Seriously???? . . .it's been 4 months since I last blogged???

I wish I would blog more often, but I have so many other things that seem *more important*, so I feel guilty taking time to blog.  Anyway, here are a few pictures from the last couple months.

January

Kent turned 37 this year.  He loves coconut cream pie, so I always buy one of Marie Calendar's when they go on sale near the holidays.  They are SOOOO good!  I just have to say how grateful I am for Kent and great husband and father he is.  He works so hard to support our family and does a great job at keeping me in line with our budget. :)  His boss loves him and has proven to be a great asset to his team and company.  The kids adore him and I think little Miss Callie has him wrapped around her finger. :)  We didn't get to do a whole lot for his birthday since it was on a busy week day, and then we just haven't taken the time to go out yet for his birthday dinner, so hopefully we can do that soon!  I feel bad about that!  He ended up having to work really late on his birthday (and the night before and after as well!) and then I had to leave as soon as he got home to go to a meeting.  He took it so well though.  He deserves a nice birthday dinner.  His choice would be Red Lobster.   He is so good at telling me how much he loves me, thinks I'm beautiful, and is appreciative for all I do.  He does a great job at keeping our home full of fun and laughter.  Happy Birthday, Kent!

Jammie Twins -

Morgan's friend gave her these pj's close to when we first moved in and when I looked at them, they seemed familiar.  I remembered Morgan had a pair similar to them when she was younger.  So when I recently started going through all of Morgan's old clothes for Callie to wear, I found the pair that now fits Callie.  And to my surprise, they are the EXACT same as the ones that fit Morgan now!  They were so excited to have matching jammies, so of course I had to take a picture of my twinners.

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We went sledding with some friends of ours after one of the big snows.  It had started melting, but there was still enough to get some good sledding in.  I love sledding on winter days like this one - sunny and bright and right around 30 degrees.

Our cute little neighbor Mason.

Kent and Callie with Morgan, Jason and Mia.

Morgan and Lexie - I love their expressions!  Perfect action shot!

 After Harrison biffed it at the bottom.  It didn't seem to bother him at all!

 This cutie refused to go down the hill.  She just wanted to be held.  She also refused to wear her snow pants.

 Sporting the adorable hat my sister-in-law, Staci, made!

Towards the end, she finally decided to explore in the snow a bit.

Not quite as fun as Slater Hill at Purdue, but still a good time.

Snowy days

 We had a ton of snow fall right after Christmas, so the kids were in heaven.  I couldn't believe how long they would stay out there!  They went out and played about 3 or 4 days in a row.  Kids will be kids!

 We had so much snow that they were able to build a nice snow track for sledding with a big ramp at the bottom.

 

Tyler loved doing flips!  How he didn't kill his back is beyond me!

 

 

I love taking close-ups of Morgan with her furry hood on in the snow.  She has always had such cute ones over the years!

This was Callie's first year to really play in the snow.  Her winter coat was being washed, so we had to put lots of layers on her. Luckily she had a pair of really warm snow pants on. She was really excited at first, then became hesitant, but finally decided to really get into it all.
 

  

 

 

 

Child labor - ha ha!

First Snow of the Season!

Snickers had a ball playing in the snow with the kids. It was his first time seeing snow, so he was loving it! Now THERE is a face of pure joy and happiness!

I couldn't believe how thick it was coming down and it snowed like that ALL DAY LONG!

I kept asking them if they wanted to come in, but they said they were having fun and weren't cold at all. They made a big snowman and had lots of snowball fights and snowball snacks. I told them to just be sure they didn't eat any yellow snow! They were completely soaked by the time they came in! I think they were out there for at least 1 to 1 1/2 hours!

Callie was in awe and loved looking out the window at the snow. She did try to sneak out once when the door was open and try to pick up the snow and eat it, but I think she figured out it was a little too cold for her liking out there. It was beautiful snow, but it didn't last long. The next day it started melting. I kind of like it like that though because then it doesn't stay long enough to get all nasty black and dirty and pile up into huge mounds everywhere.

Sledding down Slater.

Kent loves taking the kids sledding, so one day last week when it was sunny and a bit warmer, we headed over to Purdue's Slater Hill for a fun time of sledding. It had been used quite a bit and the hill was very smooth and ready for sledding. The first picture of Morgan is her using our super fast circle sled. She was zooming down so fast I barely was able to catch a shot of her! When Tyler and she used the circle sled, they went all the way down to the parking lot - luckily there was a snow bank to stop them, otherwise they would have kept on going! They actually ramped the snowbank a little bit and Morgan lost her boot! They had to make sure to stay away from the pavilion when using the circle slide because it went so fast, and there was a brick wall they would have ran into if they didn't jump off in time. There were actually a couple scary moments I thought Tyler wasn't going to jump off in time and I just imagined him smashing into the side of the brick wall. OW! The toboggan sled was much slower and safer. Needless to say, I didn't go down the hill. I just came to be the photographer!

After one time down the hill, Harrison had had enough and was content with playing in the snow at the top of the hill.

Enjoying the snow.

It finally warmed up enough that Morgan would go outside to play in the snow. With all the snow that had fallen, the snowplows made a nice mound of snow at the end of the parking lot- perfect for sledding down! The kids and our neighbor loved sledding down the little slope - it was just the right size for Harrison. Then they got hot chocolate and after the girls went inside, Harrison, Tyler and I had a snowball fight and they built a snowman, which Harrison knocked down once it was finished, but oh well. :) Their snow gear was SOAKED by the time they were done! Good winter fun.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree . . .

Since we couldn't use our 9' tree this year in our apartment, we went back to cutting down a real tree like we have done for most of the other years. The morning we were going to go was cold and snowing like crazy, but we decided to brave the weather anyway b/c it was the best time for the rest of Kent's family and Kent, plus all the snow really made Kent get in the mood to have our Christmas tree up and officially start the holiday season. His favorite holiday is Christmas and he loves making the most of it, especially when there is snow too! I was a bit hesitant to go b/c it was snowing so badly, but once we got there it started to slow down and it turned out being pretty fun. It was the first time the kids put on their snowsuits and got bundled up, so they were loving it. Harrison didn't like walking in the deep snow, but he LOVED being able to try to cut down the tree (hence his huge smile while he was holding the saw in one of the pictures!). I love the wintery background in these pictures!

Tyler and Harrison got an opportunity to help cut down the tree this year. And Morgan loved helping drag it back to the car. Once we got it in the house, it filled the room with the lovely aroma of fresh pine. So refreshing and Christmasy!

Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Clark, Uncle Kyle, Aunt Kelly, and Leon joined us too!

Icicles!

While driving up to our house, I noticed this HUGE icicle hanging from our roof! It seriously has to be at least 5 feet tall b/c we have really high ceilings! I tromped through a foot of snow to take a picture of it, but the picture doesn't do it justice. Pretty cool, I think!