So much snow

Not by feet, although today we are supposed to get a doozy, but by time it seems as if we are always heading into another snow burden/storm.  It has stopped us from doing a lot of outside winter activities.  Events are canceled each weekend due to the weather.  Last weekend was a bad storm it shut down the highways and most side roads a  huge deadly pile up on the interstate.  Luckily we were not out in it.

I did try to take the kids to church as the snow just began falling with no sucess.  I got them all dressed in cute Christmas attire.



I love when they are clean, cute, and matching.

I even through on my holiday sweater.



We piled in the truck and started our way.  But we did not get far.  Going up the first hill the truck started slideing, there was no way I was going to make it down that hill or up the next and down again, and that hill  is a steeper hill.  The kids were yelling were going off the cliff and that's exactly what I did.  The cliff was nothing more than very much sloping corn fields.  I pulled off into the fields because although I was sliding on the roads I was fine in the field.  I pulled in enough to turn around and start back down.  Once back to the main road we slid a little but made it home fine.  Later that day we heard how another car slide down that big hill and caused a wreck.  So glad it was not us and we turned around.

Once home the boys decided to have church at the house.  Gregory played some carols on the keyboard, then both boys led a bible study.



Followed by a game of tick tac toe because that is how all the best services end.

All afternoon plans canceled.  I took a couple pics of the kids.



My upside down Smiley.

Awe my sweet princess.  I am glad she is getting over the making faces in photo stage.





Maybe not, gross!  Ugh

My so sweet and precious Grace.



And Evan he loves to cuddle.





Really there was nothing to do but selfies.



Except play in the snow and I was not into that.





Even though it is a blue coat its Faith.



There is a better smile!

As you can imagine that never last long.  And our stove becomes a drying spot in the winter.  It works great.



But why the boys froze, me and the little girls stayed warm trying for another picture.







There was nothing more to the oranges than they were hungry and I told them if they would just smile they could have an orange, cuties actually.



I gave up still trying for some great holiday pictures this but we still have 10 days to try!!!  wow.

Grace and Faith

My beautiful baby sleeping in the sunlight



She is such a wonderful, precious, baby.  There is so much sweetness and love from such a happy little girl.  I can't get enough of her but it is good when she sleeps too.

Faith has now mastered the 3 binky smile.



She now too insists on a cup of coffee in the morning as well.



Four kids are coffee drinker along with me.  It might be kinda crazy and now most morning I am making 2 pots.  But I love our morning coffee routine and the time to drink it with the kids.

Getting our tree

We trekked back out on our Christmas tree hunt again this year.  Through the multiple choices  the Christmas tree farm has to offer.



We never know what type of tree we are looking for we just walk or run to we find the right one.





The kids just love to run run run and this year luckily it was not snowing but it was pretty darn cold.  Maybe next year Gracie will be able to run along too but for now she was pushed up and down the hills of trees.  She much would have rather been running.



You would think she would be safer in the stroller but no.  Her dad was pushing her and let go of the stroller on top of a hill to take a picture .  He said he parked it but the next thing I knew was a guy from 200 yards away was screaming to get our attention because the stroller was rolling down the hill.  I was further down it and able to catch our baby who probably thought it was a fun ride.  Luckily she was safe.  It never crashed or tipped over.  Whew.



This year Gregory was the tagger.  And we finally found our tree.


Although I don't think that was is actually it, more of a practice tag?



Ah there it is this one is it!  It is a beautiful concolor fir.



After we tag it we flag down the woodcutter and he get our tree for us.



He throws it on his trailer back to the barn where they shake it, to get off all the lose needles and wrap it for easy transportation and putting it up.



And it is ours.  A beautiful tree for 2013.

Thanksgiving 2013

We had not planned on doing anything this Thanksgiving day except watching the parade and just our little family being together.  I took the children down to their grandparents house last Sunday for Thanksgiving.   We had the big traditional meal then, plus the boys had it on Tuesday at school.


Gregory



I did not think I would be able to get them to eat it 3 times in one week.  Although they said their feast at school was the best one ever.  And the first I missed, I was sad about that.

At my parents house



Me and babycakes because she is easy to get a picture of.  Whereas Faith..



This is every picture of her lately.  You tell her to smile and she makes silly faces.



And why no pictures of the boys?  Well I could not get them to hold still for 1 minute they were to busy playing .  Even Gregory was playing like a little boy.




