze over a cup of coffee after his work is done.
10. Ride scooters and ride on toys in the basement. Play hockey with cardboard tubes and a small ball on the basement floor. Play a game of indoor PIG with a mini basketball hoop.
11. Chase the baby around the house as she tries to get into everything -- plants, magazines, moon sand, etc.
12. Make a dent in the big pile of laundry.
13. Read lots of books!
14. Play Sorry -- multiple times.
15. Write a blog entry about how to survive a blizzard.

Christmas Memories 2008

A Snowy Christmas

We definitely had a white Christmas this year.....18 inches of snow on the ground!
The kids have been enjoying the massive piles of snow in the back yard.
It looks like we lost Hannah to this pile of snow....
Lots of shoveling to be done....
The snow is quite beautiful on the trees. Here's my attempt at capturing it's beauty...
Uncle Tom and Mike arrived in time for Lois' birthday on the 16th. I cooked and baked for her dinner meal.
A few days later the kids and Pat participated in the church Christmas pageant. It was snowed out on the original date but we were able to make the rescheduled date. And Mike and Tom were able to see it too.Hannah was an angel. Jacob was a shepherd.
Luke was a sheep.
And Pat was a wise man.
They did a wonderful job!

We worshiped at Lois' church for Christmas Eve -- a beautiful service -- which opened with a brass choir and we sang the Holden Evening Prayer liturgy -- one of my favorite liturgies and ended with spreading Christ's light through the sanctuary as we held candles and sang Silent Night. Hannah and Jacob both held their own candles this year.
Luke's new farm set

After church we had dinner and opened gifts. We enjoyed the evening together -- the kids were anxious to open their presents. It was a bit of a frenzy -- trying to take in all the things people were opening. It all happens so quickly. I end up having to process the chaos later on...blogging is good for that. :-)
Jacob working on his new calendar

Santa paid a visit and filled the stockings which the kids opened Christmas morning. He brought a puppet kit for each child to make. They had fun putting their puppets together and using Hannah's new puppet theater to put on a puppet show.
Sophia had fun tasting the paper on all of her gifts!

It's always fun for the kids to have Uncle Tom and Uncle Mike around for the holidays.
Hannah especially enjoyed Uncle Tom this year -- we started calling her "Hannah the Barnacle" because she became a permanent fixture on Uncle Tom's lap. She was his shadow for the entire week he was visiting. Tom has tremendous patience in dealing with children and I think he enjoyed the attention -- most of the time. :-)
Uncle Mike had fun playing Sorry with Jacob, Hannah and Luke
A present from Uncle Mike to Jacob

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!