Thursday, December 25, 2008

Once there was a Snowman


I figured that, with almost a foot of snow in Portland, we just HAD to build a snowman. I sent Kip out with the kids. This is what he accomplished. Anna didn't even make it to the creation of the second ball before coming in to warm up. William didn't last past the positioning of the middle ball. He got too cold and came in after that. I had to take his place and roll the ball up the plywood ramp Kip made (the snowboard was too bendy). Then we built the head ball and hefted it together onto the top. The ears are made of ice chunks that built up in the middle of the two layers of snow. She's either a bunny or a cat. We're not sure. But she sticks her chest out, so we're sure she's a she-creature.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Lots of Snow

The snowiness continues here in the Portland area. The newscasters say this is the most snow to hit the area in 40 years. I took the kids out to play today and these are some shots of what we found.


Icicles dripped from the side of the house.


The snow was deep enough to practically swallow Anna whole. There was a layer of ice about 4 inches down. Anna almost didn't break through. When she did, she would fall forward. She didn't like that.


The ruler on the picnic table shows the snow to be about 11 inches deep.


My plastic bell decorations are coated with ice.

Tomorrow is supposed to be good but Christmas Eve should shower us with another 3-4 inches of snow followed by more freezing rain. Kip and I are fairly certain our flight Christmas day will be canceled. Southwest has been canceling everything since this storm first started and things weren't even this bad. We're not sure what this means for our Christmas plans in Utah. We're hoping we can get out a few days late if nothing else.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

More Snow



We got about 6 inches of snow on Saturday, followed by a night of freezing rain. Everything looks beautiful covered in snow and ice. Church was canceled yet again. I've never had this happen before. No church two Sundays in a row and no school for a whole week. It's been insane. The kids have enjoyed it, although we don't have enough warm clothing to get them out in it for long. We've never needed it before.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Snow Day(s)


It SNOWED on Sunday, the 14th. Church was canceled. I had set a goal to be on time and there we were all ready to go when the phone rang. No church. We had a mini church meeting in the living room. William and Daddy gave talks (William had been scheduled to deliver one in Primary). I played a musical number. It was fun.


School was canceled the next day due to the ice on the roads. And the next day. So far it's Thursday and they still haven't had school yet. It snowed again Wednesday, but today was sunny and warm. I'm hoping there is school tomorrow so I can throw the Kindergarten class party I've prepared.

Ward Christmas Party


Our Ward Christmas party was on the 13th of December. It was "Back to Bethlehem" themed. I made us all costumes and played my flute for several of the numbers in the pageant. It was neat.

Tree Farm Trip


We went to Loch Lolly tree farm on the 29th of November to get a Christmas tree. We had a nice time in the drizzle.


Becca was our little pink puffball.


The kids are still scared of Santa when they meet him in person. Anna refused to even look in his direction. I always feel bad for him.

Kitchen Table


We invited two couples to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. The prospect of seating them on our stained white chairs at our table built for 4 didn't appeal to us. So we hopped on Craigslist and found something better. We got an oval table with 2 leaves and 8 chairs. It's really nice and works a lot better than our old one for large groups.