A Long Winter's Nap

Snow finally arrived yesterday -- we've been waiting for 3 months. Last night (from 7-8) the kids loved playing in the snow,despite the fact that it was cold and dark. Today I shoveled the entire driveway. My pictures don't give my hard work justice, but the pink-cheeked children do. And now, I will settle my brains for a "long" winter's nap; I have only 30 minutes til the older kids get home.



Actually, I ground more wheat this morning, so I need to make bread for an afternoon snack and to take VT tonight. Forget that nap.

Cupcakes

I made these.

Confession: I ate these.

My Two Pixies

Maisie and Maddie got their hair cut today. Maddie cried during her entire turn. Maisie sang during her's.
Before


After

A Missionary, NOW

Jim has now been in the MTC since Wednesday. Here are the pictures of the night before that I've been promising Natalie.




For about 7 minutes and .01 miles we loaded 20 people into the green van. Jim walked into the MTC with all of us shouting goodbye, and he never even looked back. He didn't need to -- he knows we all have his back.




Last night we visited the Guymons, and we missed Jim. However, we loved reading his letters and hearing about the good reputation he's already made for himself.

Presents

Austin gave me a wheat grinder for my birthday, something that I've been wanting for 11 years. Hooray. Today, three weeks after my birthday the children and I ground our Kansas wheat and made delicious bread.

Book Club

My children and I are the members of an elite book club -- entered by initiation only. Here is the updated list of the books I've/we've read in the past little bit:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J. Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J. Rowling)
Winnie-the-Pooh (A.A. Milne)
The BFG (Roald Dahl)
The Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
The Mansion (Henry van Dyke)
The Candy Shop War (Brandon Mull)
The Measure of a Lady (Deeanne Gist)

Of course the kids loved the Potter books. They thought the Pooh chapter book was slow after finishing Potter the previous night. A few weeks before Christmas we started the books recommended by our prophet, kids didn't mind, just fell asleep nicely every night. Next year I'll add the book of Luke as well during the month of December. The BFG is hard to read aloud, lots of jumbling syllables and sentence structure. My kids did enjoy the thematic element of people-eating giants. The final two books I read on my own in a matter of three days -- I'll for sure read Mull's book to my kids. Gist's book had a lovely romance, though the vehicle by which she explained the moral was a little intense.

Happy reading. I wish you many happy hours of reading with your children; I hope your book club finds you reading late into the night, even when they are all asleep.

Happy Birthday #31

I share my birthday with two lovely nieces -- Gabby and Haley. We were able to spend most of the day together: eating, talking and playing. A perfect day! (Where did this year go?)

Temple Square

Touring the lights on Temple Square was another first for our kids this holiday season. The warm coats, cold air, twinkle lights and nativity were simply magnificent. Of course we drank hot chocolate afterward.