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We got quite a bit of snow last night (I'd say at least 7 inches but probably more), so we took the kids sledding today. Derk packed down the snow right in front of our house, and it made a perfect little hill for them. They had a blast! Here are some pictures!
Go, Asher, go!
Kyrie's turn!
My beautiful boy at the bottom of the hill.
Even Cambria gave it a try!We had a pretty nice week leading up to Christmas. I went up and stayed with my mom for a few days so I could finish up some shopping without Derk trying to sneak and find his present. :) I took Asher and Cambria with me (Kyrie still had school), and we just had a nice few days hanging out with my mom and some of my siblings. Derk and Kyrie came up on Friday evening, and then we stayed with his parents. We hung out, watched movies, played games, and had a nice time with them. So here are some (okay, quite a few!) pictures from our week.
My 3 beauties in front of our tree.
Asher and Nana (my mom) laughing while making frosting for cookies
Cambria dancing with Nana
Asher frosting cookies
Kyrie frosting cookies
Cambria frosting cookies
Cambria enjoying her cookie
Asher opening presents
Cambria opening presents
Kyrie and Asher looking so cute in their matching Nike warm-up suits from Grandma and Grandpa (don't mind her insane head of hair... :) )This is hilarious! Hopefully I can get around to scanning the book so you can actually see the pages, but I'll just type it all out verbatim and translate afterward. She loves to sound words out for herself as you'll soon see. I will be saving this forever!
Front page: "Once ther was a castle"
Next page: "In the castle was a beautiful prinsus"
Next page: "Iskrem and chez and crakrs. Vechdublz. Brokley. Rech. Frize. Chez."
Next page: "Oun day a hasum pris arivd. Thay got mared. The end."
Translation--
Front page: "Once there was a castle"
Next page: "In the castle was a beautiful princess"
Next page: "Ice cream and cheese and crackers. Vegetables. Broccoli. Ranch. Fries. Cheese."
Next page: "One day a handsome prince arrived. They got married. The end."
Don't you love the random page about food? :) I love this girl!
Derk got an email on Friday from his professor, giving him the contact info for a lady from the Nampa school district who is looking for a school psychologist. Derk called her first thing today, and she called him back a few hours ago. It looks VERY promising!! He was home when she called, and it was really surreal listening to him talking to a potential future employer. I mean, this isn't just a college job. This is his career, our LIFE. He'll fill out the 13 PAGE application and get it mailed in this week, and hopefully he'll be going down to Boise for an interview shortly after the new year! He doesn't have his Masters for another semester, so he'll have to work full time and then do independent online study after work, making the next 6 months tricky. We are SO thrilled, though. We wanted to end up in Boise anyway, and this job literally fell into our laps. What a huge blessing! And we'll be able to start looking for a home right away, which is even more exciting! I've already spent lots of time looking at real estate because I'm too excited to wait, and I've found some houses that I'm already in love with. It's finally happening! I'll more than likely end up having to stay behind with the kids for at least a month while he gets settled into his job and starts the hunt for a house, which I'm NOT excited about in the slightest, but to finally be able to own a home before the summer is making me more excited than I can even describe!!
There are definitely inherent differences between boys and girls. We came in from being outside yesterday, and I took Asher's boots off and set them by the door so they would dry. A while later, I found him laying on the floor where his boots were, and he was slurping the melted snow off the floor! Even though I keep my house clean, I was very disgusted and made him get up and stop that right away. He wasn't too happy. :) My girls would never think to do something like that. They'd ask me for a drink instead of lapping it up from the floor like a dog. Oy.
Who knew that my picture frames would be the most entertaining thing to play with? I have 2 large shelves on my entertainment center, and I have baskets on each that hold some toys for the kids. The shelves above those are decorated with pictures and candles and such. Does Cambria even take the baskets out to play with toys that have blinking lights, rattle, talk, sing, help her brain develop? Oh, no. She wants my picture frames. She carries them around everywhere. I find them all over the house. Mostly she takes the picture I have of my darling nephew. I think it's her favorite. But as I type, she is once again carrying a picture around.
On the same note, Asher has a serious picture frame compulsion. For some reason, he has to rip off the stand in the back that makes the picture frame stand up. He thinks they don't belong or something, and he cannot rest or relax until he has successfully torn it off. Once he does it, he smiles, gives this barely audible sigh of relief, and tosses the frame aside. He can't focus on anything else until he has completed his mission. I have one frame left on my entertainment center that he hasn't realized isn't destroyed yet.
I really do. It is so much fun buying things for people that I just know they're going to love. Then I have to keep the secret for weeks and weeks (we're get-the-shopping-done-early-people), and it just about kills me! I have got several presents that I cannot WAIT to see people open! Mainly the gift I got for my sister, Abigail, and the present I'm making for my best friend ever (you know who you are). I know they're just going to love it, and having to wait 3 more weeks is torture.
Anyway, we put our tree up tonight. Cambria's actually done surprisingly well at leaving the tree alone. Asher found the most hideous ornaments ever in our box we store them all in (I have NO idea where they came from), and he insisted we put them up because they were "cool" and "look like footballs, Mama!"
Asher with the infamous hideous ornaments.
Kyrie concentrating really hard. lol.
Cambria being such a good little helper.
Ta-dah!
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