SNOW

(The neighbors tree that is laying over due to the weight of the snow)

Today was a snow day! And I mean a very snowy day. Before Rick left for work(running with his stroller full of clothes mind you) he shoveled at least 6 inches of snow. Two hours later I shoveled another 6 inches of snow. This evening we shoveled another few inches of snow...forecasted for tonight is another 2-4 inches.
(This is the mound of snow that is now taller than me...this is the only place we have to clear off our driveway...I'm beginning to wonder where the next batch of snow will be going.)
(This is the last remaining flag of our trusty windmill. Poor thing won't surface again until JUNE!)

The Picture previously in this spot has been removed, due to the Husband pointing out that the sweat lines were the outline of my bra and was probably inappropriate for our viewers...

I was however VERY sweaty and my shirt was proof of it! (don't' ask me why this is all underlined...blogger has a mind of it own and I cannot take it off.)
(In case you thought rick did all of the shoveling...this is what my shirt looked like after i came in from shoveling...yes, my friends that is sweat!)

Dear Paranoid Woman...

Dear paranoid woman(walking your wimpy dog),

When you see me walking my two children and their friend home, along with our dog. Please do not wait on the other side of the road for us to walk in front of you, for fear that my animal might attack you.
You will no doubt be forced to walk behind us at a very safe and annoying distance, while the snow loving, pile jumping, kids will continue to stop and go for the entire block. And when I ask you if you would "like to pass us", please say yes and I will safely tether my roudy kids and dog to the side, so that you may pass us and be on your merry way!
Although, I'm sure it was much more delightful for you to stay behind and watch my motherly patience being tested by your annoying remarks to the neighbors near by, about how you are afraid of my dog!! Come on lady!!! This is smiley we are talking about...he is even on a leash that is attached to a very annoyed parent. He will not be attacking you!
Thank you for finally crossing the street and giving me dirty looks. Next time I will follow behind you.

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY JEN!!!!

Around our house

Lately the little Edgie's have found some really fun playing spots...Poppy's bed (still in the crib) they find makes for a great hide-out. Notice how they discovered that the two fabric tunnels fit int eh bed side by side, so that they each get one to themselves.
I have been trying to decide what color to paint our living space...there are now two more colors added to the pallet. They are more orange colors...Kelly stopped by on Saturday and gave me some great insight to what I should do...now, I just need to find the right color! Oh, yeah isn't that where this post began...still looking. Any insight would be helpful.
Oscar asked me if he could take some pictures last Saturday...here are a couple of them. Don't I look lovely in my lounge around the house attire? Notice my super warm and comfy down booties. Seriously they just may be the best birthday present i have ever had, aside from the treadmill of coarse.
Daddy helping out around the house! He does a lot of this. He really is a super helpful dad. In fact i think I'm going to create a post specifically about some of the really awesome things he does...yeah, you will be amazed!

Snow shoe brithday party!

(Back row-Jen and Betina. Front Row- Me and Jori)

Us ladies took yesterday morning and escaped to Kamiak butte for a bit of snow shoeing.
We were celebrating Jori's December birthday (also notice that she is in her 9th month of pregnancy!!!)
We were also celebrating the early Birthday of the lovely Jen. (Her birthday is next Monday)
This is the view from the south side. It was really really beautiful!
I have been a cross country ski snob for quite some time and have always thought that snow shoes were too slow and you can't go fast on the way down...but seriously...I can now see the fun in snowshoeing. You can leave the trail and wander...or you can mosey around...it was a blast! I now just have to convince Rick...
It was a very frosty morning meaning that the high for the day was somewhere in the teens...but it really wasn't too cold with all of my layers and as long as we just kept moving.
We polished the afternoon off with a tasty lunch from Swilly's.
Overall it was great fun and the kids enjoyed a morning with the babysitter.
Happy Birthday Jen and Jori!!!

Potty Girl Poppy

(Poppy now insists on dressing herself and choosing her own clothes...she does however look adorable in her new little tiny undies!)

