Snow today, Snow tomorrow????

Craig decided he couldn't wait any longer to clear off the driveway. We are just glad that we have a snowblower to do the work. We can now safely get out of the house!






This is from the garage. Should I go out and find food, how long will this last?






Wow, we woke up this morning, Mon. Feb. 9th, and it was snowing. The last snow storm was almost melted. There was only suppose to be a couple of inches, but heck, we got more.

Valentines party!!!!!!

Hi everyone. We are starting a blog spot so that Grandma Nielson and Danielle on her mission can see what is going on with our family. What a great way to post new events and pictures, we hope.

We had our second annual grandkids valentine's party on Saturday, Feb. 7th and 5p.m. Party On!!! How can you not with 7, 5, 3, almost 1 yr. and a 3 month old, boys. Add a 4 yr. old and two 2 yr. old girls to that and it was a crazy night. We started with heart shaped pizza's and sunny delight. Even Grandma and Grandpa liked that. The dessert was just delicious, miniature pink strawberry flavored cupcakes with pink strawberry cream icing. YUM YUM!! (we ate this continually throughout the evening)

The first unscheduled "event" was the doll stroller races around the house with only 5 strollers and 6 active, walking, and running children. Courtney and Brynn, the 2 yr. old girls, didn't really like sharing strollers with anyone. Putting that aside this lead into the next unscheduled "event" The throwing of the balls aimed at Megan, the 4 yr. old girl. Wow, the boys can surely huck balls when they have a screaming live target. She also got to throw a few things at them and then they all settled down to make valentines! (In your dreams!)

We made popcorn for everyone and starated to watch a movie, "Madagacar 2", only after the opening credits and all of the kids dancing to the opening song (butt slapping and all) they wanted to wonder off and have foot races and throw popcorn and spill water. This was much more fun!

The babies, Abram almost 1 and Connor 3 months, were such great kids. Connor slept most of the time and Abram just wondered around smiling at everyone and playing with toys. Abram never even tried to climb up or down the stairs! Connor did wake up and have a bottle. Next year they too will want strollers to race around, we will surely want more that 5.

Grandma did make heart shaped valentines for all of them. The original idea was to color them and then she would paste on a picture of them on to the valentine. Well, some of them did color them, but for the most part they were done by grandma. Courtney was intent on writing something on hers but she spells like she talks, so I am not sure what message she put on hers

The night ended with everyone in their pj's getting their pictures taken on the couch together. Just for a memory of a wonderful night of kindness, laughter and meaningful conversation. Well that is always the dream, some day it will become a reality.

We only had 6 diaper changes the whole evening. The parents came around 9ish to pick them all up and we heard later that they all slept well. (All that running around the house is tiring!)

We love it and hope to continue this great tradition every year. The parents can use the night off and know that each and every child is loved and well taken care.

Hi everyone. We are starting a blogspot! Wow, hope this works. We just had our second annual grandkids valentine party on Saturday, Feb. 7th. It was great fun, busy, crazy, but fun. We started out with heart shaped pizza's and sunny delight. The kids loved it and so did we. We followed up with mini strawberry cupcakes for dessert. By 5:30p.m. the kids were ready to start racing the doll strollers, which was not one of the "organized" events. Too bad we don't have 6 doll strollers, we have actually duck taped one together so we have at least have 5. Someone always has to share and that is hard, especially with two 2yr. old girls. Even the 7, 5 and 3 yr. old boys love racing the strollers around the house.

We wanted to watch the movie "Madagacar 2" and this was a planned event. They all danced wildly to the soundtrack when it started and then one by one they trickled off to find the toys and balls. Meg was used as the target for the ball launching, not a planned event either. After much fun with the toys they settled down again to try and make valentines for their parents. Grandma actually printed their pictures off the computer and she cut, pasted and wrote on them. The kids did some fun art on them also.

The two babies were so good. I don't think we could have done this without their cooperation. Connor slept most of the time and Abram walked around with toys and just smiled at everyone.

The night ended with everyone getting into their PJ's so that when their parents came to pick them up they were all ready to be tucked into bed at home. We hope that this party will continue throughout many years and just get bigger and better with each child's advancing age. In our dreams we have a lovely meal, read great literature (Where the Wild Things are) and enjoy playing card games and savoring many wonderful, thoughtful, humble, loving, moments with each other. SOME DAY THAT DREAM WILL BECOME A REALITY. But for now, it is just a night for the parents to get away and spend some time not worrying about paying babysitters and knowing the kids are in the hands of grandparents that love them more that anything.