It finally snowed! Here!!

Our trees are heavy with snow. Crazy...here in Minnesota we got snow! Hard to believe, I know. We can hardly believe it ourselves. After a snowless winter, when all the clouds would form a circle around our house and snow everywhere but HERE...we got hit!! So much fun.
John took the boys on one last ride before it was time to come in and get ready for bed. And sometimes boys can wear purple snowpants. Like if they had an accident in their black ones.
Rebecca got a ride with Dad all by herself. She came in the house all excited and said, "Guess what? We went 100 miles an hour!" Hmmm...I think I need to have a talk with John!

Snow in boots, frost-bitten cheeks

Joel could spend hours loading/unloading little trucks. Snow, dirt, twigs...it makes no difference.

Rebecca made the little tunnel. It was tricky to get these pictures because everytime one of the kids got down in the hole, Tucker would come barrelling head-on into the kids and squeeze through.

U.P. Michigan Snowmobiling trip

Thursday evening we left for the U.P. of Michigan. Our plan was to do a little snowmobiling because we'd heard that they had some snow. And did they ever! I can't remember when I've seen so much snow all at once! So anyway, the pictures...John did LOTS of driving this weekend. It was almost 1000 miles round trip, counting our drive Sunday morning to meeting in Newberry 60 miles east of Munising (through a blizzard). Our family Sunday evening as we were preparing to head for home. Our house Thursday...showing just how LITTLE snow we have here. Friday eve. we met our friends Rich and Carolee in Marquette and got to see the start of a dogsled race--I think it was called the U.P. 200 or something like that. And, the kids on the snowmobile and two in the sleigh, ready for a ride.

The kids

The kids really enjoyed getting to know each other. Eldon is 5, so he and Rebecca and Joel got along well. Keyara is almost two and she and Clayton aren't really at the stage yet where they'll play together. Mostly they played side-by-side, but separately.

So THIS is what snow looks like...

More snow pictures: Rich shoveling in front of their house; Rich and Carolee, Eldon and Keyara; and Rebecca on top of a huge snowpile.

Driving, and driving, and driving...

We saw lots of uninhabited parts of Wisconsin and Michigan. Most towns we went through only had 200-300 people. One sign said Population 117, but all we saw were a couple farms. I wonder if they were counting chickens and cows? When we finally made it as far as Lindstrom, MN, we were rewarded with this sunset.

Another Mommy poem

Thanks to Shannon for sharing this poem with me.

Come In!
But don't expect to find all dishes done, all floors ashine.
Observe the crumpled rug, the toys galore, the smudgy, fingerprinted door.
The little ones I shelter here don't thrive on spotless atmosphere.
They're more inclined to disarray and carefree, even messy play!
Their needs are great, their patience small.
All day I'm at their beck and call.
It's "Come and look! Come and see!"
Wiggly worms and red scraped knees.
Painted pictures, blockes piled high, my floors unshined, the days go by.
Some future day they'll flee this nest and I, at last, will take my rest.
And which really matters more?
A happy child or a polished floor?

I already tried posting this picture of Shar, Sedrick, and Paul. Maybe it will be there twice. The computer is acting up.


I went to Rebecca's school one day to help make gingerbread houses. Mostly I ate chocolate because I didn't have breakfast before I left home.

John, driving to Rochester. It was kind of like a date because we left our kids with a babysitter. Not really a date though because we were on our way to see John's mom in the hospital.
The second picture is the sunset that evening.

We saw these clouds as we headed to Rochester one evening. The one on the left totally looks like a tornado, but it's not.

We finally had the new patio door installed. My dad and mom came up to help, as well as John's brother Jim, and Paul. It was a 40 degree day in December, perfect weather.

You can see how bad the old door was. The left side was really cloudy, it didn't keep the cold out, and we couldn't open it since John foamed the edges to try to keep mice out.

Rebecca was being goofy one day at lunchtime.