My dear Poppy girl,
you have now hurdled the Potty training boot camp and have graduated with flying colors. You now know to go to the potty and you successfully stay dry overnight and at nap time.

(Mommy and Pop's after our walk to get Oscar from school)

Not only are you so proud of your new found skill, but you are suddenly this sweet, snuggly , confident, not-so-mean girl! You have really made a huge developmental jump from being a baby girl, into a sweet little toddler.
Don't get me entirely wrong, you will still pinch the "boy" if provoked or if he is in your space, but it doesn't seem to be as maliciously as before.
You also seem to think of me as this loving mother, rather than the mean mommy who is making you sit on the cold potty seat. (This i am loving!)

(Poppy with Rosie Cheeks after our walk to get Oscar from school)

Yes, you are my very cute, two and four month old, potty girl!
I still can't help but love your adorable girlie mannerisms...this however, I will leave for another post.

Skii day!

Today we played hooky and took Oscar skiing. Poppy stayed with the very kind and generous Betina, and we had a fabulous day with lil'o. Here is what I saw for most of the day...two boys in front. Oscar preferred to sit with the Dad.
I suggested that we venture over to a different lift that was a bit more challenging...here is a picture before this...
Yes my friends we were very close to black diamond territory but no need to fear...we stuck with the intermediate runs. It was very cold and as you can see from the trees, the snow and wind were pretty chilly at the top. Oscar's hands got cold and I had to ski with him between my legs to quickly get down the slope. (I should note this was really the only time he didn't want to be skiing)

(I loved this picture of him all tuckered out and enjoying a warm cocoa.)

After a few minutes of warm up and some hot cocoa we asked him if he was done for the day or if he wanted to do some more runs...he said (holding the straw in his mouth)"more runs!".
The little trooper skiied his little heart out.
When he was riding on the lift later with me and he asked me "why did you make us go on the other lift?"
my response was that "I asked and you said you wanted to."
o- "You shouldn't have chosen that one, it was too cold."
(I did give him the option and he said yes!)
Later when we were finished checking in our gear and we were going to meet dad back at the car, and he was headed in the wrong direction, I said "hey this way."
To this he responded..."Mom why are you so bossy"
My response was"well, the car IS this way."
I think he was just tired, or maybe having both parents doting on him all day and letting him call all of the shots was just too much for him, and I was the scapegoat. Yes, I think I will use that as the excuse. Surely I'm not bossy ALL of the time. Only when he is headed off the cliff or in the wrong direction of the car.

Note to self

(This is post hair cut and the red shirt is pre-haircut. My hair cut was actually supposed to look a bit like this. I have decided that I think I like it tucked better than down...we sahll see. I do lvoe haing it short though!)

When deciding to get your hair cut and you are unsure of weather to "grow it out" or really "cut it off"...you will most likely always choose to cut it off.
The years of the long haired Letty are long gone I'm afraid...you simply do not have the patience to grow it out...besides if you are getting your hair cut you might as well get your money's worth...Right?

More snow pics...

Yesterday after school I took Oscar to go sledding by our water tower. This is a picture of some of the hills that we were venturing out on to.Little did I know that there was a humongous snow drift and when stepped on sunk down to my hips. This is a pic of me getting out of the drift. I had to crawl out of the bank with Poppy in the back pack on my back. It was really pretty funny...Poppy was quite worried. I then made it to some more shallow snow.
It was really pretty fun and the kids didn't really get to sled because it was too deep but, that didn't stop them from tunneling and crawling around the drift.
Needless to say we were very cold when we got home.

I think I can, garbage man

Today while walking home from dropping Oscar off at school this poor garbage truck was having a tough time making it up the big fountain hill...it is a seriously steep hill (which we walk up and down both way to school). This picture was of his attempt #2 to make it up the hill. If you enlarge the picture and you will see that he has his reverse light on. He finally made it on his third attempt.

Pretty Wintery day!

