Let It Snow...

I am cheating here. These pictures are not the idyllic snapshots of a snowy Christmas Day! No, they were taken a few weeks ago. And, alas, there is almost no snow on our lawn today. There was a bit yesterday, but then we had a day in the mid 30's and last night just wasn't cold enough to keep it! Darn!

So I am posting these pictures, and humming "Let it Snow, let it snow..." and hoping that the snow will return soon. "Why?", you ask. Because my Mother and my Aunt Marianne will be here on Saturday for a week and I have promised them beautiful snow!! And now I have to deliver!

This is the view from my office, the kids still love to play on the swingset, even in the snow!

They were outside building a snowman, who is now deceased...may he rest in peace. You see, if it would only snow again, then we could resurrect him, and I could teach my girls a wonderful lesson on the resurrection, which is really an Easter story, but, whatever! And we could have hot chocolate, and make snow angels...please snow, please snow, please snow. I'll let you know if it does.

Happy 1st Birthday Ava Marie!

Today is Ava Marie's 1st Birthday! I am so happy to be celebrating this day with my cute little babies big day. Ava Marie was 4 days old when she came to live with our family.

I'll never forget the phone call at 6pm on a Friday night. The girls had just sat down to dinner and we were planning on watching a Christmas movie later that evening. The agency called and said, "We have a 4 day old baby girl...are you interested?" Boy, was I!! I told the girls to eat quickly and then loaded them in the van and we drove to Lawrence (which was halfway to Topeka, where Ava was born.) and met the social worker in a parking lot. Not exactly a romantic story, but I could have been anywhere...when she placed Ava Marie into my arms I was so excited I was trembling! She was asleep, so we gently put her into the van and I told the girls they needed to be really quiet on the way home. Yeah, right! They were way too excited and kept squealing every time she moved! But she slept all the way back to our house.

I carried her car seat into the house and placed it next to the Christmas Tree. Then I got the girls to bed as it was almost midnight by then! After they were settled I went back downstairs and lifted her out of the carrier, I remember standing next to the tree, looking at her little face in the glow of the little white lights. She was the best Christmas present I had ever received. Thank you Lord!

Hangin' with my Sisters

Just another lazy Sunday in our jammies! All of the girls are in the childrens area drawing and reading.

Katy and Mackenzie are obsessed with writing letters to people. They write at least one letter a day to me and to each other! It's cute, but I have little bits of paper everywhere!

Katy is now passing this down to Ava, who is awed by the power of the crayon!

I think Katy is trying to persuade her to use the crayon to write with, rather than to eat!

Oh...now I get it!!

Home Sweet Home

I like this photograph of our house, I was actually trying to get the clouds above it...they were pretty ominous that day. I love the sage green color, just wish I had more mature trees. I am going to plant more this spring. Or should I say, I am going to hire someone to plant more trees for me!

Shoes!!!

This was the first day that Ava Marie wore shoes! She seemed to like them. The real reason I put them on was because it was very cold and I was trying to prevent her from taking off her socks!!


Love those cool pants too!

She's just too darn cute!

Katy's Ballet Pictures

Katy also loves Ballet classes at The Culture House! She is so tall and lean, her body is perfect for ballet. She is in Ballet 1 with her dear friend Megan.

She was so cute when she posed for these pictures.

I told her that her arms were perfectly rounded!

A view from my office...

This is basically the view from my office. I have 2 big picture windows that look out to the backyard. I can watch the girls play, the snow fall, the wind blowing...you get the picture...well, the mental picture.

For so many years I worked for someone else, stuck in cubicles or windowless offices. It was so important to me when I found this home that it had a great office with lots of light and windows. My favorite thing is that it looks out to the back yard and not the front yard. Because during tax season I am in my office at all hours...oh who are we kidding here...I am in my office to all hours all year long! But anyways, I like to have the blinds open so I can see the first hint of dawn in the wee hours of the morning, and it would be weird if my neighbors could see into my office when I was working...since I often wear my PJ's!