AGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!! (breathe) AGGGGGGGGGG!!!!

I like the snow and all but if it doesn't stop soon I'm going to LOSE MY MIND!!!!! It all started last Sunday (not the one we had yesterday but the one OVER A WEEK AGO!) It has not stopped since. No church for two weeks in a row, no school or work for all of last week, no Christmas parties, no caroling, no YW activities or presidency meetings, no Christmas shopping, date nights, play dates - even the trash pick up has been cancelled until after Christmas! We are all going crazy. So crazy in fact that Steve left in the van this morning to go run around town and the neighbor next door was driving around and around the block this morning just so he could feel like he got out of his house. No chains or anything and 8" of snow on the roads. I'm honestly praying. Everyone in the neighborhood is out and about in their rain boots (why would anyone in Washington even own snow pants or boots?) and 3 layers of jeans and sweaters walking in circles and staring at the sky! Soon you'll find us all on the porches rocking back and forth while banging our heads on the side of the house. I know, this is nothing to what people in North Dakota or Michigan or somewhere deal with all the time but here you just don't expect to see snow for more than a day or two each year and even then it's an inch or two and it melts by lunch time. The novelty has worn off. And on top of that, it's SO cold that the snow won't stick together so we can't even make a snowman!!!!!!!!! Anyone within walking distance of my house - and you all know who you are - is in danger of having me land on your doorstep just for a change of scenery (or maybe I'll just send the rest of the family and I'll stay behind and hopefully get something cleaned up around here!) - especially since they just changed the weather forecast to extend this insanity at least through Christmas. So there you go. Just had to get that off my chest and now I feel better. I'll post pictures later.

Hello again!!

Ok - so we've been AWOL from blogging for some time now. It seems like it's been something non-stop for weeks now. Anyway, you will now be treated to almost 2 months of our lives in one sitting! Beginning with these random pictures of life with Kaden. Enjoy!

Kaden does not enjoy being told he can't do something! (regardless of how deadly it might be)

A little eye shadow never hurt anyone!

And now, since it's 1am I'm off to bed.

Happy Halloween!!!

So this year we had an angel, a bumble-bee and a tiny spurs player. (That jersey of Kaden's didn't turn out half bad if I do say so myself!) We always go down to trick or treat on main street first and then back to our neighorhood. Hope you all got loads and loads of candy!

Halloween ASL style

The ASL class we started for our home school group and friends in our ward has really exploded! We were thinking we'd get a couple of families and that would be that. We now have 35 people attending each week and another family planning to start next week! I've enjoyed it more than I ever thought I would. It's been really fun to get a chance to watch Steve teaching. I see him sign all the time but I've never seen him in a teaching situation (wierd since that is what he does for a living!) and I was amazed the first week!! By word of mouth alone the class has almost doubled in size since our first meeting. Everyone seems to be loving it - the girls and I definitely are - and I get comments every Sunday from people who have heard how much fun everyone is having. So - snaps for Steve! (and the other 4 of us because, lets face it, we are also awesome!!) Here are some pictures from our silent Halloween party.

More pumpkins anyone?

What's Halloween without a trip to the pumpkin patch? This one is a local favorite and we've gone with someone's preschool class every year since we've been here. Our kids especially love the animals. Kaden, ever fearless, was not to be stopped by heights, darkness, being lost, stuck, too small, not allowed, snipped at, brayed at, or sniffed at. I tried several times to get a cute family shot but, obviously, he had other things on his mind that day!

Jack - O - Lanterns

I think we ended up with about 9 pumpkins this year! We elected to carve the two big ones for FHE and then we enlisted the help of the YW at our pumpkin carving activity to take care of the rest. (I didn't get any pictures of the entire bunch unfortunately!) Anyway, here are the first two. Emily was NOT impressed with the idea of cutting hers up so she elected to draw on it. Kaden also discovered a new use for washable markers.

"They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!"

Our back yard is now even cooler! (The yard has always been my favorite part of this house!) We just added a trampoline and it is a hit! Matt and Andrea brought the kids (and Andrea's parents too!) up to play on it a few days later. I also love that we have cousins near by! Kegan even taught us all some cool tricks he's learned in his trampoline class. Kaden is absolutely in heaven now! He stands at the patio door signing "please" while pointing at it and calling "Bounce!"

WAVA friends annual Halloween party!

We have so much fun playing with all our other ward WAVA friends! So much fun in fact that I didn't get hardly any pictures. So, here are a couple that I took in between all the fun we were having at our halloween party a few weeks ago. This is such a fun group - all the kids are friends, all the moms are friends and nobody is psycho (technically :) ) We can't wait for the Christmas party!

Here everyone is working on their candy bar mad-libs


Bailey and Emily presenting their finished product



We made ghost suckers, haunted houses, monster hands and goody boxes.




Kaden had fun too!

Preschool goes to the fire station

Fun thing about home school is that everyone gets to tag along on all the pre school field trips! This time we went to the local fire station.