This morning we woke to another great abundance of snow. Very pretty ! Ricky was very sweet and shoveled the drive way before work...no easy task! The morning then turned to this georgeous blue sunny sky! I wish we were skiing!!!Walking to school the boys couldn't;t help themselves from jumping in all of the snow banks...not to worry we left with plenty of time for play along the way.
This is where I drop Oscar off. Notice the line of kids that were lined up down below the hill to climb up the stairs to slide down the hill. This is what Oscar looks forward to when there is snow. Notice the nice gentleman who was at the top overseeing the process. When we walked up I could hear someone saying go...go...go I then realized he was staggering the kids so they wouldn't plow each other over.
Dosen't this look like a fun play ground? I'm glad they let the kids slide rather than make them just play int he snow.
Poppy fell asleep on my back...currently she is in her bed crying, trying to go back to sleep...ugh. Too bad she couldn't wait until we got home!

Week in Pictures...1st week of 2008

New Year's Eve Princess tea party. Chelsea and Poppy.
New Year's Day "Morning After" run 3.5 miles.

Daddy Getting the kids ready to run...notice the pink tights and super cape! He's our superdad.
Yesterday's primary "meet your teacher" breakfast. It was a great party with a good turnout. I think the kids really enjoyed getting to spend some fun time with their teachers. I am grateful to have my freezer back, and to have the planning off my brain!
Snow ant. The snow was way to fluffy for a snowman, so we made a giant snow ant instead.

This evening the McDonald's brought over their very fun/large Mastiff "Granite". He is so pretty and fun. Smiley, although the smaller, could still exert his dominance. It was fun to watch them bounding around the house...I think they need a gymnasium and they would have a great time. I was going to get a picture of granite up next to Poppy, just so you could get an idea of his actual size...but she wouldn't stand to close. He is as tall standing on all fours and she is.
He is one Beautiful dog...Shane tells me that he will probably gain another 50lbs or so. After all he is still a puppy!

Chocolate!

How is one to maintain a New Year's resolution when very kind friends deliver treats like this??? Notice the giant block of chocolate, and the missing cookies from the plate. Yeah, we'll just say that we will save this resolution for Lent. The non religious, 40 day period once a year,where I go without junk food...stay posted it begins on Ash Wednesday. And no, I am not Catholic, I just like to have a good challenge).

New Year's Fog

(Me, January 2007...where did that longer hair go??)
I truly love to make new year's resolutions. I'm sure many of you already know that I like to have goals and, I loves even more so to complete them. This year however, I am finding myself with a very long list and a very little patience to put them all down. Does this mean that I am beaten before I even begin?
Here are a few of the ones at the top (that I am willing to divulge):
1. Find more balance in everyday routine stuff. Not skimping on the important stuff and eliminating the unimportant.
1b. Spend more time really playing with my kids...not being preoccupied with other thoughts and simply play in the moment.
2. Run! Run because I love it and stretch like a crazy woman so that I won't get injured again!
3. Do not accrue any other furniture re-finishing projects (I think that I can do all of them but seriously, unless I want to be a clutter collector, I must stop) until I have completed the three I currently have in the works.
4. Be Content. Be grateful for all that I have and enjoy it.
5. Be graceful and kind to others. I really shouldn't try to understand the whole picture when all I really see is the tiny sound bites of their lives.
6. Show My hubby that I really love him, more often. He does so much for our family I need to reflect my gratitude more frequently.

Well, this is it...almost. There is still the lingering: eat less junk food, exercise more efficiently, take smiley for more walks, do the laundry periodically rather than trying to do it all in one day, plant an awesome garden that will bring me loads of produce, make serious progress on our food storage and monetary stores, paint the upstairs in the house, de-clutter the downstairs dungeon closets and kiss my kids everyday. The list goes on...Truly I will try to be better this year than the last and will look for opportunities to improve.

LIma beans

"Mom can we have Lima beans for dinner?" Says Oscar two days ago...
Last night we had them and I will say that he liked them and ate a whole bowl full. It is so funny to me the things that he likes when he sets his mind to it...unlike the very delicious chocolate chip pancakes this morning (he ate cereal instead!). Go Figure.