Wordless Wednesday: I'm cold and hungry

Shoveling the roof

We have had record snowfalls to date which is okay considering it has been cold dry snow. Well, this week it has warmed up a tad (temps in the 20's vs. single digits) which means there is more water in the air and snow. Hence the roof snow load is getting heavier. Daryl was up on the roof shoveling snow off the porch overhang. A few roofs in town have actually collapsed due to the heavy snow loads. It's been crazy.

More snow...

And the snow just keeps coming. Almost daily a new storm comes in and blankets the already white city of Spokane with more snow. I have never seen this much snow here in the 15 years I have been living here. It's crazy. We have been staying home alot just because I don't even want to try to drive around with everyone else in these conditions. Needless to say, I have missed all the good "after Christmas" sales. I guess I didn't need anything that badly anyway.

Travel plans delayed

My sister and her family were supposed to come over Christmas day from Seattle. They were planning on spending the long weekend here in snowy Spokane. Unfortunately, the weather dictated otherwise. Seattle even had quite a bit of snow which is unusual for them. I think they even had a white Christmas. We have postponed their visit until next week. Hopefully the weather will be more accommodating.

Merry Christmas!

We awoke this morning to a beautiful winter wonderland and a very White Christmas. It was just wonderful. We spent the morning, just the Lohstroh four, opening gifts and playing with our new presents. Henry was most intrigued that Santa had come and eaten a bite out of each cookie and drank all the milk. It was really cute to see him so excited.

Later that day our neighbors, the Jones', and our friends, the Cassies, came over for an early dinner. All 5 kids had a great time playing with each other, which let the parents have some quiet adult time together. We even had a kid table for dinner, something I didn't think would happen for several more years. Yippee!

It was a wonderful Christmas day with family and friends.

Christmas Eve

We went to Daryl's sister's house for Christmas Eve. It is actually Daryl's mom's birthday too, so we do a birthday/Christmas celebration. It was a great time. Unfortunately the weather was just crazy. It snowed all day and night which made driving a bit treacherous. But we made it there and back in one piece.

Instead of having a traditional Christmas Eve dinner like we have in years past, we all opted to do appetizers instead. This way we could just nibble all evening long in between all the gift giving and games. It worked out well especially since the whole family is a bunch of "grazers" anyway. We had quite the spread of delectable yummies. I think I gained 5 pounds in one night. It was awesome.

Natalie and Henry had a great time with the family, too. They enjoyed playing with cousin Makenzie (9) and 2nd cousin Parker (6) and of course really enjoyed opening up all their gifts. The family definitely spoiled them once again.

Happy Birthday Mom and Merry Christmas Lohstroh Family!

Cookie Plate

My friend, Sunshine, has joined a mom's group and was kind enough to share a craft they had done for Christmas. It was making a cookie plate for Santa. We start with an inexpensive plate (I bought mine at the dollar store) and then you decorate with Christmas tags, cards, and/or wrapping along with letter stickers or whatever else you would like. I just laid out my design on the plate then covered the entire surface with Mod Podge. I think it turned out rather cute, myself. And it was a fun and inexpensive project. This would be great for kids to do also. Great idea, Sunshine. Thanks!

And the snow keeps falling

We had record snowfall the other day, and believe it or not, it has not ceased. It just keeps snowing. Craziness! We have over 2 feet of snow in the yard right now. Can you believe it? Our hill was finally plowed early Saturday a.m. but it has snowed a good 6 inches since then and who knows when the plows will be back. I'm starting to get a little bit of cabin fever as the kids and I have been home everyday except for once these last 6 days. Again, craziness. It is beautiful and oh so quiet, but I don't know if it will end. At least we are in for a white Christmas, which is always a treat.

Henry taking a break in the snow. It's hard work trudging through this stuff.

Our Juniper bushes look like marshmallows!

Winter Wonderland

The rooftops have quite a bit of snow!

