Snow Day #2

Snow day #2 started with some indecision on Nick's part. The neighbor and him where trying to decide if they were going to attempt going to work. Through a variety of events (the state highway being closed and not being able to get across town) they decided to stay at home.

The neighbor then decided to help us uncover our driveway with his snowblowing lawn tractor. It worked wonderfully and really cut down on the work that Nick had to do.

The remainder of the day was spent inside and out of the wind. We did venture to Grandpa's and Grandma's to break up the day and for all of us to get hair cuts! By the end of the day the kids were so tired of being cooped up that they just started running like crazy. My hope is that it warms up soon so that they can get outside a bit and enjoy the snow!

The nice neighbor clearing our driveway!

Micah and Becca playing a basketball game. (They played so nicely for about 30 seconds and then it went down hill.)

The view out our back door before it really started blowing.

The view down our street while the wind was blowing! It looked pretty deserted! You could hardly tell where the road was even though the snow plow had been down the road.

Becca coloring so nicely. The kids have been doing a lot of this!

Micah racing his cars and loving every minute of it!

Snow Day #1

Tuesday morning when we woke up we figured that the day would be as usual as school was still on and the roads were only slighty covered. However within 20 mins it turned it a snow day for the kids and I! School was cancelled and I decided that I would just stay home with the kiddos versus trying to get to work for only a couple of hours.

Snow days are kind of like the gift of time at home and right now that is a gift I will gratefully accept! The kids and I had a lot of fun, but I got a lot of stuff done that otherwise would have remained undone.

We went out for awhile in the morning because the temps were supposed to drop making it to cold for the kids to go out and play. Becca seems to have developed a love for the snow and just laughs and giggles the whole time we are outside!

Snow Angels!

Trying to dig tunnels in the "small" drifts.

Naptime in Mom and Dad's bed because I washed the sheets on the kid's bunk beds. (My exercise routine for the day!)

My cleaning buddy! (We also made a mean coffee cake last night that we enjoyed for breakfast this morning! It was delicious!)

Daddy using Grandpa and Grandma's snow blower to clear the driveway (Yes it is still snowing, but it was supposed to snow and blow a lot during the night and we wanted to get the first layer off.) Micah is trailing him. You can't see it, but he is dancing and jumping the whole time!

Stay tuned as the whole family is home today for Snow Day #2!

Ebates

I typically don't do posts like this, but since most people I know are trying to save a few bucks this year I thought that I would pass this info on to everyone.

A few months ago one of the blogs that I follow recommended at site called Ebates. It is a cash back site for on-line purchases. This is how it works.

Say you want to shop on-line at Old Navy (or Kohls or Borders or Cabelas or 100s of other stores). You go to the Ebates web page, create a log-on and password, find the store, click on it and it open a tracking ticket that takes you to your desired site. Because of the tracking ticket it remembers how much you purchased and then based on your stores percent of cash back that amount of cash is returned to you! For Example: For the month of December, Old Navy has 10% cash back. I purchased a few items on cyber Monday for $26 and will receive $2.60 back through Ebates!

I was skeptical at first I admit and I have been waiting to share any info with anyone until I actually received some cash back. Well, last week I finally received my first check for $10.12 - Yippee! Now that I know it actually works I will share with you.

When you sign up you receive either a $3 or $5 sign on bonus, but you do not receive it until you have made cash back purchases that match your bonus. (My $10.12 check was $5 of sign on bonus and $5.12 of cash back.) My first purchase was made clear back in April and I just got my 1st check last week. Not speedy or a huge money maker, but in my mind every little bit helps!

If you want to check it out futherclick here. If you have any questions let me know. I am no expert, but would be happy to help you try to figure out a way to say a few bucks!

COLD!!!!

I don't know how it happened to fast, but I guess that fall is over and winter is here. On Monday someone told me to take the afternoon off and take my kids to the park and today it is so cold and windy that even venturing across the street Grandpa and Grandma's requires a full bundling!

Despite the cold and a very tired Daddy we all headed to a nearby town for the annual Lighted Christmas Parade. The preschool that Becca attends had a float in the parade and they wanted the students to ride. I am glad that we went because both of the kids had a ton of fun, but man, did they wear a lot of clothes!!!! I think that I had them more bundled than at any other time in their life!

Unfortunatly I wasn't able to get any pics because I forgot my camera!!! (What kind of blogger am I?!?!?!)

Hope that where ever you are today you are nice and warm!

Catch-Up

It has been way to long since I have posted. Life has just been so busy around here! I can hardly imagine what the holidays will bring!

Here are a few photos to catch you up on the going ons at our house!

Yes this is what I discovered in my basement this evening. My entire family playing on the "skins" team! Apparently the boys got hot from playing basketball and so they took their shirts off. Becca thought it looked like fun and join the crowd!

Micah has been learning to read in school and it is amazing to me how fast he is picking it up. He now is picking up books that we have read to him and is picking out words that he can sound and figure out. This afternoon he was tucked up in his top bunk reading away.

While Micah was reading in the kid's room, Becca was sitting on the pile of blankets in our bedroom "playing computer" as she puts it. You would have thought she was working on an important spreadsheet!

Now here is a sneak peak at our Christmas card! Let's just say it was a little challenging!

That Can't be Comfortable!

I guess this is what happens when your 5-year-old is kept up way after his bedtime! And yes he was really asleep! This was taken after we had pulled in the garage, shut the van off, shut the garage door, opened the van doors and taken several photos already! Must have been really tired! Oh and by the way... little sister was still awake and singing! LOL!

Reading

Last week Thursday Nick and I met with Micah's teacher for our first ever parent-teacher conference. The conference went well and during our discussion she informed us that they would start reading on the following Tuesday. :)

Tuesday afternoon Micah come home with two Ziploc baggies in his book bag. Each baggie had 3 cards in it, each with a word on it. (Apparently these were the words that they started to read at school that day.) These baggies were accompanied by a note saying that as parents we need to review these words with our child.

So.. the review didn't happen last night and since he has school tomorrow I thought that we should review the words tonight. He pulled them out and in no time had the words figured out. Two of the words were gas and big. He was trying to put the words into some kind of order to make a phrase. It went something like this.

"Big...... Gas....."

"Big... Gas...."

"Big. Gas." (I hope that you can see where this is going....)

"Big Gas"

"Biggas"

"Bigas"

He stopped at this point. Now we do not use this kind of language in our house and he had no idea what he was saying, but it was a little difficult to not scold him! (He didn't know! So how could I!) Nick and looked at each other and just chuckled to ourselves.

I am sure that there will be many other stories like this in the future as we head down the road of reading and phonics! :)