Ice Fishing

This past Sunday we went up to Nicholas' Grandmother's house to go Ice Fishing.  She lives on a lake which she assured us was frozen enough so off we went.  

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go...

 There was no way in this whole wide world that I was going to go on the ice.  I stood on the pier with my mom parts all in a ball of worry as my children stood in the middle of a frozen lake with 40 degree temperatures warming the earth.

I was so, so scared the ice was going to crack and just envelope the whole fold of them.

EEEeEEEeeEEEk!

The picture above is Emma and a friend of Nick's Grandma's, Keith, who was taking them out.

 Nicholas and Calvin making their way.

 Calvin on the ice....allow me to interject an EEEEK!

Here they are doing the actually fishing. Nick had the camera.  So at this point my beautiful children, my hot hubby, and my uber expensive camera are all standing on ice in the middle of the lake.  Oh joy.

Here's a picture of Nick's mother and me standing on the dock.  At this point I think we were both yelling at them, trying to entice them inside with hot cocoa.  Heehee.

They are pretty cute ice fishing though :)

I mean, seriously, look at all that water!!!  Freaking out looking at these photos!  And they are safe in our living room right now, ha!

They finally came inside and I was okay.  I stopped hyperventilating a few hours minutes later and realized they had a lot of fun and got to experience something interesting!

Ice Skating

The kiddos got to go ice skating.  Emma loves going ice skating but I am horrible at it!  HORRIBLE!!!  Horrible I don't think even captures how truly bad I am at skating.  And Nick can't skate well either, but was a trooper and went with the kiddos.  Thankfully Nick's mom, Grandma Peggy, likes to go skating with the kids, so she agreed to go too.  

 Here's our gang out on the ice...Nick's mom in the blue hat, Emma, Cal, and Nick.  Cal isn't very good with balance so ice skating is a definite challenge for him.  Emma isn't the best skater in the world but she has been in hockey, so she knows the basics of skating.

 I love these two.  I love Emma's heart.  She is always so quick to put aside what she's doing and help her brother.  God definitely knew what kind of big sis this little guy needed.

 Here she is trying to help him...again.  I think by this point he was beginning to get it.  I love these two with my whole big heart.

Look at that face!  He's so proud.  Skating with Grandma Peggy he did his best skating.  I'll have to remember that the next time they want to go skating.

Our local rink offers homeschool skating on Monday afternoons and while I haven't taken the kids to it, I am thinking I may in a week or two...provided the weather cooperates with us!  I think you all in the Midwest can relate with me!  Ha, this week we have rain and snow in the forecast together.  So funny to me, but so typical of this time of year.

Happy Ice Skating!!!  Is anyone else horrible at skating like I am???

A Week in Pictures

Here's the way this last week looked.

We did a little sledding at our neighborhood hill, which I LOVE: As you can see they loved to sled. Then we went to Lowes. What do you do when you're bored with Lowes? You're silly of course!
And maybe a little contemplative of if your family MIGHT have gone off the deep end. Especially when you look in the rearview mirror to see....


'Sup?
And then there's our little diva, Miss Kazoo

Also we are not really keeping Gingerbread house kind of people...
We also like to play dress up althought to Aunt Jan's chagrin, this is no dress...
I have no idea what in the world is going on here. Do I even try to ask?


So that's us in a nutshell. Enjoy!

Farewell weekend

Photo by Amelia P S
















This weekend has been one of the most odd ones in my life. It was strangely chaotic and peaceful all at the same time. I felt and still feel like crap but am somehow rejuvenated. Let me explain. Friday Emma was sick and suddenly Friday evening I was hit like a ton of bricks and within half an hour was down for the count with whatever flu/cold is going around. I felt miserable. However Friday night was the first night I got a full night's sleep...Calvin slept in his bed! So that was heavenly to wake up to Saturday but still felt like crap. Saturday morning we braved the cold and snow as Nick went to get tires, I had to unexpectedly pick Nick up with the kids, take him home, go to a meeting, go to Toys R Us, then Walmart, then home, all the while still feeling like crap, but humming Christmas tunes. We deemed I was too sick to go to the family dinner at Nick's moms so he made the dish to take and I helped with the kids. We had a matress delivered which resulted in an hour long ordeal of doors being slammed, delivery men mad and my husband being more upset then I've ever seen. Matress in place, children's coats on my family sans mommy faced the cold winter to go to the family event. And suddenly I was alone...and free...albeit the running to the bathroom and the constant drip coming out of my nose. I got all of the Christmas decorating done, I got things organized, and vacuumed, and mopped! I got bathroom's cleaned and laundry done...and folded! I felt accomplished, I felt like myself again! Today Calvin was sick and so church was out as Emma is still sick too. A family of four sick behind one door. During naptime I took to the mall where although it was busy and my throat was killing me, I managed to enjoy myself. When I got home we went out to eat and had a wonderful family time. Now that the house is under control I think I can handle another week. Bring it on.

Well The Weather Outside if Frightful

But our fire is sure delightful. Oh I love my three snowbunnies! Today it actually snowed here for the first time this year...winter is definitely on its way. Thank the Lord we are prepared...our savings account is somewhat ready for the bills, we have hats, gloves, and coats, and our cars are equipped with proper tires and batteries...God is good all of the time. Bring on the snow!

Snow Falling

There is something absolutely magical about snow falling. I am always in awe of the erie silence that falls around the house as it lightly touches down on our roof and the ground around us. I love how from somewhere it picks up little hints of light so it resembles glitter falling all around you. Last night was our first big snowfall and it was magnificent. It was glorious to be able to lean up against the window and just watch the big flakes fall luxuriously down around us. Something about snow makes me feel like a little kid all over again.