Thank You for Christmas!

This Christmas season I'm grateful for a lot of things:

1. Snow. What fun to have a white Christmas!!
2. Rain that melts the snow and finally makes the roads drive-able again. Hooray for being able to leave the house!
3. Electricity. I am SO grateful to be warm!! Hot chocolate only goes so far.
4. Christmas trees. They're so magical, even if ours did die a week before Christmas.
5. Family traditions. It wouldn't be Christmas without them - gingerbread house decorating (Meri just took handfuls of candy and chucked it at her house), the annual Nativity puppet show (this year, none of the puppets' heads even fell off!), watching the Nativity movie with my girlies, and warm fuzzy Christmas pajamas.
6. Getting to finally go to church again (after two weeks being canceled due to snow) and teach our primary class. Always full of surprises.
7. The innocence of children. The fact that they were as thrilled with the box of cereal we could give them as they were with the wonderful, much bigger presents grandparents gave them.
8. A little break from school. Hooray for daddy being home and not having homework!
9. Christmas carols. Although I am quite sick of hearing Jingle Bell Rock, and the other two songs they play nonstop on 103.3, I love Christmas songs! That and Muppet's Christmas Carol are necessary for it to feel like Christmas!
10. The real reason for Christmas. Oh how I hope we can find a way to keep that from being overshadowed with gifts and all. Our testimonies of our Savior are the most valuable thing we can give our girls - I hope they can receive it as such as they grow!

Pretend this just arrived in your mailbox:

Merry Christmas to all...

and to all a good night!

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Can you believe all this snow? This is incredible! I'm not sure there is much that is more beautiful than watching big flakes come down and cover tree branches and all. Gorgeous! Or anything as wonderful as hot chocolate to warm you up! I gotta say, snow was lots of fun back when we were kids, and now that we have kids we get to relive the magic! Here are some pictures of our week:

Turns out that this year, Jell LOVES sledding! In fact, since the first day it snowed was Sunday and all (church was canceled of course - Oregon doesn't invest in snow plows and won't injure the environment with nasty salt), we reverently walked to the temple and sled down the hilly streets there.

Our first efforts of building a snowman this year:

Nice nose:

Meri's not too sure about this. Then again, I'm not sure she can see what's going on:

When snow doesn't pack well (the first snow storm dropped about 3 inches of really cold, dry, powdery snow), you improvise and make snow castles instead:

However, after much determination on Jell's part, and much effort on Mama's part, we did make a rather lovely snow lady (all of about 1 foot tall. max).

And while I was searching through our grown-over garden for eyes, noses, and mouths, I pulled this monstrosity of a carrot out of the ground. We kinda forgot about it:

We may, however, have spent too much time out in the snow - especially after getting another storm today that dropped perfect packing snow. But we were still happy, and for once, managed to get a complete family photo with everybody smiling and looking at the camera:

In case we're too covered with snow for you to tell who's who, here some close-ups. Naturally, this pig-tailed girl is Jelly:

This one, of course, is Meri:

This goofy grin belongs to Mama (who is sporting some creepy different colored eyes):

And this sweet comb-over dude is our no. 1 Dad who looks to be doing jumping jacks while holding hands with mom (and by the way, Jell said with wide-eyed wonder about this guy, "That is the tallest snowman ever I see'd):

But at some point we do have to come in and shake off the snow. Meri has mastered the art of warming up with the discovery that warm air blows out of the vents. So whenever she's cold, she gathers all her valuables and hogs the airflow. I hear linoleum is rather comfortable these days.

"No Mama, they're not too small!"

"But they are my favorite!"

Lots of Sisterly Love

Happy Birthday!

After some failed attempts at adding pics of you from way back when, I give up, and settle with these that show part of our journey - from Mr. Happily- Engaged to the wonderful daddy of two adoring little girls. We love you so much hon! This last semester has been tough with you so busy with school and work and we're so proud of you but it sure taught us what we already knew - we can't live without you! You are so sorely missed when you are gone, and you make everything better when you are here. I'm so grateful to have you. You keep me sane. You keep me happy. You keep me smiling. You make me want to stay up late just to get to spend time with you, even when I've been exhaustified all day. You make me feel like I can do anything. I'm eternally grateful that you had the foresight to see, or at least sense, the things we'll see. Happy Birthday love! (Oh, and as a birthday present, I've let you snore the whole time I've been typing this. As another present, I will now join you, at which time, birthday or not, you will have to stop. Love you!)

