Fall pics

First day of 1st grade

First day of Preschool

Polish Festival

Pumpkin Patch

Stalked by the tooth fairy

C finally lost her first tooth. She wiggled it for weeks. It was hanging on by a thread. The permanent tooth behind it was pushing it up so far that she was looking snaggle toothed. And yet, she wouldn't let me pull it. Sure, she gave it half hearted attempts herself. She said she wanted the Tooth Fairy (TF) to bring her money. Her expert tooth pulling teacher and Grandma Beachie all offered, but to no avail. Deep down she was petrified of how it would hurt when it came out. I begged and cajoled, but when it came right down to it, it turned out to be a two man job. P had to hold her and tickle her (to take her attention off of what I was doing) while I risked losing a finger while reaching in and grabbing the tooth. It was over lickety split, but I can still see her look of terror as she realized the tooth was coming out.

She said that it didn't really hurt that much after all. Then she was concerned about what would become of her tooth after the TF's visit.

The next morning she found her money and all thoughts of where the tooth went were gone. P thought the TF was too generous, and wanted to see if C would trade him bills since they're all the same to her. (She calls paper money tickets, probably because the Chuck E Cheese tickets are as valuable a commodity to her as money is to us.)

I'm hopeful that the next tooth won't be such a battle, because I'm sure that it will be coming in soon too. We'll be seeing plenty of the TF for the next little while. Hope she's got some good investments going, or maybe a money tree somewhere. All I know is that C is going to be our go to girl if we need a quick cash loan.

Snowmageddon

My friend Laura used this term on Facebook when describing our weather, so I'm stealing it since it seemed to so aptly describe my feelings regarding the snow.

Now this is going to seem really strange to hear from me - but I have been sooo sick of snow! I know, there's just no pleasing me, huh? I pratter on and on about how much I love the snow, and I was so bummed that we didn't have a snow event our last winter season. Now here we get a lot of snow, and all I do is complain.

So when we last left off, it was bitterly cold and we'd gotten a few inches of sticking snow, thus cancelling church on Dec 14th. Thankfully work was NOT cancelled, so I was able to go in Monday and Tuesday, although driving conditions were not great. School, on the other hand, was cancelled - for the entire week before Christmas break! While I appreciate the safety issues that have to be considered, I really feel that school should have been held on a couple of the days that were cancelled. We did drive in to school that Thursday and Friday anyway since the teachers called to say they'd be in the classroom for a few hours for the students that could make it in to pick up their Christmas presents and crafts.

During that week it continued to be exceptionally cold, so the snow remained in our yard and residential streets - but the predicted waves of snow and ice storms never did seriously materialize. At this point I was becoming a little snow weary. Although we weren't completely homebound, our excursions were few and far between. After all, who wants to risk a car accident for petty little errands (that's the insurance adjuster in me speaking)? Since we were having a small Christmas this year, all my shopping was already done, so other than work or fresh milk and eggs, I didn't have much need to get out.

Then on Saturday the 20th, Mother Nature began her shock and awe campaign. With temps in the high teens, nine inches of snow dumped on us. I can't ever recall a snowfall around here like that before! It was beautiful, and we had a great time sledding down our street. Then we had even more fun four wheeling with my brother in law's ATV.











That night, and throughout Sunday we enjoyed some freezing rain. Needless to say, church was cancelled again. I do enjoy a freezing rain storm when you have nowhere to go. Nothing is more beautiful!





Luckily for me, the office closed on Monday - I was really worried about how I'd be able to safely get in, and beyond that day I was home free as I was already scheduled off for the rest of the week.

That Monday and Tuesday we continued to be amazed at how much more snow fell. We had nearly two feet of snow! I truly felt astounded every time I looked out the window. We even decided we should shovel our deck lest it collapse from the weight.




One of the best things about the snow was the fact that P remained home with us for four full days. His phone hardly rang so we really had his undivided attention - even more so than when we were in Maui. We had so much fun those days just hanging out, playing in the snow, watching movies and enjoying the company of our family. I wouldn't trade that for anything. It was probably the best Christmas gift of the season.

Another great feature of the snow was how beautiful the valley was, particularly at night. We loved looking out the windows at our neighbors Christmas lights, and how bright the nights were.





By Christmas Eve day our temperatures finally lifted above freezing, and the melting began. I had mixed emotions about this. While I was ready to get back to our normal routines, I did have a little part of me that wished we'd have some fresh snow accumulations for Christmas before it started melting. Nonetheless, we did still have a white Christmas, with plenty of snow - but it was now too wet for playing in, and by Christmas Day night the streets were just a deep mush (which made it even harder to drive in).

I don't ever recall a time here when we've had our yard covered in snow for two plus weeks. Hopefully the girls will have fond memories of this winter, because who knows when they'll see another one like it again.

And at long last, after a whopping three weeks of no service, our final day of rejoicing came when our garbage and recycling was FINALLY picked up!!!

We are fam-i-ly (sing it with me!)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Since I'm extremely short on time, I'm just going to let the photos speak for themselves. My apologies for being so verbose!

Cousin Cal's baptism

C with cousin Kellene visiting from out of state. M was the photographer above.

Kellene is my youngest brother's daughter, but he couldn't make the trip.



Celebrating Kellene's 2nd and my 3xth birthday

Grandpa and Grandma "Beachy" with Kellene

Aunt Nikki with Kellene and Grandma