Mid January Update

We haven't updated for a while, so we thought we would take the time to post some pictures and fill everyone in on what has been going on. After Christmas, we spend a few days in Little Chute at the Country Inn. They have a small water park and everyone had a good time. Avonlea loved the water slide and probably went down 100 times each day we were there. Marshal and Mya mostly enjoyed swimming in the big pool.

We have had several "snow days" for the kids the past few weeks. We had freezing rain one day that left about 1/3 of an inch of ice over everything. Our drive way was like a skating rink and Mya spend many happy hours skating on it. After two weeks it never melted, but got so cold and dry that the ice evaporated off. During that cold snap, where Fond du Lac was about -20 degrees without wind chill, the kids were out of school. Mya and Avonlea painted and Marshal had fun with his friend Austin playing Mariocart and making movies of their Lego people.

We recently said goodbye to the Klingonsmith family, who moved to India. Gavin's job moved him there to help supervise the jobs that they off-shored. We will miss them because they were great friends.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Last night we had a special Family Home Evening about the birth of the Savior. As part of that, we watched the Nativity video and discussed Jesus' mission and how that affects each of us. As part of our tradition, everyone got to open one present-- a new pair of pajamas.

Christmas morning didn't start too early this year. Everyone, including Avonlea, was up by 7:30 and we all had fun opening gifts, playing, and spending time together. Breakfast was our traditional Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls.

Sledding and Snow

On Christmas Eve day, we took the family (and a couple of neighbor kids) to Buttermilk Creek Park to go sledding. This year, everyone had fun and there were no injuries. The sledding was fun and not too fast, since there was about six inches of freshly fallen snow covering everything.

I also attached some pictures of all of the snow in our front yard. We have gotten almost three feet of snow in the month of December. We are supposed to get 2-3 more inches tonight before it warms into the 30s for Friday and Saturday, which should help to melt some of the snow. That will be good because we are starting to run out of room to put the snow.

Mid December

We have been quite busy these past few weeks. The kids were busy with school and other activities, Jeni was busy getting the home ready for the holidays as well as helping out some friends with baby sitting, and Dave had his sales meetings at work. We did pause for a few moments to recognize Jeni's birthday and to set up the Christmas tree. Here are a few pictures we wanted to share.

Life will continue to be busy for us over the next few weeks. Preparing to celebrate Christmas, Mya's school play, and the kids' school vacation will keep life interesting around here.

Thanksgiving

We all hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving yesterday. Ours went quite well. In the morning everyone played outside in the snow. Mya made a big snow man all by herself, and Avonlea had a "snow baby" that she carried all over the yard. Essentially it was a snowball. Marshal made a fort while the girls made snow angels. During the afternoon, Jeni and Mya started making dinner and everyone else watched some Thanksgiving and Christmas videos. The kids especially like Garfield's Thanksgiving Special.

Dinner turned out great, and everyone enjoyed everything. This morning Jeni got up to teach her early morning yoga class and then did a little shopping. Dave started making Mya's reindeer costume for her school play coming up in a few weeks. The kids are outside playing and enjoying their time off from school.

Mya's Haircut

Mya got her hair cut this past week. It was the first time in about 2 years that she had it cut. Of course, she wanted to donate the cut off pieces to Locks of Love. In total they cut off 11 inches. We all think her new hair cut is quite cute.

We had our first real snow of the season last night. About 4 inches fell at our place, so the kids had lots of fun today playing in the snow. Avonlea loved it and spent almost 2 hours playing outside. We are all getting ready for Thanksgiving. Jeni has the turkey defrosting out in the garage and the kids are looking forward to spending time at home with the family.

New Fish

We got some new fish for our little fish tank this weekend. We got a silver Molly named Captain Snowball and an orange Platty named Sunny. Unfortunately, Sunny has already passed on, but Petsmart will give us a new one. Jeni will be getting a new fish this Tuesday. The kids love the fish, especially Avonlea.

We are all doing great!