A Pioneer....

Well, it's official......Andrew has signed his letter of intent.....to Carroll University... and we sent our "deposit" check too!! I guess he will be a "Pioneer" next year....

Wordless Wednesday....kids and furbabies

An interesting day....

While the dollies were all having a nice little tea party, this guy was "out of it" today....

I guess you can say that he is Wisdom Toothless....... surgery at 8am yesterday......glad it's over!!!

Oh yeah.......and today John and I have been married for 19 years!!! WOWEE!!

Christmas Morning...

The excitement of Christmas morning was still apparent at our house this year.... the kids were up and doing push-ups by 6:50 am and then out in the family room by 7:00 sharp.....

They opened their gifts.....
and Bella thought she should have the tennis balls.......

We had our traditional Holiday Morning French Toast..... (Apples, cinnamon, craisins)
and nearly every bit of it was gone!! (Recipe coming later in the week)

Even Bella found herself involved in the festivities.....or more like "Luke put this thing on my head....and I don't like it!"

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

We hope your Christmas is filled with lots of laughter and love.....

Portaits...

Here are a few photos that we had taken in the studio when our Christmas pictures were taken....

Here's John and I......we will celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary on December 29th.
here are the Peterson Girls....
and finally.....the crazy Peterson boys....... Boys will be boys!!

Wordless Wednesday- Winning basket!!

My Christmas Angel....

This is my Christmas angel... Ann. She came over and helped me wrap all of the kids presents....can you believe it?? We had Christmas music going and little snow flakes were falling outside and we laughed and giggled and talked and ate too much peanut butter fudge.....and I loved it!! Thanks Ann!!

The Concert of the Year...

The highlight of our weekend was actually on Friday afternoon. It was the last time that our family would have anyone singing in the Plat Christmas Concert. As a second grader, Anna will be moving on to a bigger school next year for third grade. Because we have attended that concert for 13 years, we thought it was appropriate to go "all out" and win the raffle that gave us a reserved parking space and 4 cushy seats in the front row, for the concert. Let me tell you that the tickets didn't come cheap; we stood and had to outbid grandparents that wanted to have those precious seats!

So, we drove up to the school, 5 minutes before the concert started and they had our reserved spot ready for us.....
We tromped past the many (standing room only) parents and grandparents who didn't know to arrive an least an hour before the concert to get a decent seat. Finally, we found our seats.....right in the front row.....and these weren't your normal folding chairs--- these were cushy chairs.....and we received a yummy plate of candy too!! (photo taken just after the concert)
My friend Ann came with us (Luke too) and she got a shot of us sitting in our seats.....
Let me tell you that it was worth every penny to be in the front row....I brought all kinds of technology from regular video camera to the "flip" video camera to my big ol' camera with the zoooooooom lens. All of this hoopla, just to see this little girl sing.......
Lots of emotion as we cheered on all of the great singers, singing melodies of the season.....I even thought I saw the guy next to me tear up a little bit...

Coach

I thought I would throw in a random photo because I know that you are tired of seeing basketball after basketball picture...... so......here's a picture that someone forwarded to me...I thought it was clever....
and OK, Gramma Ellie really wants to see her son coaching, so here we go...another basketball picture......

Have a great weekend!!

Old man haircut...

This is Luke's friend, Jonnie. Jonnie came over afterschool today to play- and to get a Mrs. Peterson buzz cut. His hair was long, and let me tell you, I panicked a little when I saw all of the hair falling to the floor, but he was just fine with it...... I stopped and snapped a picture when I had done the top of his head.....can you see the length on the side?? I told him this was my version of the "old man" haircut. He's a good sport!!

Wordless Wednesday- Andrew 'n' Minnie

Second Grade Spelling....

Here's Anna with her Spelling words for the week. I thought it would be interesting to show you the words that she is learning to spell in Second Grade......

1. ornament
2. holiday
3. present
4. Christmas
5. Kwanzaa
6. snowman
7. celebration
8. star
9. Santa Claus
10. Hanukkah
11. sleigh
12. elves
13. snowflake
14. merry
15. reindeer

I'm pretty sure I wasn't learning words like this in 2nd grade.....but I'm glad the teachers are pushing the limits with the students.....she's up for the challenge!!

The usual....

Our weekend was the usual.....basketball practice, lots of football on tv, friends sleeping over....
a certain dog sitting in the sun, in her sweater.....
another dog, basking in sun.....trying to get someone to play ball...
and a girl, sitting in the chair with her dollies..... did you notice all of the dolls have their hair done???

well, not the bald baby doll.......but she has the blanket!!!

Treasure Hunt

These trash cans look innocent enough, don't they?? Well. they were the source of a big treasure hunt for me yesterday. Keep in mind, we have a foot of snow and wind chills were at -20......not the best weather to even put the trash out, let alone spend any length of time outside....

Through the front window, I could see that the garbageman had just come and our 2 cans and recycling bin were sitting there, out by the street. Winds were gusting at a pretty good rate so I decided to give the kids a "break" and that I would be the one getting the recycling bin and trash cans back into the garage. I bundled up in a heavily padded winter coat that I don't usually wear in public.....complete with a hood that I secured tightly so the winter breeze wouldn't reach my face.

I gracefully avoided any ice patches on the long, downsloping driveway, and finally made it to the end, to rescue the trash cans. As I looked at the cans that were now laying sideways, I noticed that I was too late. Too late because both of the trash can lids were GONE...... Gone with the wind........ My eyes quickly scanned up the street, looking for one or possibly both of the lids. Good news!! One of the lids was embedded in a snow bank halfway up the street. I ignored the stinging of the wind that blew right through my jeans and ran up the street to "capture" the lid. Finally, most pieces of the collection were reunited!! But where could the other lid be???? I quickly stacked the rolling trash cans and threw the recycling bin inside the top can, giving up the thought of ever seeing the matching grey lid again. As I climbed up the steep driveway, pulling the cans, my breath was almost taken away by the frigid air now blowing into my hood.

Later in the day, I had to go out and about, so I decided to drive up to the top of our subdivision in my nice, warm car. Low and behold, my eyes were attracted to a small gray object laying in the road........THERE IT WAS..........and our reunion was sweet as I held my breath, jumped out of the car, and slung it into the back seat......with a smile on my face..... all pieces were captured and reunited.....

Snow Day!

Yesterday we had a beautiful snow day......the kids played in the freshly fallen 10 inches of snow....they enjoyed the fact that the snow plow guy piles up the snow at the edge of the driveway- perfect for fort making! We had our share of fun and frustration, but all in all, it was a good day......now let's get them back to school!!!

p.s. Can you see Luke's hat??? Is it bright enough for ya??

Wordless Wednesday...Fly like an Eagle (#24)