My little wall-climber

For some reason, Henry has decided that being a gymnast is the thing to do these days. He is always doing somersaults in the front room and just the other day tried doing the splits. I don't know where he learned any of this stuff, but it's kind of cool. Then, of course, he had to show off and show us how we can climb the walls of the hall. Weird kid, but cool stuff.

Record Snowfall

We just broke the record of snowfall here is Spokane. The record was set back in the 1950's with almost 13 inches of snow in a 24 hour period. Well, today we broke that record. We got 17 inches! And it is still snowing. It's been unbelievable. We have been fortunate to have fairly mild weather for November and December with little to no snow, and fairly warm temperatures. Of course all that has changed. We have been enjoying very chilly temperatures the last week (single digits) but yesterday it warmed up a bit and started to snow, and it hasn't stopped. We have shoveled the driveway 3 times in 16 hours and are still having trouble keeping up. It is beautiful though. It makes me think we live in some resort ski mountain/village. It is so clean and white and oh so quiet. I guess I will just stay home and enjoy it. I have to actually since I won't be able to drive on the deep snow covered roads without getting high centered. It's crazy but cool, too.

Wordless Wednesday: Funny Faces

Christmas Cookie Exchange

A bunch of us girls got together this year and organized a cookie exchange. I have always wanted to do one and now I am finally able to. 10 of us baked 10 dozen of our favorite cookie, then met for a late lunch at one of the gals' home. It was a lot of fun having a girl's luncheon. We ate on china and then sampled all the different cookies. Then, when we left, we took 1 dozen of each of the 10 different cookies. We had a fantastic assortment of sweet treats without having to do all the baking. Cookie Exchange.....What a wonderful idea. I hope we do it again next year.

Progressive Appetizers

In July we enjoyed a Progressive Dinner with our neighbors. It was a lot of fun, so we decided we would do it again during the holiday season. We planned appetizers rather than a full course dinner, and then ended with a White Elephant Gift Exchange. We had a great time. It was fun to see all of our houses decorated for Christmas. We enjoyed a couple different appetizers at each house, and we had quite the variety, indeed. At the last house we ended with dessert and coffee. There were 5 houses that participated, and it worked out just fine. We did include the children, which is always challenging, but still fun. The only downfall was that the weather had turned bitterly cold with a fierce wind. We live on a fairly steep hill and the snow had melted during the day and turned to ice. We trudged from house to house being careful not to slip on the slick surfaces. Even though we are all next door neighbors, it made for a difficult commute to each house. All in all it was a great time and again, I highly recommend this event to anyone interested.

First sledding of the season

It started snowing Friday night, not a lot where we are, but just enough to cover the ground. Daryl took the kids out back on Saturday and went sledding on the hill. Henry and Natalie loved it. They were out there for a good hour at least. Even though there was not much snow, there was just enough for them to get enough speed and have a good time. Unfortunately, the weather turned cold. By nightfall it had dropped from a balmy 34 deg. to a chilly 10 deg. with a howling wind. OUCH! I thinking this cold weather is supposed to hang around for the next week. BRRRRRRR!

Jump and Bounce

Spokane has an indoor inflatable jumpy toy area which is great for kids (and adults) especially during cold weather months. It's called Jump and Bounce. The kids get great exercise and fun out of it. I have actually bought a pass because we will use it a lot. Henry and Natalie love all the different toys, they climb, jump, slide and bounce for a good hour and afterwards are ready for a nice long nap. If you have small kids (or even adult kids too) check out and see if you have one of these in your area.

Henry is a pro!

Neighbor Marissa and Natalie get ready to go down the big slide

Gingerbread House

Our family's annual assembling of the gingerbread house went fairly well this year. Of course I did most of the assembling (and decorating), but Henry helped quite a bit. He really enjoyed decorating the house. Natalie was more interested in eating the candy or destroying what was already completed. I don't have any pictures of the process, but the end result turned out pretty well, I think.

Wordless Wednesday: Amazing Gas Prices