To Grandma Valerie House We Go!

Sara and her children invited Ms A and I to join them during Spring Break and a trip to Idaho. We had a wonderful time with her, her children and my mom. We stopped off in La Grande to stay with Sara's friends, the Huntsmans. {Thank you for the hospitality and warm beds Huntsman family!} We also stopped off and visited my dad and each of my mom's siblings.
Here's a view of our drive. Sara and I enjoyed the beautiful clouds with the snow.

Grandma Valerie had an "Un-Birthday" Party ready for us when we arrived. The children were thrilled to see the balloons, presents and decorations.

Sara and I wanted to introduced our children to a restaurant our grandparents took us to for dollar pancakes and a wonderful variety of syrups, Smitty's. Ms A was excited to try out **EACH** flavor of syrup on her dollar pancake's. :) It was fun to relive those memories and share them with a new group of grandchildren.

The night before Sara and her children left, we had a short Easter Egg Hunt.

Ms A mentioned to her grandma that she wants to go to Hawaii, a bit later grandma gave her a hula skirt, lei and lei bracelets. She was so pleased, she gave an instant hula dance.

Sara and her children left on Saturday, but Ms A and I stayed for another week. On Tuesday, we woke up to two inches of wet, compact-able snow. Ms A was ecstatic to build a snow girl and get buried in the snow.

March Snow

Yesterday we were supposed to get a little snow, so I wasn't too surprised. Ms. A was SURPRISED and EXCITED! She danced as she sang songs about SNOW! Afterwards, she begged to play in the snow, but we had church and the snow was gone by the time we came home.



This morning as she was going downstairs, she excitedly yelled "It's Snowing!!" Within minutes she was ready to get dressed. The entire time she was dressing she was talking about playing in the snow. As I finished combing her hair, she asked once again if she could play outside. When I answered "Yes"; she replied: "Whoo Hoo! I get to play in the snow!" I think she was concerned about the snow melting before she had her chance.

I was a little disappointed to see my flowers surrounded by snow, after all it is March and Spring is right around the corner. I am grateful that we received enough for Ms. A to play in, but not enough to keep us home. :)

Hopefully Spring will come soon!!!!

PLEASE!!!! :)

Christmas and Snow

We had a wonderful Christmas with everyone. It was fun watching the kids playing Santa as they gave each person a gift! :) They loved being responsible for making sure each person received a gift.

My family's tradition growing up was seeing what Santa brought, eating cinnamon rolls then opening the remaining gifts. We decided to continue with the family tradition. The kids had a hard time waiting, but they did a great job. :)

After the presents were unwrapped, Sara took the kids outside to play in the snow. They built an awesome fort! Freezing rain started to fall and the kids came inside, but Sara stayed outside to finish. I think she loved playing in the snow more than the kids.

Playing in the Snow

Jen and Garry invited us over to go sledding. Ms A was so excited to play with Mr A in the snow. It was wonderful to get out of the house and visit friends. Thank heavens they live within walking distance! :)

Snow Measurements

Here are a few pictures from our deck.

We have 12 inches on the bench and 11 inches on the deck.
We have been enjoying the snow, especially Ms. A and Aunt Sara. First thing every morning
Ms. A asks if she can get dressed so she can go outside.
Waiting for everyone to eat and dress is torture for her. :)

Chocolates and Snow

As a child we used to make chocolates at Christmas time. When I found out about my mom and Sara coming for Christmas, I decided to introduce Ms. A to the tradition. :) Sara and her kids came up the day after my mom arrived and we started to make candies. We had a great time, the kids had a hard time with the concept of sharing. They finally picked a friend and made a plate for them.

The next day we received eight inches of snow with a half inch of ice on top. We had a great time playing in the snow and taking pictures. We are hoping to play some more tomorrow with friends. :)

The beaded ice picture was taken by Sara.

Sledding Fun

It finally warmed up to 25 degrees, so Ms. A and I went out to play in the snow. I took her on her saucer around the neighborhood. While we were out, we saw a neighbor with his sweet dog, Kyai, pulling a sled. The owner offered to take Ms. A for a ride. It was Kyai's first time with the sled, so Ms. A and the dog tried something new together. I was tickled, but Ms. A was done when she was too far from me. :) She finished her ride and wished Kyai and our neighbor "Merry Christmas" before we finished her sled ride with mommy.

I wish I had taken the camera with us, but the sidewalks were a bit icy and I wasn't too sure of my footing.

Winter Wonderland

We woke up this morning to a beautiful White Winter Wonderland!

After church, Ms. A and I couldn't resist playing in the snow. We had a great time with our snowball fight. Ms. A made several snow angels. We discovered evidence of an unseen visitor, Big Bird. Ms. A and I followed his footprints around our deck until they stopped at her snow angels. She was so excited to see his footprints and wondered where he went. Big Bird also left her a smiley face in the snow to let her know he liked her snow angels. We had a fabulous time! :)

Warming Toes