Santa & The Tooth Fairy

Have you ever wondered if Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy work on the same night? We can tell you that they do! We were surprised when at 8:30pm on Christmas Eve our doorbell rang and guess who it was ... it was Santa Claus. He wanted to stop by in person to let the girls pick a present out of his bag. Kenna chose a puppy and Ashlyn picked a moose. They were so excited. Santa was a little bit sad because he was hoping to see Cousin Walt here, but Walt was at home sleeping. Maybe next year. Now to the Tooth Fairy part - at dinner tonight Kenna lost ANOTHER tooth. This makes 6 so far. She was worried that the Tooth Fairy would not come because Santa was coming. Not to worry ... they both came and left gifts for her - she was so happy!

It's All Fixed Now ... As Much As Possible!

We finally got a break in the snow today and Castle Cuts for Kids was opened. What would normally take me about 15-20 to drive took me 75 minutes today. I should have been driving with chains since there was so much snow and ice on the road ... but everywhere was sold out and I couldn't get any and I didn't have any. So I put the girls in the car and we drove VERY slowly to get Ashlyn's hair fixed. This is the best they could do. The gal said if we went the route of the pixie cut - then it would show the bald spot in the front that she gave herself. Oh well - at least we got out of the house for a little bit today!

ArCtIc BlAsT 2008 - dAy 8

Here are some picture taken of our yard and house. This is the most snow we have had here in over 40 years. Can you believe it? School was cancelled all last week and Christmas vacation started today so the girls are having a blast playing in the snow and sledding. I on the other hand am starting to feel the cabin fever and want to get out!! Maybe tomorrow. Take a look - I did get some beautiful pictures.


View from front door

Question: How do you spell troublemaker? Answer: A-S-H-L-Y-N!

Well she did it AGAIN! Ashlyn decided that she did not want bangs anymore - so what did she do? She cut her hair ... ugh!!! Look at that a lot off the front and a bit off the sides what do we have now? A mullet!! I can't believe that she did this again. We talk about it every time we go to get their hair cut. She know that the only people allowed to cut hair are the people at Castle Cuts ... that is their job. So I wanted to take her to get it fixed today ... but of course we are snowed in still. They are not open and even if they were, we could not get there because you can only drive if you have chains and I do not. So when we get the chance we will go and get it fixed as best as they can. She does know however that she will not be allowed to have hair pretties, sparkles or a lollipop on the way out. She is in BIG trouble.

aRcTiC bLaSt 2008 - dAy 3

Let me start off by saying we have the BEST neighbors in the whole wide world! The girls have been waiting all day to go outside sledding with our neighbors Lauren, Emma, Rachel and Ellie. When it was finally time - not only did the "big girls" let Kenna and Ashlyn use their sleds but the pushed, pulled and carried them up the steep driveway to make sure they had a great time. Our cousin Walter even came outside to watch all the kids have a blast. Towards the end of play time Micha, Eli, Bella and Natalie came to join us. We had the whole gang out there sledding down the steep driveway (thanks Starts family). Again we are so blessed to have such amazing neighbors ... we love you all! Thanks for making our snow day so much fun.

Playing In The Snow

We had our first real snow day today. We got just over 3 inches of snow here at the house. We got up early to go to a birthday party and from the moment we got home the girls kept asking if they could go out and play. They wanted to build a "girl snowman". We all got bundled up and went out to play. We had a fun time, but the snow was not wet enough to build a girl snowman. It was plenty wet to have a snow fight and to get super cold. On top of that we got back inside and found out that tomorrow will be a SNOW DAY! That means no school or day care for the girls - just more snow play, movies and hot cocoa. Here are some pictures from today.

Kenna got ready all by herself. She couldn't wait to go outside to play.

It took Ashlyn a bit to get used to the cold. She didn't last long outside.

Kenna had a blast ... when it was time to go inside because it started to get really windy - she cried.

Here the girls and daddy were attempting to make a "girl snowman". They got a base started, but the snow was not wet enough.

OuR cOoKiE pArTy!!

We had a cookie party and it was so much fun! I made 14 dozen sugar cookies and lots of different colored frosting from scratch. I allowed the girls to invite a few friends (8 kids - 10 total) and we had a blast decorating all the cookies. There were some pretty intresting results. At least they all had a blast with the frosting and all the other sprinkles, candy canes and candy. Each child got to go home with their plastic container full of cookies, their Santa cup for their hot chocolate and their apron. They are already talking about when we do it next year. I think I am going to need that long to recover! Happy Holidays

Ashlyn LOVED the sprinkles ...

Kenna took her time and went into great detail with all her cookies, and Ash just wanted to be done as soon as possible so she could get on to the next one.

This is a sample of some of the cookies that went home. I believe these belong to the Ivanoff girls!

The most BEAUTIFUL Christmas tree in the whole wide world!

Here we are at the Plumper Pumpkin Patch and Tree Farm looking for the "perfect" Christmas tree. The weather was great and the girls had a great time looking for our tree to cut down. Here it is ... we found it.

The girls were there to help daddy cut the very big tree down. It didn't take daddy that long. Now we were ready for the big trip back to the barn to pay for our tree and take it home. That is of course after we make the tree "dance" to make sure all the bees and bugs stay at the farm and do not come home with us. Last year we had a few hornets get into the house. We do not want that to happen again.

Here it is ... can you believe how big it is? Daddy had to cut a bunch off the top and bottom to make it fit in the house. This is the biggest tree we have had so far. We had to go out and buy more lights because we did not have enough from last year.

The girls were having so much fun. I tortured them into taking a bunch of pictures before I would let them decorate the tree. They are so excited about Christmas this year - it is way better seeing Christmas again through their eyes.