What we came home to...

We dug out of my parents' house Saturday morning. We really hoped that the wind would stop blowing so that we would be able to go back and hang out with everyone, but the weather didn't cooperate! We also really didn't want to be snowed in there again :)

We made it home without too much trouble once we got to the highway. There was a huge drift in the middle of the highway about halfway to town. Curtis hit it pretty hard and the 4Runner rocked a little. Lane looked at Curtis and made a sound like "ach"...I could just see him thinking, "Dad, what did you do that for!?"

Once we got to our driveway, we found that we had to drive through the field out to the pivot point, then back west towards our house to avoid any drifts. Lane thought that driving through the field was hilarious!

This is what we saw when we pulled up to our house. We were a little worried about how we were going to get in. Curtis thought we could get in the back door, but it was locked. Luckily, I remembered there was a key in the 4Runner that we had never used. It was for the back door, so we got in without any trouble!

This is our never-used-before back door that is coming in handy right now!

It is a little weird being in our house and not being able to see out because of all the snow! It feels a little claustrophobic :) It is really cool though to get to see a blizzard like this. I just wish I was young again and had nothing to do but go out sledding all afternoon. We have a great hill behind our house that goes down into the field that would be so much fun to sled! If I only had a sled....

We did go out and play a little this afternoon - those pictures will be coming soon!

What a weekend!

After we opened gifts at home Christmas morning, we were lazy and just sat around watching Lane's new video and playing with toys. Then my dad called and asked when we were coming over since he was going to send a tractor to lead the way! I guess their road is always terrible and has huge snowdrifts by a couple of houses. So, off we went. We only ran into one problem on the way (a car parked sideways on the highway at the end of our road. We scared them a little.) to my parents' road. Bret was waiting for us...


It took probably 20 minutes to go two miles. Luckily, Lane had a snack and was very happy watching the tractor!

Yay for Bret for getting us to Christmas! My grandparents were supposed to come too, my dad even went to Henderson to pick them up. The street to their house was completely blocked by a drift! Dad said a couple of pickups were stuck and he wasn't even going to attempt it. It was too bad that they had to spend Christmas by themselves!

When we arrived, we were all in the Christmas spirit. Casey and Blake had arrived the night before and it was fun to spend some time catching up with them. My mom made a very yummy dinner - verenika, ham, green beans, bread, and cranberry jello. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't eat more. I had a bit of the flu earlier in the week and for some reason this pregnancy makes most food sound kinda gross. I'm constantly hungry but not much agrees with me!

After lunch we all took naps and watched movies. We had to wait for Lane to wake up before we could open presents, and he took a LONG nap...almost 3 hours!

To entertain themselves, Bret and Blake play a game where they try to hit each other with balls. Here is Bret playing by himself....

Lane was so excited to finally be able to open presents and he wasn't very happy when he had to wait while Grandpa read a passage from the Bible! Actually, he wasn't very happy most of the day. I don't know if he wasn't used to all the people around or if he wasn't feeling very well (very likely) or if he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. His crabbiness combined with my morning sickness made it a kinda rough afternoon!

Lane did get some fun presents - a couple of books, puzzles, and some Thomas stuff.

Curtis made my mom a creche (is that what they're called??) for her Willow Tree Nativity set. It turned out pretty cool and I think she was happy with it!

This was Lane's favorite present of all! A new slide! And he can climb on it! He had a blast going up and down and up and down.

We ended up staying the night because the storm was so bad! Bret was nice enough to give up his room for Curtis and I...even though I ended up sleeping in Lane's room. Lane still had a cough that keeps him awake for up to 45 minutes at a time. Since he wasn't at home, he'd get a little scared every time he woke up. I decided it was easier for me to lift my head up and say, "It's alright, Lane, Mommy's here", than it was to get out of bed, go up the stairs, down the hallway and say the same thing. He actually only woke up once when he wasn't coughing. So if it wasn't for that cough, it would've been a good night!

Christmas morning

I was so excited for Christmas that I could barely sleep the night before! (Barely sleeping the night before also had something to do with Lane being up coughing a couple of times, but oh well.) Lane was excited to open presents and was glad when we could finally tell him "yes" when he tried to open them!

He had fun tearing off the wrapping but needed a little help in some places. We saved the big boxes for last!

