Snow forts

Here is Tyler, sitting atop the snow fort that he and Daddy built. It has a great tunnel. As you can see by the mailboxes in the background we have had quite a bit of snow this year. And it has been COLD! The weather reports are saying that this is the first January in 30 years, since before I was born, that we haven't gotten above freezing in January. (That is 32 degrees F.) We still may have a chance of a thaw tomorrow but the way things are going I wouldn't count on it.

Derek's Birthday

We are having a good time celebrating Derek on his birthday. The weekend has been planned for some time. On Friday I finally told Derek that while he thought his parents were babysitting so we could go out to dinner, they were also keeping the boys overnight. On Saturday we dropped them off and headed to the restaurant. Chez Daniel. We were early so I told him I had an idea. We pulled in at the restaurant which is located on the first floor of the Embassy Suites Hotel. He said, "I thought we were early." I said, "We are but I wanted to make sure where it is so we don't miss our reservation." I drove through the parking lot and parked. I said, "Well should we check into our room first?" He was very surprised that we were going to stay at the hotel. We had a good time enjoying the pool and hot tub. Allie liked pushing the buttons on the elevator (we were on the 7th floor). The boys, at Grandma and Papa Johnson's house (Thanks so much by the way!) enjoyed keeping G and G up until 11:30. The next morning we breakfasted at the complimentary hot buffet and then joined up with the boys and Derek's parents and brothers at Olive Garden. Boy am I stuffed! We opened presents at our house after we had gotten home. The boys made seashell art for Daddy by gluing shells onto cardboard. They were very proud. Tyler also photographed it all. Once I get his pictures downloaded he can put them on his blog.

100th post!

This is a tent with additional fort space. It took up the whole living room. All three boys slept out there. You have to get creative when you can't play outside for 6 months!

Random Christmas pics

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve was pretty uneventful. We watched Chicken Run with the kids and then Derek and I watched Prince Caspian. Allie woke up screaming at the stroke of midnight so our New Year's smooch was usurped by her yelp. As I dashed up the stairs Derek yelled, "Happy New Year." That was it. New Year's Day was better. We went to my parent's house and the boys watched football and Wall-E while the girls, me, my mom, Anna and Martina (Greg and Nate's GFs) scrapbooked for five blessed hours. What fun! Tyler joined us for a bit and used Grandma's cool sticker maker. Allie hung with the girls for a short time and chattered away at us. The boys and Allie finished their evening with a backyard campfire in Papa's new fire pit.

Giggling kids

Danny enjoyed sticking bathtub letters on Allie's tummy. Allie sure seemed to like it too. We have a new camera which records video clips with sound so you can hear their peals of laughter.