Mt. Hood Polar Express

A big belated thank you to Nana and Bopa for bringing the four of us on the Mt. Hood Polar Express! That was such a fun Christmas experience - so magical for the girls. We rode the Mt. Hood express (an old train, rather slow actually, quite unworthy of the name express which, in my mind, denotes speed) from Hood River, OR up to the North Pole, which we accomplished in only 45 minutes! Magical indeed. On the way up, we were treated to hot chocolate and a cookie (Meri's first hot chocolate - no doubt she likes it, actually it appeared like catnip to her). A crazy conductor took our tickets (He told Jell if she didn't have a ticket he'd throw her off. The poor dear hugged her ticket to her the rest of the night. When she lost it after a bathroom break, she got a little frantic) Then the story was read over the speaker while our servers walked up and down showing the pictures. When we arrived at the North Pole, Santa's little village was all decked out in Christmas lights, he and Mrs. Claus were waving, and there were elves running frantically all over. They all boarded the train, and the elves got to know the kids and led us in Christmas carols. Santa took the time to talk with each child, pose for pictures, and then gave each child their own bell. Isn't that delightful? Just makes me smile. Meri actually sat on Santa's lap ... for a few minutes (Coop remembers it being a few seconds) before she burst into tears. Jell refused, but waved politely, and talked to him from the safety of Daddy's lap. She was sure to tell him that she wants "pink, sparkly shoes for Christmas" (She came up with that on her own, by the way). It was so fun to see the girls' eyes light up when they saw the lights, Santa, or the elves. Just riding the train was tons of fun. So thanks again Nana and Bopa! We loved it!
P.S. sadly, most of the pics are quite iffy. Bopa may have struggled with the whole flash thingy. Oh and don't even ask what kind of a hat Jell is wearing. She insisted on wearing it because "Santa would think it is soooo funny." I think she looks like Little Miss Muffet.

Today's Top 10 (in no particular order)

1. Do you know the real lyrics to the Little Einsteins' Theme song? Jell's version goes, "Let's hear a big cheer for the otters of the day! Rolly balls! And a puppet and the beautiful eunuchs we play! Rolly balls! Rolly balls! Hurray!
2. On a similar, inappropriate note, we had Gnocchi the other night. To convince the girls to eat it we called them noodle balls. "Noodle" is apparently difficult to say. It came out Nuder balls, or Nueter balls - take your pick on the spelling.
3. When she heard "Angels We Have Heard On High," on the radio, Jell yelled, "Hey mom! She knows your song!"
4. When Jell finished her prayer last night, Meri yelled "Hey!" and pointed emphatically at Jell. Then she said, "Me," and pointed at herself. I asked if she had wanted to pray. She shook her head. Coop asked if she was upset Jell hadn't prayed for her and she nodded and confirmed, "Yeah!" So apparently she was offended at being left out!
5. Coop just caught Jell in a precarious position, gave her a look (with eyebrows raised), but before he could say anything, she said, "This IS a good idea!"
6. More Coop and Jell: He was struggling to get her clothes on her, and asked, "Are we just inept this morning or are you making this difficult on purpose?" She replied very matter-of-factly, "We're just inept this morning."
7. Meri likes to sing her own little happy song in the car. Whenever I chimed in, she'd shake her finger at me, say "no" firmly, then put her finger to her lips and shush me. Then she'd sing again. Ouch.
8. "Thanksgiving" was a confusing concept to Jell. The day of, she pointed excitedly to a folding table that had been set up and asked, "Is that Thanksgiving?" Later she asked the same about a pitcher of juice. And a stack of cups. And my brother. Whether she gets it or not though, she loves pumpkin pie!
9. Meri has taken to pointing at all men in books and calling them "Dada," and all women are, of course, "Mama." Today she even pointed at the life guard (short, teenage guy with black hair) and insisted, "Dada!" Less flatteringly, she pointed at the evil sea witch, Ursula, and said, "Mama!" Ouch again.
10. Coop often asks Meri, "Who does daddy love?" She used to excitedly say "Me!" Now, however, she first says, "umm, Mama!" Then, when Coop asks for others, she says "umm, Nell!" After further prodding, she kind of looks around the room mumbling, and finally, sheepishly, points to herself and says, "Me."