Late the previous evening the tiny team and I watched


(though they were not happy about it though)



It was so cold!  And snowed most the entire time.

the older boys march,


Gregory yelling I am cold!

and ride

Evan



In the Thanksgiving/Christmas parade.  There school is celebrating its 25th year of being in Chambersburg this years and this was a fun event for the kids, sorta minus the cold.

So with Thanksgiving essentially behind us I was not planning on any big meal.  But I keep asking the kids what do you want to do, eat?  They did not care.



Besides these two turkeys...

I had bought a big turkey a few week ago frozen and it has remained frozen since and now to late to do anything with.  The boys did say they would like a salmon dinner a few times, I love that.  But I did not want to go to the store.  Last night I stopped asking and started pulling things out of the freezer.  Yes I would do a Thanksgiving for my family and it would be from what we have on hand.  I pulled out a big beautifully marbleized chuck roast.  I had so many vegetables that were close to going bad I picked up at the farmers market in October I new I wanted to use them.  So with what I had on hand I whipped a day long feast of

* The best pot roast I have made to date.  So moist and so delicious
* cooked with it in the crock pot were all the carrots we had left, lots of celery because I love celery! and some onions for flavor and they are so good when crock potted (and yes I make up my own words all the time, a friend has also pointed that out this week as she learned 5 new words in just one of of being together, it is just genius I tell you) all day in delicious juices
* baked mac and cheese- mostly because we had everything, and I made 2 because it is delicious and it will come in very soon.  I don't know when but trust me it will.
* pasta salad because I had extra noodles to use as well as it is a great fridge clearer, and Jay loves it.  I can't believe how often he tells me he hates mayonnaise and how digesting it is but yet every few days I make him dishes with mayo as the base ingredient and he can't eat enough-silly guys, he does not know though ;)
* sweet potato casserole.  Baby cakes loves sweet potato and since I had not shopped I used what was on hand which meant multi colored marshmallows.  It did not matter at the end of the day...NONE of the kids would eat it.  ha.  But they all helped make it and poor Smiley even hurt his finger doing so, peeled some skin right off it.  Ouch.
* rolls, for Gregory, he loves those
*Evan made his special gravy to which I made my special turnip mashed potatoes for.  It adds more veggies in their diet, gives it a bit of a different taste but not too much.  It is 1/3 turnip to 2/3 potato and tonight it was a mix or Yukon and red because that's what I had.  I was good and not nearly enough.
* peas, because there is a lot of starch mentioned above so to give them smaller portions of starch I add pure straight vegetables.
*pears and applesauce
* dozens of homemade cookies, yum
*Plus I bought them ginger ale as a Thanksgiving treat.  It does not matter though they are so wound up.  I think from the sugar, soda and cookies but Evan is assuring me it is from the extra couple cups of coffee they had this morning.




It certainly turned out to be a good Thanksgiving.  A filling Thanksgiving.  I had thought they would not want Thanksgiving but I was wrong, they did.  They were excited and happy and helped make the all of the meal the entire day.





 It does not matter what you cook it matters that you are together.  It matter that you all contribute and you keep with the importance and traditions of the day.  My kids like routine, my kids like traditions, my kids like Thanksgiving and I LOVE my kids.

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours!!!

Old Mc Donald's Farm

My kids are crazy for parks playground and those fun fall pumpkin farms that pop up in the beginning of fall.  We headed down to Old McDonald's pumpkin farm in West Virginia with my parents for so much fun.



It is one of those places with so much to do. Including zip lines.  The older boys loved them.



And the highlight of them all was the long tube slide.







Even baby cakes loved the slides.  She could not get them to take her down enough times.



These two have got to be the worst corn hole players.  Is that game popular everywhere?  It is a big thing on the east coast.





Of course there was lots of corn to play in.



The farmer tried to convince me that this would be good to have at my house?!  Absolutely not.  It is filthy, attracts mice and I was finding corn in my kids clothes at every bathroom stop.





Even corn angles.



A bunch of barn yard animals and a turkey that looked so delicious.  Soon you big fat turkey.





One cool thing all the kids enjoyed too were these huge tubes.



They would push them far up the hill get in and roll or run down.  Even the little girls enjoyed it but often would get thrown out.  Never in any harm though.  They did not get pushed up as far as the boys.



It is never,never, never easy to get them all to look.



Oh well.  Another fun time.