snow day

ali sard

this is an illustration from one of my all time favorite children's books by dr. suess, "did i ever tell you how lucky you are?"

'this is poor ali sard who has to mow grass in his uncle's back yard, and it's quick growing grass and it grows as he mows it. the faster he mows it, the faster he grows it.'

anyway, i completely feel like ali sard, only not with grass-- snow!! we shovel our driveway and then what do you know? we have to shovel again. we have at least five feet and still coming down strong. i wish i could say i love it, but snow isn't my favorite thing. i do love having the kids home, the beauty of it all, and relaxing.

it's a good thing we went ice skating for abe's birthday because the roof caved in the next day. crazy. you can see it here.

birthday buzz

abe turned nine!! school was canceled due to snow, so here's how we spent the day:

breakfast:

the traditional candle in his almost-shaped-like-a-nine pancake.

gifts:

lego's, books, clothes, sadie's gift was doing his job for him (she emptied the dishwasher and put a huge heart sucker in the utensil holder), and a new wii game...he was happy and grateful.

next on the birthday wish list:

a buzz. we settled for short.

after seeing abe's new look, kai wanted it too.

birthday wish activity:

ice skating. even though it was his first time he was pretty tricky...only hurting his elbow.

max liked it but when i asked if he wanted to go again, he said no pretty quickly.birthday dinner:

we met dave at granny's closet for dinner and the end of the byu game. we go there when we need our tv fix since we choose not to have tv. it was a great day.

WE LOVE YOU, ABE!! HAPPY 9th!!

sharp shooters

the boys spent a night with self proclaimed 'sharp shootin' ralph' (in other words, grandpa) when he was passing through flagstaff. he taught them all he knows about their new found favorite game--marbles! max perfected the "back-hand sweep" which is a killer. grandpa was not impressed with the marbles we provided (bingo balls) so he sent them each a new pack in the mail when he got home. thanks grandpa... but beware, 'marblous marble crushing kai' has been practicing, a lot!

stampede?

was it a stampede? no. but it felt like it as the beehives from our ward rushed in our house and up the stairs, kidnapping sadie for the night. she was slightly freaked out and very surprised, but had so much fun going out to ice cream and spending the evening with friends. we have a great group of girls in our ward and they have tried to include the girls turning 12 to make them feel welcome and get them excited--boy has it worked, sadie can't wait to finally be in YW. three more months...eeek!

bear

abe advanced to a bear last week. (sadie was our photographer) he usually misses scouts due to soccer practices, but he was determined to finish. we watched his cousin get his eagle a few days before and abe decided he wants to do the same. abe has a real desire to do scouting. to me it has always been one more thing to do...but my attitude is changing. i listened to his cub master speak and she talked about how scouting helps boys be aware of others needs and serve them. in other words, it prepares them to be good husbands and fathers. i never thought of it like that, and now i am dedicated to help him. well, i helped him anyway, but my motivation is different.

happy new year!

while my sister heather was in times square waiting for the ball to drop at midnight, we were at the real party in downtown flagstaff for the pine cone drop. fortunately, the drop occurred simultaneously with new york, 10:00 pm for us (they do it twice, once for the younger group and again at midnight). besides being a little cold, it was fun to be with a few thousand people jumping and dancing in the street to the black eyed peas' "i gotta feeling"(that tonight's gonna be a good night) blasting with the fireworks in the background.
abe was only slightly disappointed that the pine cone didn't explode with the drop, which actually was more of a careful and gradual descent. although, it was a pleasant surprise to myndie that it wasn't an actual pine cone being chucked off the weatherford hotel as the finale of the countdown.

sadie and her friend sophie. they chose to refer to the pine cone as a giant raspberry.

eating at diablo burger to get away from the cold for a few minutes while waiting for midnight (10 pm mst). this is a true flagstaffian establishment--only local ingredients, and the fries come with a mix of herbs that includes rosemary and sage.