Today's news

Natalie's Check-up

Natalie had her one year check up today and got a clean bill of health. She is 18 pounds 3 ounces and 29 inches tall. That puts her at 5th percentile for weight and 25th for height. She is a little bean like all the other little beans. She also started walking a bit over the last few days. First just a step or two and now up to four or five at a time. She still prefers ground transportation, so you'll mostly find her crawling.

Natalie is also learning to express her opinions. Her siblings find this somewhat disconcerting since they are used to a sweet, babyish personality, not the storms that come with the toddler years. Yesterday I showed Camille a sippy cup I'd bought for Natalie. I commented that it was perfect for her because it said "Sugar and spice and everything nice." Camille dryly responded "Yeah, that's because they didn't have one that said 'Booger Snot.'"

Believe it or not, today is sunny and nice. Not above freezing, so our snow isn't going anywhere, but at least the weather isn't compounding the problem with more snowfall. The kids took pity on the Mazda and crawled on top to start cleaning off the snow.

The little curve you see is the very top of the windows,
so you can imagine how much snow is on the roof of the car.

Elise is 'Queen of the Hill."

Today's view of the snow and some of the cleared roof.

'It Doesn't Show Signs of Stopping . . ."

While we were out of town for Christmas, it continued to snow in Spokane. The roads were great on our way home Sunday morning until we got into our neighborhood. That was the scariest part of the whole trip. We couldn't tell from moment to moment whether we were stuck or if we were just moving really slowly. The traction control light was on constantly. When we did get home, there was ten inches of snow on the driveway, which was blocked by a two-and-a-half foot wall of snow from the snowplow. So, we had to dig out before we could even pull the van into the driveway or get to the door. This is what our poor little Mazda looked like when we got home. That is all naturally fallen snow. None of it is built up from plowing or shoveling.

As if that weren't enough, we got eight inches
of new snow today. Brett says I have to stop taking
pictures, because every time I do it snows some more.

Camille standing in front of our Mazda halfway through today's snow.

Sixty inches of snow in 13 days, with more to come on Wednesday.

This is the sidewalk up to our front door.
All these deep piles got even deeper, because . . .

Brett shoveled some of the snow off the roof
to help take the weight of the weaker areas.

One more storm and our mailbox will disappear.

At least someone was happy about all the snow.

It might be a pain, but at least it is beautiful!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Look who's One!

We thought we'd post a few pictures from Natalie's birthday for those who are interested. It was a fun day. More than any of our other kids on their first birthdays, she really seemed to get what it was all about. She was visibly excited about everything and seemed to understand that this was her day.

Look at my presents!

She loved the books Grandma Borders sent.

When you get a cool new toy everyone else feels the need to jump in and mess things up. You can be patient with this for a while, but in time . . .

. . . It just gets old!

Oooh! Caaakke!


Ummm.

It's that frosting hobo look.


Peek-a-Boo!

I wasn't done yet, Dad. Gimme my cake back!


We ended up with a chocolate bathtub ring.

Has it really been a year?

It is tough to believe that it has been a whole year since Natalie was born.

I was sitting in the office a few weeks ago and started playing Christmas music. Suddenly the feelings and emotions of that time last year rushed back as if I was experiencing it all over again. It was a tough time for us. Five weeks on the darned guest bed. No sleep, plenty of pain and all the side effects of the medicine. And I remembered how the Christmas music soothed me and how Heavenly Father was aware of my needs and my family's needs even before I was. I remembered all the people who helped and comforted us. We were overwhelmed by the tender mercies of the Lord.

We are so grateful for Natalie. As hard as that time was, she was so infinitely worth all of it and then some. She is truly a joy.

Holy Snow Day, Batman!

It snowed all day yesterday and we thought we'd come close to Spokane's all time record of 13 inches of snow in 24 hours. Instead, we woke up this morning to find that we'd shattered the record with 17 inches in 24 hours. Last time I checked there was 21 inches of snow on the deck and it is still going. I'm guessing we'll end up with over two feet of snow in around 36 hours. All the pictures I've include are from 7am. Just in case you can't tell, Camille is standing by our Mazda.


All the schools are closed. The city buses aren't running. All church activities were canceled. City Hall is shut down as well as doctor's offices, all non emergency services at the hospitals, etc. And this isn't Portland . . . we're used to the snow. We just don't have the ability to take care of this much of it at once.


Brett did go in to work at 8:30 am. As he plowed the truck into the snow on our street, I crossed my fingers and hoped he wouldn't get stuck somewhere. It was tough going for the first couple of miles, which hadn't been plowed. Brett said it was like a luge with snow walled up on each side of the narrow lane and that only high-clearance 4X4s had even a chance of getting through. But, the last four miles cleared up a bit. He'll be coming home before lunch because 4WD doesn't help if the snow is higher than your tires and you end up high-centered.


In the meantime, the kids are in heaven. Before I'd even finished cooking breakfast, Max had his snowsuit on and was out in the middle of our front yard wilderness. I don't expect we'll see him again other than mealtimes until bedtime. They've already dug tunnels in it and are making snow caves and forts. It is a light, dry snow fortunately, so they can play forever without getting wet or too cold.


We're planning on staying home and having lots of fun today. Our goal is simply to not lose Cameron in a snowdrift. We might need to tie a rope around his waist! We'll work on the Christmas presents the kids are making for each other, make cookies and hot chocolate, play games and read books. And Brett will get to be with us for all of it.


I hope this is one of the best, funnest days of my kids lives. One they'll remember forever.

Elise's Busy Day

Elise had a very busy 24 hours! She had her first full dance recital at 5pm on Thursday. Then her Kindergarten program at 6pm the same night.


The next day, Friday, was her sixth birthday. She was very excited to cut out, bake and decorate Christmas tree sugar cookies. She had a friend over to play for the afternoon. Then, of course, presents and cake and ice cream. I'm a terrible cake decorator, so it amused me that my children thought I was absolutely brilliant for making pine trees out of sugar cones!


We sure love Elise and couldn't do without her!