Back in September, I found a clearance sale on Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. Lane was just starting to get into Thomas so I figured it might make a good present! I ended up getting $80 worth of stuff for around $28 - and it was a hit!

His trains are the first thing he goes to in the morning and the last thing he plays with at night. He even lays them all on their sides so that they can "go night night".

I kinda dropped the ball on Curtis' gifts this year - one I couldn't find in the stores anymore and another one was backordered and won't be here until January. So the poor guy only got to open a shirt! He did do well on my gifts and I got a new crockpot! Yay! Also a little decor for the house that hopefully I'll remember to take a picture of sometime!

A new kitchen!

For Lane, that is, not for me :( But Lane's is still pretty cool! Since Lane loves to stir things in pots, shake "salt" on stuff, and generally copy anything I do in the kitchen, we decided to get him a play kitchen for Christmas (with a little help from his great-grandparents!). I read lots of reviews on Amazon before picking this one out...it ended up being "girlier" than I thought it would, but a little green paint fixed most of it. The hearts, well, at least he's still too young to realize they are heats! I got it for half price during the Cyber Monday sales. Can't beat that!

He had so much fun checking everything out, turning knobs and opening doors. He played with it for a good 45 minutes after he got it and then again while I was making supper! We also got a wooden cookie set that he has lots of fun with. The sheet was too large to fit in the oven, so Curtis cut it in half. Very manageable for little hands!

Lane loves to shake "salt" onto food and into pots.

Think his cookies will turn out better than mine usually do??

This is what Lane does when he's bored...

...and poor Whiskey has to put up with it. Lane likes putting those rings on his ears, and my ears, and Daddy's ears....then he discovered that he can put them on Whiskey! She was so patient with him but as soon as he turned his back, she was gone!

Farrall Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with the Farrall family on Sunday so that everyone could be there. Yay for Christmas! There was way too much food and I was actually able to eat most of it so I was pretty happy. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the table ;) Oh well...I should've just taken a picture of my clean house!! :)

Lane had so much fun playing with his cousins. He loves showing off all of his toys, the playroom, his room, and our newly painted walls. Such fun to have people visit!


Lane got all tractor-themed presents...a Monster Treads JD tractor, a JD plate/cup/bowl, and a Case IH tractor. He loves them and has been playing with them ever since.

He also seemed to want everyone else's gifts, especially Branden's deer hunting set and a truck.

Rachelle had to show off the bag that I made her.....

Rachelle wanted to have everyone take family pictures since it had been years since it's been done. Here are several attempts to get a good looking one :)

Thanks for a fun Christmas everyone! And for bringing all the food :)

Christmas!

I am so excited - I put up my Christmas decorations this morning! It was so fun, especially with Lane helping. He got so into everything...as soon as I opened the box with our Christmas tree in it, he was excited. The lights fascinate him. Decorating the tree went like this: I'd open the ornament box, hand the ornament to Lane, he'd look at it and go "awwww" and then show me where to put it on the tree. So most of our ornaments are close to the bottom, but that's ok. He loves the fact that there are so many kitties on our tree!

I also put up another little tree with just red ornaments on it. Lane likes that one since it's just his height!

Add to that all the snowmen and reindeer and glittery things and we were surrounded by Christmas this morning! I can't wait to show him how the room looks tonight when it's dark out.

I did get a few pictures of Lane this morning, sorry for the blurryness or weird lighting! I was trying to capture his excitement but it was kinda hard!

Lane has been pulling up a chair to both of the trees and just sits there looking at it. Very cute!

Soon I'll take some more photos of the decorations...maybe after I clean a little bit....

Running around

Wow, it just seems like life has been busy lately! And with the holidays approaching, it's only going to get busier :) We're all doing fine. I'm feeling a bit lazy with my hectic week of sewing now done. I had a booth at the Holiday Fair in Henderson with some of my bags and somehow I was sewing right up until the last minute! So it's been nice to just take a breather this week.

Lane and I did manage to set up an obstacle course in our living room last week. He had soooo much fun with it and just wore himself out playing on it. He ran around so much that he was actually breathing hard....and then took a great nap :) Yay!

In case you can't tell, he was supposed to follow the towels on the floor, go through the tunnel, over the cushion, and into the box. He did it once and then just did his own thing. He also loves to carry a screwdriver around and "poke" it at things. Silly boy.

Here are some pictures of him being crazy!