Counting the Days

This is what a 6 month paper chain looks like.

It's a little daunting if you think about it so don't.  Just working on one day at a time.

Christmas Eve

It was surprising to me that it took some effort to keep up with the Christmas traditions with Aaron being gone. Luckily there are a few kids counting on me to stay up on my game.

 Here are the kids making/decorating a gingerbread house.

here's the end result of that project

A tradition that we adopted from the Petersen side of the family is that on Christmas Day you get to pick whatever you want to eat into one giant "Awesome Meal".  It can literally be anything.  We usually do this on Christmas to maximize laziness so no one has to cook but we are going to a friends tomorrow so "Awesome Meal" was tonight.

Menu included:  orange chicken, popcorn shrimp, mini quiches, cougar gold, cuties/clementines, pizza rolls, egg-nog, and cream puffs.

Oh!  there I am. Hope your Christmas was as merry even if it was less fattening.

Rain Storm

Two nights ago we had a rain storm come through Rapid City, qickly followed by arctic air from North Dakota.  This was the result.  Notice they are not using sleds.

In this next one you can see how far Alex went with out a push.  Also notice I had the forethought to make the kids wear their bike helmets. 

After the fun I spent an hour breaking ice off the driveway so The van could get in the garage.

Saying Goodbye!

Here's to a fast 179 days plus 15 days overlap!  By-the-way, Ainsley's not dead, she's sleeping.

After about 10 attempts to turn this picture the right way I give up.  Sorry but you'll have to turn your heads.  If any one knows how to fix this problem let me know (yes I logged out, deleted the post and started over - 4 times!).

From Aaron:  I was able to fix this from Afghanistan.  Modern technology is amazing!

One busy weekend

So not only are we getting ready for Aaron's up-coming deployment - we also had some important family events this weekend.  Alex was baptized and Ainsley was blessed in church.  Luckily we were able to combine both events into one weekend to have maximum family visit Rapid City during the winter.

I will have to say that I do feel old having a kid old enough to be baptized (the age of 8 at our church).  In one more year we will hit the halfway point of Alex being in our home until college.  Parenthood is going surprisingly fast.

Happy Birthday Alex!

Alex and dad

Ainsley's blessing day

Working on a smile