Good morning, Winter!

It started snowing lightly around 5:30pm yesterday, and apparently continued all night, because this is what we woke up to this morning! (And there's no temperature above zero forecasted for the next week, so we'd better get used to it.) :(

Happy thanksgiving???

Yes, I realize it's probably closer to American Thanksgiving than ours, but here are a few pictures of our Thanksgiving a few weeks ago with Farrell's family up here.

Gavin and cousin Daniel playing at our friends' the Reimers.

Gavin going for a quad ride with Corey - the boys love getting to ride!

Daniel's turn!

Chatterbox

Abby's decided just lately that she knows how to talk, and almost every day she surprises us with a new word. Alright, I use the term 'word' loosely, as a lot of these would not likely be recognized by any casual observer, but really and truly if you live with her and pay attention, she really is meaning to say it!

Here's her vocabulary so far:

• dada (or more often, da-DEEEEEEE!!!)
• mama (although sometimes she refers to me as dada as well)
• brother ('ba-boo')
• more ('mo')
• Grandpa ('bampa')
• puppy
• blankie
• baby
• cheese
• no-no (ha! I wonder where she's heard that before?!?)
• Brown Bear (sounds something like 'bow ba')
• Mischa (maybe...we're just noticing today that she says something like 'shasha' when Mischa gets up)

Not bad! Sounds like she's going to be our little chatterbox as well as our little climber! :)

Love this story

I first read this story just a few months ago, perhaps you've all had it forwarded to you already, but I just had to post it as it is too funny. And for the record, I don't think Greg would ever seriously ask me what I did all day - he's watched the kids enough to know how it is! Actually, this story makes me feel accomplished that my house doesn't look like this at the end of the day!

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?'

She again smiled and answered, ''You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world did I do today?''

"Yes," was his incredulous reply.

She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

More pictures

Abby and Mischa (my niece who's staying with us for a while) ready for bed. Abby's 'hugging' her - she just lies her head on you and says 'mmmmm.'

More of the silly girls.

Their first piano duet! :)

Abby's favorite no-no place - on top of the kitchen table. She might as well live there she's up there so often! Today she's trying to be so convincing - I take her down and say 'no table, Abby' and she very emphatically nods her head for 'yes mommy.' Doesn't stop her from turning right around and doing it again, of course, but it makes me laugh!

Days of the week (snap, snap)

Just because I love you all so much, I'm going to share with everyone the song that I have had in my head all day thanks to Gavin.

Days of the Week (sung to the tune of the Addams Family theme song - click here if you don't remember how it goes)

Days of the week (snap snap)
Days of the week (snap snap)
Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week (snap snap)
There's Sunday and there's Monday, there's Tuesday and there's Wednesday
There's Thursday and there's Friday, and then there's Saturday
Days of the week (snap snap)
Days of the week (snap snap)
Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week (snap snap)

Everyone - sing along! Share it with your friends and family!

And if anyone finds he who wrote this sickeningly catchy tune...send them to me.