Free!

Our road has been 6 feet under for the last two days (seriously - 6 feet) and the feeling of knowing I can't go anywhere has been giving me a little bit of cabin fever...

This morning it took a bulldozer, but our road is now open. (!!!)

I'm happy to be free and thinking of taking the kids to McD's for lunch just because I can.

The Long Winter

We've been making lots of elaborate train tracks...

Sunday night is family movie night with popcorn and apples for supper.

We made some "new" crayons by melting down old ones in muffin tins.

My enemy.

"Hey Mom, look what I did!"


And lastly, we've been participating in the "Eat From the Pantry Challenge" this month. (here, also)

It's been kind of fun to use up all our odds and ends and make meals from them. We haven't starved, and we've actually been eating better suppers than normal. :)

As a by-product, I've discovered a really great recipe for pizza crust, started making cinnamon rolls, and have even cooked several meals with onions in them. We all have to grow up eventually.

The first thing we ran out of was snacks. And by snacks, I mean the chocolate bar, Peanunt M&M kind. When the kids asked to disassemble the well-aged gingerbread house, I agreed. By the end I was using a butter knife to try to pry up all the lingering M&Ms. They were too stuck and I ended up scraping my knuckles until they bled throwing away perfectly good candy.

Ice Storm

I've been in kind of a funk lately. I don't know if its because I haven't seen the sun in a week or because Grant is failing terribly at Potty Training: Part 2.

Today we had an ice storm and this morning our roof started leaking... in several places. That was pretty discouraging until our power went out, and then it just became funny.

11 Months

(+4 Days, in case it matters :)

Riley! I can't believe you're almost a whole year old! This winter reminds me so much of last year when I was pregnant with you... It seemed like we were always snowed in and I kept worrying that you would try and come early... Thank you for waiting.

Anyway, you are growing up. You still cuddle for your bottles at night, but for the most part you are scooting around the house. You abandoned your army crawl this month and just scoot around on your bottom full-time. Your favorite food is macaroni and cheese and you've eaten more bananas than I can count.

You're in the process of switching to a sippy cup and I think you look really old when you drink out of it.
You are an excellent sleeper, but I am worried about taking your pacifier away eventually -- you are pretty attached to it.

You're a Mama's Girl, Sweet Riley and I love it. :)

Our Honeymoon

The high today is -3. The kids and I have been snowed in for awhile and are starting to get tired of each other...

The good news? I have light at the end of the tunnel -- Joel and I have booked our long-awaited honeymoon! We've been married 11 years now, and are finally taking our big trip :) Grandma & Grandpa have offered to keep our kids over Spring Break and we're going to spend a week in Mexico at an all-inclusive resort.

7 Days of this! :)

Christmas Pictures from My Side

These are from our Christmas #3...

11 kids before opening presents :)

Grant and Reagan helping Riley:
Micah, Creighton, Reagan, Alec, and Addy:
Grant & Riley:
Grant:
Zech, Grant, and Alec
Silas :)

On New Year's Eve, my dad came down and brought a Prime Rib for our supper. Sandy and Greg came over and we told Reagan we were having a Christmas feast. In her mind, a feast isn't a feast unless you're wearing a "gown" (her word, not mine). So here she is: in her gown, and singing Hark! The Hearld Angels Sing for us while we waited for supper...

Later that week, we went back to CF/Waterloo to visit Joel's parents and my Grandparents.

(More) Christmas Pictures

Grant in the big yellow ball at G'pa & G'ma's house. I think this was the kids' favorite :)
Little Drummer Boy:

Little Drummer Girl: What Grandma & Grandpa got for Christmas... 7 grandkids in a box.
Reagan with her jewelry box (that she's wanted since March):
Kaia with her Christmas presents:
Riley and Jonah eating breakfast together:
Grant stealing Riley's lunch:The 'cousin gift exchange' at the Ridder gathering:
Bubble baths:
Grant:
Cale & Reagan:
Reagan & Bailey: (notice all the snowballs on the railing behind them :)