Snow Fun

We had fun playing in the snow today.  I made a great movie using the song, "The First Snowfall of the Winter" by the Carpenters.  I hope you have all heard that song.  It was great background music until YouTube discovered it was copyrighted and blocked my video.  Shucks.  I then tried "Let it Snow" by Chris Isaak.  It too was blocked.  Shucks.  My next attempt is a cheap instrumental CD from Costco.  YouTube hasn't blocked it yet.  It's not as great as the Carpenter's song.  If you have heard the song, sing it to yourself while the pictures scroll by.  I even matched the lyrics.  Silly copyright laws.

Anway, we went to the park by the river and played fox and geese (a great snow game that I played in Idaho as a kid), had a snowball fight, made a silly snowman with several small heads and two noses (my kids both wanted to add the nose and they kept putting small balls of snow on top so I gave up with the tradition three snowball snowman with one nose), and went sledding at the little hill by our lake.

My poor girls don't have any snow boots.  It really doesn't snow here enough to justify buying snow boots.  They'll have to make do with rain boots.  We certainly get a lot of use out of rain boots.  They just wore a lot of socks.

We are supposed to have below freezing temperatures all week.  School is two hours delayed tomorrow (sometimes school is delayed here in the hopes that it melts enough as the day goes on to ensure the buses make it safely..I still wonder why we don't just plow the roads...in Idaho school was only canceled if it was 50* below zero and the drifts were at least 7 feet high).  I hope school isn't canceled this week.  If it is canceled, we have to make it up in June.  I'd rather go to school now than in June.  Besides, I need to teach 8 math lessons in 5 days, do two craft projects, make gingerbread houses, and get through a reading unit by the end of the week.  That won't happen if we don't have school.

I hope we have snow for Christmas.  I hope it melts by the time we have to drive to the airport to go to Disneyland.  I hope we continue to have electricity.

OK...I've talked enough....here is our snow video with boring music....

Angel Erin Joy

Our church was cancelled today due to snow.  Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Erin Joy's preschool program was today at the church affiliated with the preschool/daycare she attends.  They had services despite the snow.  

Funny, when I first moved here, I thought people were so silly to be scared of snow.  Where I grew up, it snowed from October to May.  Once it even snowed on my birthday in June.  I have lived here too long.  I really don't like to drive in the snow.  I don't think anybody has heard of a snowplow or sanding the road.  The snow here is very wet.  Combine very wet, icy snow with a lot of hills and driving is an adventure.

We made it to the church and enjoyed a wonderful service.  The highlight being the preschool performance.  Doesn't Erin Joy make a great angel???  I loved watching her lose her arms in the extra long angel sleeves.  I also enjoyed watching the boy next to her yawning and wiping his nose on his angel sleeve during the performance.

I'm a little sad.  This will be my last year watching a preschool performance...

Ballet, Snow, and Shopping

We had our first snow of the season.  A lot of snow.  Too much snow.  I don't like driving in snow.  We had expensive tickets to the Nutcracker.  Non-refundable tickets.  We had to go.

I white-knuckled it up the hill from our house and through our neighborhood slipping and sliding.  Rachel commented that maybe Kathryn's mom should drive because she likes driving in the snow.  I laughed and asked why she thought that.  She responded that she heard Kathryn's mom say that she likes driving in the snow.  Rachel doesn't understand sarcasm.  A few days ago poor Kathryn's mom was talking about having an accident in the snow the day of Rachel's birthday party last year.  I told Rachel that Kathryn's mom wasn't going with us to the Nutcracker so she had better hang on tight and say her prayers that we would make it there safely and back again.

We were fine after we got on a main road.  By the time we got just outside of town, there was NO snow.  Weird.  From 4-6 inches to zero by the time we traveled 40 miles west.  That's what I love about the Northwest....it is unpredictable.

We went shopping before the show because we needed groceries and I didn't want to be any later on the roads than I had to.  Since I had my camera with me for the Nutcracker, I video taped my girls in action at the store.  This is why I don't enjoy shopping with my kids:

No pictures allowed during the performance, but they did allow the kids to wander around the orchestra pit during intermission.  The really nice harpist let my girls play the harp.  Now Rachel can't decide if she wants to be a Ballerina or a harpist when she grows up.

