BLIZZARD!

It was snowing when we woke up yesterday, but there was very little on the ground. That quickly turned into the biggest blizzard I can remember since 1982 - which also happened to be around Christmas. Seriously some drifts are more than 3 feet. I'm sure we got at least 18 inches of snow and it's STILL SNOWING as of 8:00 this morning. As you can see, our patio furniture is buried, the grill has a pile - the snow is piled up against the back door about 8-inches. I will get a measuring stick out later when it stops and I get to start shoveling. The last picture is of our neighbor's car parked at the end of the alley.
Jonah says: "I like to play in the snow and, um, we can, um make a snowman because there's a lot of snow. And the fences are filled up with snow. And the part of the windows are covered up with snow. Daddy and me can help build a really BIG snowman. I think that's all - I'll talk about snow later."
One more thing - Ken was in Portland for business and was scheduled to come home Tuesday night, but his plane was cancelled for non-weather related reasons. He attempted to find another flight, but the soonest he could be confimed on one was Sunday afternoon. Seeing as how that's Christmas eve and 4 days away, he and his co-worker rented a car and are driving today. Please pray for their safety!
I guess we'll have a white Christmas this year : )

Jonah gets to wear a patch

Last week we visited Jonah's eye doctor, and discovered that his brain isn't using his right eye as much as it should. So he gets to wear a patch 4-6 hours per day. He does have fun ones with designs including space, camoflauge, airplanes and sports. Jonah's words about the patch: "I don't like it. I like the space on it. Well, it just bugs me." He did have a choice to get one drop in his eye each morning or wear the patch, and he chose the patch. We go back in March to find out if this worked like it should.

November 2006

Whew - November was a whirlwind. The first part of the month was spent in our regular routine, plus preparing for Thanksgiving. During the week of Thanksgiving, Amanda, Jenni, Grandpa, Grandma Bev, Lauren and Uncle Dan came to visit. The boys spent a day at Rocky Mountain National park (lots of Elk to see) while the girls had fun shopping and painting pottery at Crackpots.
It was fun having everyone here, and went by way too fast. Janae took this picture of Jonah (who is pretending work on the computer like mommy). Jonah took the one of Janae - not too bad for amateurs : )
Ken has been busy traveling for work, and playing fantasy football. I (Amy) finished this semester with A's in both classes (Cultural Anthropology and History of Western Civilization 1). I'm looking forward to the next few weeks without any homework! Jonah says "HAAAaaaaa - I want LOTS of Presents for Christmas!" and that Christmas is about "presents...and Jesus' birthday."

Princess Leia & Zurg

What excellent actors! Obviously our kids have discovered Star Wars (the originals only). Jonah is Zurg the Evil Emperor from Toy Story 2. (He turns out to be not-so-evil in the end, plus he shoots yellow balls and is Buzz Light-Year's father). We had a whirlwind of fun this halloween! Ken came home from work a little early and took the kids trick-or-treating to a few houses in the neighborhood for about 20 minutes (since it was only 28 degrees outside). They came back with half their buckets full! We enjoyed dinner at Wahoos then went to Starbucks for a craft, story (and free drink for the adults). Then, we rode up to church and enjoyed playing games and the 'hall of candy' as well as bouncing in the jumpy houses. Last, we stopped by Papa's for one last trick-or-treat.

A Pumpkin Carving Party

Today (October 14, 2006) we went to a Pumpking Carving Party, and Ken, Janae and Jonah (with help from Amy) carved pumpkins. Here is what Jonah has to say about that:

"I had a great day, and I like carving pumpkins! I like to carve pumpkins, and I like how you (mom) carved my pumpkin. I like to play, and I'm glad they had a rock climbing wall because I love climbing. Even I wanted to go and pick the pumpkins, and I came to Noah's house and then we like to play with each other. The whole thing that we did was we took the guts out - I wish I could get the gloves. There was three teeth on the top and two teeth on the bottom and it has a nose and eyes that are looking that way so the pumpkin can tell me what he sees. We play, and play and play, and we taked it home and lighted 'em up."

Translation:
We bought three pumpkins at the grocery store, and took them to our friend's house. Jonah and I took the guts out of his. He did NOT like touching the sticky gooey stringy stuff, but he did it anyway. Then he chose the kind of face he wanted, and I drew it on, and he played with his friends while I carved it out. I think it turned out pretty well, don't you?

Yes, Ken's is a Broncos logo. I think Janae's is supposed to be a Zombie - she did everything herself!

Janae's class field trip to the Butterfly Pavilion

Janae took her first field trip to the Butterfly Pavilion on Tuesday October 10. These are her words all about it:

"When we came in we got to go to this class and hold some Madagascar (which is right off the coast of Africa) Hissing cockroaches. Gigi's hissed, and mine just sat on my hand. It stuck to my hand, and was brown, black and very clean. It had a shell and everything (the thorax, abdomen and head) under it. After that we ate lunch, and after that we got to go EXPLORE the Butterfly Pavilion. We went into this room where there were more hissing cockroaches and other kinds of bugs and spiders, I mean arachnids, in tanks. Next we went to the Butterfly Room, and got to touch some leaves and see some butterflies. After that we went to a feeling room where you could touch starfish and horseshoe crabs - two were fighting in a tank. Then we went back to the room with the arachnid tanks, and I got to hold Rosie (a tarantula) and one more hissing cockroach. I had a GREAT time, it was fun, fun FUN! After that we went back to school and did a few things we had to finish up. After that we went home and the day was over. I loved going to the Butterfly Pavilion, and I want to go there again."

I (Amy) got to go along on this trip. I had a group of five 2nd graders that I kept track of, which was tiring (but better than keeping track of preschoolers). I don't really like creepy crawlies, but it was cool. I never thought I would hold a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach in my life, but I did. I also forgot the camera, so sorry, no pictures.

Here's the weblink to the Butterfly Pavilion, JIC you want to look:

http://www.butterflies.org/

September 2006

We are settling into the routine, and loving it. Janae is in 2nd grade. She likes her class, loves her teacher, and wants to play with all her friends every day (which doesn't happen, but she still wishes for it). This year, she decided to take spanish classes once a week after school (starting 9/26), and join girl scouts. Her first meeting is on Thursday (9/21), so we'll see how it goes. She reads chapter books on her own. Her favorites are Junie B. Jones - that kid is hilarious! We have started piano lessons, and she seems to enjoy it. She is planning on dressing as Princess Leia (from Star Wars) for halloween. She wants to fix her own hair in buns around her ears (that will be interesting). She loves to ride her bike, and is enjoying being seven. Oh - one more thing, she lost another tooth on Friday (9/15) - I think that makes 7.

Jonah is 4 years old. He likes to play in his room, play at the park, ride his bike, play in the backyard (you get the idea). Every Wednesday morning and three Tuesday mornings a month, we go to church, and he gets to be in a class (like preschool) while mom attends Bible Study (Wed), and a group for moms with younger children (Tues). On Thursdays (most weeks) he helps me with EmJ (his 3 month old cousin). At home, we are working on "fun things" like writing letters, learning all the shapes, colors, etc. when we have time. We recently went to the Colorado RailRoad Museum to see Thomas the Tank Engine. We got to take a ride, and do lots of fun train things. That was a big deal for Jonah, something he probably won't forget anytime soon. Since then, he has all his trains set up in his room, and plays every day with them. He wants to be Zurg the Evil Emperor (from Toy Story 2) for Halloween.

I could write something about Ken and I, but that will have to wait until next time. I really should do some homework...