Ice Storm

We had our first mini-ICE STORM this week. It actually was a pretty bad storm. Over 1 million people lost their power. We were very blessed to never lose our power.

In Arizona, we never saw anything like this! The Ice completely covers every branch of every tree!

By the end of the storm we had between 1/4 and 1/2 inch of ICE on everything. The ICE makes all of the branches on the trees really heavy, and the branches start sagging to the ground.

Even though it is annoying to have ICE everywhere, it looks really cool!








There are (were) a couple of huge pine trees right behind our townhouse. If the ice makes the branches too heavy, say TIMBER!


One of the big pine trees split right in half and crashed to the ground.

It looks beautiful to drive around town! All of the trees are covered in glistening white! The crazy thing is that the ice also completely covers the power lines.

Once it starts warming up, you have to be careful when you are walking or driving underneath the power lines or the trees because the ice starts to fall in big chunks. When it falls from that high, it can hurt!

Let it snow....Let it snow....Let it snow!

As long as it SNOWS, and NOT rains ICE!!!!
Here in kansas we have come to know well a new kind of storm....an ice storm. It looks like rain, but when it hits the ground it freezes. We just had an ice storm this weekend, and it actually got down to like 5 degrees! Brrrrrr!











But last week, before the ice hit, we actually got a couple inches of snow to play in. The kids were so excited! They tried their hardest to build a snowman, and got what they could out of the hill right next to our house for sledding.
Amber and Michayla getting a load of snow for the snowman. And Blake about to take a ride!

Multi-purpose Martini Mixer

At the beginning of the semester Brent was given a gift from a law school function. At the time we thought.....gee thanks, a martini mixer???

Well, after some creative thinking episodes, I came to realize that I had to start thinking out of the box.....dont you think this makes the best home made ranch dressing holder? It mixes just right, it keeps the dressing cold on the table, and the little top comes off for serving. I LOVE homemade ranch dressing.

Christmas Stockings

My project these last couple weeks has been trying to figure out how I wanted to make our family stockings. It was very fun! Michayla helped me design them and put them together

It has been so fun to learn how to use my sewing machine this year (finally!).

Gingerbread Making!

Every year Topeka has a gingerbread house show, and in the back you get to make your own house to take home with you. This was our second year to go, and the kids loved it...again:)

This is Michayla and our neighbor Haley trying to make their houses stick together.
Blake had a really hard time wanting to use the candy to decorate the house, instead of just eating it all. Even the frosting was pretty tasty, and Blake was very good at doing a swipe of the frosting for the house, and two to his mouth....delicious.
This is part of the gingerbread crew. Stockton, Maya, Spencer, Madelyn and Michayla. We love our friends!!!! It was fun to get out and do something with them.

Bottom Dwellers

This is our basement:) Lovely, isnt it? But here in Kansas, we sure are greatful for it! You can see what it has become....our tornado safe haven....and our toy storage room:) Luckily the kids dont care that there are no walls, and nothing on the floor. All they care about is the toys, and the company. They LOVE to play!

Cody boy amoungst the toys:)

Thanksgiving

Ok, sorry if this is Extremely late, but since it is finals season, we save all the things we CAN do on Sunday, until Sunday, and since our pictures only download to Brents computer, I have to wait until I can snatch it from him to make a post. ANYWAY.......We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving, and are SOOOO glad that the Moores live so close and that we could have some great family time with them. We had a feast! and also had a great time together playing games and wathcing football, while the kids destroyed that basement:)

Heres Mariah just waiting for the "dig in" signal.
The kiddos (Amber, Michayla, Blake and Cody) actually sat down for almost 5 minutes of the meal. I'm pretty sure thats a record for them.:)
These were my helpers. They are growing up to be such great girls! I sure love them.