Baby It's Cold Outside!!

Monday this week, we went out after school and work to get our Christmas Tree - we headed to Home Depot and had fun picking our tree  :)

We then took it home to decorate it - it was kinda late by that point - so we just let the kids hang their ornaments.  James mostly just wanted to play with them and it's taken a few reminders (every minute) that they aren't toys and he can't touch.   He just has such a hard time not playing with the "BALLS!"  

The kids were fighting over who would put the star on the tree - so Daddy decided that Mommy would put the star on.  So for once, there is a picture of me :) 

Tuesday, the temperatures dropped drastically and we got snow - unfortunately, the snow caused one of Dan's co-workers to slip and break his ankle - which meant that he couldn't go on the show this week and the only other person who could go was Dan - so bright and early on Thursday, Dan headed off to Florida (and somewhat warmer weather)  We have been below freezing since Tuesday - which means that there isn't a lot of ice - but by now the snow has been so packed down it is a bit slippery.  The kids have still been having fun playing outside though - and Eileen came home from school on Friday and said "Mommy, when I finish my homework and piano, can I go shovel the drive way?  Why yes, Eileen, yes you can!

Eileen and Anna were both very good shovel-ers and helpers and because they were outside, everyone else wanted to be outside too!

This little girl came inside after playing outside in the snow and she just looked so CUTE with her rosy cheeks and all bundled up in her winter clothes!!  

Saturday and Sunday have been a bit insane - Saturday I had my first Christmas concert with the Colorado Mormon Chorale - I brought meatball subs for everyone since we were gonna be there for almost 5 hours without break (mostly I made the mistake of asking the president if there were any plans for feeding people...)  

Sunday since Dan was gone, I couldn't go to ward council meeting, so I watched the kids of my counselor so that she could attend meetings - which meant that I didn't have enough room in the car, which meant that we all walked to and from church in below freezing weather - they way there wasn't so bad, it was chilly, but sunny so we made it there with cold noses, but otherwise fine.  The way home 4 1/2 hours later was not quite so nice.  It was colder and the sun was going down and all the girls were complaining horribly about being freezing before we got home (and that was with hats, scarves, gloves, snowboots, big coats, tights, and everything else we could find.  Church was eventful - as it always is with a grumpy (almost) 2 year old - but James did well as long as I was willing to hold him the whole time - then he was sweet and cuddly and quiet - but now my back and arms are a bit tired!  LOL - a good work out though!

After we got home we had hot chocolate to warm us up and nice hot oatmeal for dinner.... yeah - I was tired..... and then we put James to bed and the rest of us went downstairs to enjoy the Christmas Devotional - it was WONDERFUL!  such a wonderful way to start the Christmas holidays with our family!  It's so nice to be able to enjoy it at home with out having to drag a bunch of tired cranky kids and a cranky momma out of the house to watch it!