21 Inches of Snow...

It's been a very long time since we've had a lot of snow around here.  Last week's snow storm officially brought 14.2 inches.  Then yesterday we got another 6.8.  Wow - 21 inches!  That's a lot of snow!  The kids have had a great time building forts and snowmen and have enjoyed 4 snow days away from school. 

 

 

We ran out of shovels so Sam and Isabella started shovelling the driveway with my garden tools.  It was pretty slow going! 

 

 

 

And this is what happens when you get stuck inside for too long with your sisters and brother. 

 

 

We've really loved having all this snow and it's just absolutely beautiful outside.  But I think I'm going to grab a book and some hot chocolate and stay inside for a while! 

 

The Chocolate Party.

"I want a chocolate party this year for my birthday."  Um, yes.  I can do that!  I am so glad to be able to teach my kids the important things in life.  God, family, friends, and chocolate! 

Anna turned 8 yesterday.  And to make her family party complete, we borrowed a chocolate fountain from our church. Yummy!  Here are a few pictures.

 

Mini cupcakes, strawberries, cookies, wafers, marshmallows, etc.  Delicious! 

 

 

 

Looks like trouble.  Luckily Sam didn't knock the fountain over! 

 

 

Nice photo bomb Isabella!  It was so nice to see Anna smiling happily. She's still pretty shy and doesn't like a lot of attention on her.  So sitting around opening presents in front of people isn't easy.  Even though she loves the gifts, she usually has a hard time showing joy and thankfulness in front of a crowd.  But last night she did it and I was really proud of her!  Maybe it was the anticipation of the chocolate!  

 

 

 

"The chicin and the pig" - A story by Isabella

Sunday, Isabella wasn't feeling great.  Her cough was still wearing her out so I let her come to our Sunday School class with us instead of hers.  I gave her some paper and crayons and she was perfectly content for the next hour. 

During this time she colored a picture of a house, started doing some math problems (2+2=4; 5+5=10, etc.), and wrote a story.  I LOVE reading the stories my girls have written when they were first learning to spell.  They are adorable!  Here's a picture of her story.  She first titled the story "the gumee bear" but at the end, she realized she had written about a chicken and a pig, so she had to change the title.  Below is her story as she spelled it. 

Isabella's:                                                                  Translation:
"The chicin and the pig"                                            "The chicken and the pig" 
Oun day a chicin and  a pig                                      One day a chicken and a pig
wer going to school                                                   were going to school.
the chicin was wocing                                               The chicken was walking
bawrs and win he                                                      backwards and when he
turnd arouwnd he bumt                                             turned around he bumped
into the wol he noct himself the                                 into the wall.  He knocked himself.  The
pig cam and smac                                                     pig came and smacked
t his fas and that is haw he wock up                         his face and that is how he woke up.
dee end.                                                                    The end.

So stinkin' funny!  I love how the pig woke up the chicken. 

Now, she can clearly spell the word "the."  And she's heard a million stories in her lifetime end with "the end."  But apparently she's alway's thought it was "dee end."  But seriously, that's a lot of sentences (even though there's only one period in the entire story) for a kindergartener to write.  It's just so fun to watch them learn! 

A "Not So Deep" Thought...

I've had a lot of deep thoughts lately.  When you are involved in ministry and in the personal lives of people it's impossible not to be emotionally involved.  You get to celebrate the high highs and grieve the low lows right alongside people.  Some weeks are emotionally draining to say the least.  Last week was one of those weeks for me. I was in an emotional pit.  And I was having a hard time climbing out of it. 

So on Saturday I caught myself having a "not so deep" thought.  I had an internal debate with myself about brownies. 

Yep, brownies.  I asked myself, if I had to choose between a hot, fresh out-of-the-oven brownie, or the chance to lick the batter bowl, what would I choose?  This is what I think about on Saturday nights?  A little pathetic, right?  But, it was a no-brainer for me.  My entire purpose for making brownies is simply to lick the spoon and the bowl.  I really couldn't care that much about the brownies.  Though, I never turn one down right out of the oven.  I'll be honest, I rarely turn one down period. 

But then I stopped and really thought about what I was thinking about.  Oh. My. Gosh.  It felt so good to be thinking about something so trivial.  Something without eternal implications.  Something that didn't really matter at all. To anyone. I just started to laugh and told Chris what I was thinking about.  He wasn't really impressed.  But it was exactly what I needed.  And I felt myself climbing out of that pit.  All because of brownies.  See, you can never underestimate the power of chocolate!