Guest Room

We don't actually have a guest room but we did rearrange a bit to make it easier for guests to stay with us. We bought a full/twin bunkbed for Geoff and Reagan. Geoff gets to spread out on the full and Reagan is doing really well sleeping on the top bunk. We also have a futon mattress on a trundle underneath the bed. So, when all of you come visit us we have a room that sleeps at least five. We put a twin mattress under the girls bunk bed so Reagan can sleep there when we have guests and Geoff gets the fold down couch in the basement. So come visit us!

Winter Beauty

I love the way a wet snow clings to the trees. I've been meaning to take some pictures of our snowy backyard from the second story for quite some time but the window screens do a great job of ruining a beautiful picture. This morning I finally took the screens out and snapped some pictures.

Good part---I avoided dropping the screens from the second story window.

Bad part---Mike was less than thrilled with my opening the bathroom window and snapping pictures while he tried to take a shower. (He should just be glad I only took pictures of things outside the bathroom.) I told him to just remember that he's Finnish and I'm giving him the cold/hot sauna experience.

Lilly's First Violin Concert

Here is Lilly's first violin concert. She did great. Hopefully this is the first of many violin concerts that I will attend.

January Mourning

Since I wrote last we have enjoyed a very nice Christmas filled with sitting around and doing nothing but relaxing, playing wii games and board games with the family, watching some movies, and sleeping in late. Then reality returned. Concerts, music lessons, homework and more homework, seminary, service opportunities, and so on and so on ----all returned.

As most of you know, I grew up in Minnesota. I have a love hate relationship with January. I always hated the below zero temps and the -40 windchill. I can remember cheering when after two weeks we finally saw a 0 on the thermometer. The love part was that life tended to slow down in January. Maybe the extra pounds gained from fudge and cookies devoured at Christmas slowed everyone down or more likely it was just too $%#@(*&^ cold to go outside! Massachusetts is a little warmer but it's not Florida, it still gets cold here! I was really looking forward to the January lull. Unfortunately, it never happened. I never got my January lull. Tomorrow will be February and life will continue to go on at the fast pace that is my life. But today, I will mourn the loss of my January lull.

A Monkey Party

Reagan turned four yesterday and we had a few of her friends and their families over to celebrate. I usually start planning the kids birthday parties weeks in advance. Although I did manage to get invitations out a week in advance I planned the party in one day. (Birthdays in December--NOT a good plan!) The night before I decided to go with a monkey theme. I knew I already had a poster with Boots the Monkey on it for a "Pin the boot on Boots" game. Then the next day I started planning games, cleaning the house which was a disaster, and baking cakes. Apparently, I can plan a party in one day! The kids played some cute monkey themed games that Geoff and Rachael helped run, danced to some monkey music and had monkey cake.
Here is the monkey cake. Reagan saw it after she got up from her nap. She absolutely loved it! She grabbed a stool and just sat and stared at it. In fact, I turned the TV on for her later and she got bored and went back to the stool and stared at it some more.

Since we had quite a few people coming I also made a grown up cake. This cake may not have looked as cute but it sure tasted great. My favorite chocolate cake recipe with almond buttercream frosting on the outside and chocolate buttercream on the inside.

It took Reagan quite a few blows to get the candles blown out. Good thing because I am a horrible photographer and all of the other pictures were out of focus. It was a great party and I am so glad that Reagan and her friends had a great time at the party. We sure love Reagan!

Christmas Traditions

When we lived in Rochester MN, our favorite Christmas tradition was going to Schultz Tree Farm, taking a hay ride, holding their soft warm rabbits, and cutting down our own Christmas Tree. Since we have lived in Massachusetts, we drive less than a mile to the local nursery and then see how quickly we can choose a pre cut tree and get home and out of the cold. Somehow we always seem to choose the coldest day of the year to pick out our tree. But not this year. This year we went to Houde's Tree Farm in Marlboro and cut down our own tree. They didn't have a hay ride or bunnies but they did have Santa Claus, free hot chocolate and candy canes, and the perfect tree for us this year.




You can see that the girls were excited. Geoffrey was less than thrilled. When we all started singing Christmas Carols he just hid behind his hood and tried to disappear. Eventually, mom made a joke funny enough that his interest was pricked and started to join in the fun, although not the Carols.

The tree farm was in a very beautiful setting. You can see the mountains in the distance.

It didn't take us (mom) too long to find a really nice tree. The boys, however, thought it was all too easy so they had to check out the competition and make sure this really was the perfect tree.

The girls stood guard while the scouts looked about.

In the end, they went back to the original tree and had to accept the fact that mom is really the ultimate tree scout. Dad cut for a while but Geoffrey got to finish the cutting.

Here is dad putting the star on with happy girls who had a lot of fun decorating the tree. Geoff again looks like he might need an attitude adjustment. (Click on the picture to see a great eye roll.) I do seem to remember everyone smiling when we ended our evening with Heath Bar Malts.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a great holiday season.

Geoffrey's 15th

Last month Geoffrey turned 15. He had quite the party. He had 12 kids over, half boys and half girls. Unless they were all lying, they had a blast. Pizza, chips, soda, brownie ice cream sundaes , and birthday cake kept them all full and happy. Movies shown on our dining room wall, laser tag battles, and an xbox Lips singing game borrowed from a friend kept them all entertained and happy. Most of the pictures were blurry and out of focus--Geoff had the camera and they were just having too much fun to sit and pose for pictures. But here's a couple pictures from the party.