The girls behaved themselves as well as could be expected.  They seemed to enjoy the show as much as I did.  In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by their behavior.  We were sitting in front of a row of nice old ladies and I apologized before the show started...just in case.  The girls were wiggly and Rachel kept asking questions.  At one point, Erin Joy said rather loudly, "I can see their underwear" as the ballerinas were twirling around in their tutus.  After the show, several of the nice ladies sitting behind us commented about how well behaved my daughters were.  Phew!  Glad they thought so...

We refrained from buying anything, but I took a picture in front of all the stuff they had for sale just to prove we were really there.

Tagged

I was tagged by Monica.  I like this kind of stuff too, Monica.  I'll waste time on the computer and do it now while my kids are actually playing together nicely.  They are playing with the nativity set and Barbies again.  They have been escaping to Egypt which is under the Christmas tree.  I love it when they play without arguing.  It does happen once in awhile....

8 Favorite TV shows: (I don't have TV at the moment, but when I did...this is what I liked...this will show my age...I was in college when I last watched TV....20 years ago....)
*MASH
*Bewitched (this was my favorite show when I was a kid and I watched reruns on the sly as a college student...I loved Gilligan's Island and Brady Bunch as a kid too....now I'm really showing my age....)
*Sienfeld
*The Cosby Show

*Frasier
*Everybody Loves Raymond
*Remington Steele (just to look at Pierce Brosnan's eyes)
*that hospital show with George Clooney...what was the name of it???....I haven't watched TV in so long...I'm not kidding....I'm probably the only person in the USA who has never seen American Idol or Survivor or whatever....am I missing something???

8 Things I look forward to:
*Disneyland in 17 days
*Christmas

*going to the Nutcracker tomorrow

*spring break

*Summer Vacation
*watching my children's college graduation
*watching my children get married in the temple
*retirement

8 Things on my wish list:
*losing weight
*A new house
*A new job near my new house
*A new car...a Prius would be nice
*To travel to China and Taiwan

*To visit Ireland and catch a leprechaun near a fairy tree

*To live in China

*a credit card that I never had to pay off

8 Things I did yesterday:
*Scrapbooked (in the middle of the night when the kids were in bed and I'm very tired today)
*taught fourth graders
*mailed 5 boxes ($50.00) worth of Christmas donations from my students to the soldiers my students have been writing to in Iraq
*two loads of laundry
*dishes
*played Barbie and Polly Pocket and school
*cleaned the litter box
*took the garbage out

8 Favorite Restaurants:
*Szechuan Cuisine in Seattle
*PeiKing Palace in Seattle
*a really good Mexican Restaurant in Idaho Falls that I liked so much I eventually got a job there as a teenager so I could eat all the chips and salsa I wanted....I can't even remember the name of it.....it sure was good though.....
*Outback Steakhouse just to eat their Bloomin' Onions
*Azteca
*Jumbo Buffet (it has great Chinese food considering it is an all-you-can-eat buffet...it also has a great Mongolian BBQ and a sushi bar...yummy!)
*Chinook's for great fish tacos

*a little local place called Ike's...my girls love their milkshakes, grilled cheese sandwiches and fries and I love their spicy teriyaki (it is an American food place owned by Koreans who make great teriyaki...)

Your turn....you can tag yourself if you want to...I'll specifically tag:

Ada

Becky

Lisa (my last post with videos was for you, Lisa...hang in there...)

the other Lisa

Shelli (you haven't written in so long and I have been hoping for a Sawyer update...)

Erin (my sister who blogged one entry almost a year ago and needs to remember her password and do it again...blogging is better than facebook....I promise!)

Carma

Sasha  (I need to see more pictures of my cute nephew soon...)

Crystal (because you tagged me, but I had already done your tag recently...)

That would be nine...that's close enough to eight...I never was very good with math...

For Those Who Wait

I was impatiently waiting for Erin Joy when I first heard this 

song and it made me cry.

I love Steven Curtis Chapman's music and the following song 

is very touching too.

My wish for Christmas is that all children will have a family 

to love them.

Rachel Moments

Last Friday, Santa visited the first grade. All the kids got to sit on Santa's lap and ask him for something. Rachel asked for a DS. I asked her why she asked for a DS and she said, "because everybody else did." The secretary standing by me asked her what a DS was and Rachel responded, "I don't know."

She was the superstar last week (birthday week). One of the questions she had to answer was what she wanted to be when she grew up. She wrote "plsman" (policeman). I questioned her about this because she has never wanted to be a policeman before. Recently she has wanted to be a horse trainer, a teacher, an artist, a pet doctor, and a puppy trainer, but she has never mentioned a policeman. She told me she decided to say that because that's what another student wanted to be during his week.

