Snow Storm---->take 4!

last weekend we encountered another snow storm that kept the kids out of school all week except thursday. friday school was cancelled when the next round of snow moved in. this is what it looked like early on in the day today. it looks much worse now with another foot of snow on the ground (last week we had a foot of snow too!). my mom got finley and donovan last night, so my kids spent the majority of the day over there yesterday and today everyone headed across the street to my house to hit the slopes! we had so much fun sledding, making a snow fort, and sipping hot chocolate! we only wish avey could've been here:o(

there's nothing better than sled races during a blizzard!

mom is getting ready to go down for the first time.

weston and granny came zooming down the hill!

we all worked hard building this awesome snow fort that could fit all of us, but finley and dono stayed and helped me finish the fort after everyone else had gone inside. we were the "dedicated" few:o)

i let them decorate the snow fort with squeeze bottles full of water that i colored with food coloring. i love squeeze bottles!

all huddled up in the snow fort with some corn pops:o)

not sure why they all look so crazy eyed in this picture...all i said was "smile!"

Isn't he getting big??

this dog is growing at a freakishly fast rate!! i was not expecting him to get so big so fast! is it too late to return him?

if you look closely at this picture you can see the hole where weston lost on of his front teeth. it's so cute! the other one will probably fall out today. it is so wiggly!

The Kids First Attempt at Skiing 1/23/09

A few saturdays ago we decided to take the kids skiing since we never got to go on our vacation. So, we packed up the kids and headed to Massanutten which is only a little more than 2 hours from our house. We ate lunch on the way and got there around 2pm and signed up for the 4 hour ski. The kids took to it really well! By the end of the day, weston was skiing solo on the bunny slopes and ella was skiing in between chad's legs. She got a little whiny towards the end of the 4 hours because she didn't eat lunch when we stopped, so she was really hungry. A hungry ella makes for a really grouchy ella! We all had a great time and can't wait to head to the slopes again! ella and west heading up the conveyor belt to ski down the practice slopes again.

first time by herself!

skiing with dad...

i love this picture! such concentration:o)

weston skiing down the "big" practice slope. unfortunately, i didn't get any pics on the bunny slopes because i had to focus all of my attention on staying with weston and making sure he didn't get run over!

Letting our legs take a little break while we watch weston ski...

More of Henry...

henry likes to go play at my mom's house (across the street) with her goldendoodle named molly. molly is a little too crazy for him, but he indulges her:o)

henry rarely gets the ball when mom throws it because molly tackles him trying to get it!

henry giving molly a kiss xxxxxx.

one of weston's chores is taking henry for a walk after school. up until today, he HATED walks! today, he did a really good job though! this picture was from yesterday.

after the kids go to bed at night, i let henry come lay with me on the sofa as long as he's being nice and calm. he likes to bring his nigh-night with him. yes, i know it's pink! it's one of ella's old ones:o)

A few more pics of Henry!

henry is doing much better with is potty training. he only had one accident in the house yesterday compared to 8 the day before and too many to count the day before that! we are all loving him so much and can't get enough of that sweet little face! he fits right in with our family and i look forward to watching him grow up with us.
that's kind of a creepy picture since i cut chad's head out! sorry, chad!

he loves to chew on this toy that granny bought him!

henry loves his new home (even though he does have to use ella's old pink blankets:o) he chews too much to have his bed that we bought him!

how could i not love this little face?

our family vacation days 3 and 4...

start from the bottom up:
meet the newest member of our family!! his name is henry and he is a german shorthaired pointer. he is so precious and lovable, but he is still having quite a bit of trouble peeing and pooping in the house! it's been a long past couple of days...the kids adore him and i couldn't be happier. he is already coming when i call his name and he was pointing a little today when i took him outside. i'll post some better pics of henry in the days to come:o)

on our last day in tennessee, we picked up this little guy:o)

the line to ride the tram back down the mountain took another hour and a half! we tried to occupy ourselves in line...

weston finally got the hang of it!

ella had so much fun ice skating. both of the kids were really good!

weston was so scared at first, he wouldn't let go of the wall!

all ready to skate!

we decided after lunch, to take the kids ice skating at ober which meant we would have to ride the air tram up to the top of the mountain. the line was shorter this time (or so we thought). we ended up waiting in line for 2 hours anyway! grrrr! i loved how cute ella looked in her skates though!

a picture from the air tram...our car is the tahoe with the ski rack in the 2nd row from the bottom. pretty cool, huh?

chad's very first reuben was a big success! he loved it!

ella was so exhausted, she fell asleep waiting in line for lunch and slept all the way through lunch! it was a long day of waiting in lines!!

this was so cool! we made wax hands to take home as our souvenirs! ella was too young to make one, but chad, weston, and i all made ones that looked like guns:o) we ended up waiting about an hour and a half to do this!

my 2 shorties with the tallest man that ever lived!

we started day 3 expecting to go skiing at ober in gatlinburg. unfortunately, we were unaware of just how crowded it would be! we got to the air tram (you have to ride a tram to up to the mountain to ski) around 11 and the wait to get tickets for the tram was 2 hours! we headed back to the car and took off our ski clothes and worked on a plan b. go to ripley's believe it or not in gatlinburg! it was a great choice! the bear in the picture is made entirely out of nails!

i couldn't resist! how precious is this anyway?