Sheesh....she's succumbing to peer pressure!

The other day she asked me if it was worse to get fired or worse to change your card (behavior system in her classroom). Many mornings as I'm trying to drag her out of bed I say, "Hurry up! One of these days I'm going to be fired for being late all the time." Anyway, I told her it was worse to change your card :)

One of my fellow co-workers came to my classroom and told me that she had just yelled at my daughter. Apparently there was loud giggling, screaming, laughing, and all sorts of noise coming from the bathroom. The teacher said very sternly, "Come out now and stop playing in the bathroom." Rachel and one of her friends sheepishly walked out.

Let the Season Begin!

My girls love watching themselves dance.  I'm changing the date that I posted these (originally posted in mid-November) so that my girls can find them easier.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

This dance needed five dancers so I added Bella, the cat, who is definitely part of our family and a panda because I like pandas.  I chose this dance because I do the splits in this dance.  Pretty impressive!

How About With Grandma and Grandpa?

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Experiencing China

We had a great time at the Children's Museum yesterday.  They had an "Experience China Day."  The girls played, made crafts, and danced with their dance class group.  I volunteered at the event so I am very tired.  It was a lot of fun, but exhausting.  I was too busy to take too many pictures or even video tape their dancing, but here are a few pictures:

Why is Mary on the Dollhouse Roof?

My girls have had a lot of fun playing with the various Nativity sets we have around the house. They have now combined them into one large set. I have had fun taking pictures of the various arrangements I discovered.

I thought Mary was on the dollhouse having a time-out. When the girls discipline their dolls in the dollhouse, they give them time-outs on the roof. I asked Erin Joy why Mary was on the roof and she told me because there was no room at the inn.

Sure enough....there isn't much room in this inn. With all the Little Ponies and even Santa watching from the roof, there definitely isn't room for Mary. (There is room for THREE babies, however.)

Why is everybody in line??? They are lined up for school, of course!!

Who is the teacher??? Barbie, of course!!

Why is the Wiseman in the shower?? He is filling up his cup with water, of course.

Why is baby Jesus on the stove?? That's not a stove, Mommy, that's his crib.

Why are the shepherds sleeping in the dollhouse?? It is night time and they are tired, of course!!

Why are there two babies in Erin Joy's gas mask?? That's not a gas mask, it's a stroller.

Silly girls!

Guess Who's Seven?

Happy birthday to my sweet seven year old daughter!  I can't believe how fast time is going....

She woke up very early because she wanted to open her presents before school.  She was ready for the day before 6:00.  She received a few gifts and ate ice cream pie for breakfast.  (Rachel doesn't like cake and just wanted ice cream for her birthday.)

We enjoyed pizza for dinner and then came home and decorated the Christmas tree.  I figure this is a good tradition...decorate the tree on your birthday.

She isn't getting a big party this year because we are going to Disneyland just after Christmas.  That is birthday present enough.

The girls had a great time decorating the tree.  The only ornament up high is one that I placed there.  There are no ornaments on the back or side.  I thought about rearranging, but I like it the way it is.  It has personality.  

The empty top:

The bottom front:

Five ornaments on one branch compliments of Rachel:

A branch full of candy canes compliments of Erin Joy:

I love Christmas!  Hurry up Santa!  We're ready for you!

Six Years Ago

On December 1, 2002, I held my daughter for the first time. While other families waited patiently to officially receive their babies from a government worker, I just went into the room where the babies were playing and took mine.  I was reprimanded, but I didn't even care.  

What a magical moment that was.  I remember thinking if nothing else good ever happened in my life it wouldn't matter.  That brief, but unforgettable moment in time filled me with enough happiness to last a life time.  

My dream of being a mother was finally realized the day I held Rachel.  What a tiny, sweet, precious angel God had blessed me with.  I loved her before I met her.  I loved her when I met her and I love her today.  My life is so full.  Thank-you, Rachel.  

Every year on our special day, Rachel places an ornament on her "Adoption Tree."  The last picture is the picture taken today.  The other pictures are photos of her taken every year on her forever family day.  It was fun for me to see how much she has grown and changed over the years.  The little tree used to be taller than her.  

RACHEL AND HER ADOPTION TREE THROUGH THE YEARS

December 1, 2003

December 1, 2004

December 1, 2005

December 1, 2006

December 1, 2007

December 1, 2008

Here is a little memory video with pictures of Rachel through the years: