The great snow of Oregon

It kind of makes me laugh now, because when my mom talked about moving to Oregon one of factors we used to convince her was that it hardly ever snowed.  And if it did, it never stayed around longer than 1 day.

Enter the great snow of Oregon with record breaking snow and temperatures.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

It resulted in school closures from Friday to Thursday, tons of accidents especially on the first day, lots of slick roads, and a bunch of Oregonians that didn't know what to do with themselves.

It kind of reminded me why I usually love living in Oregon without the snow....I'm not a huge fan. Sure it is pretty but it can be a bit of a nuisance.

Anyway, the first day it snowed Benjamin was beside himself with excitement.  So the boys went out for a little bit.  And they lasted a little while before the frigid temperatures caused them to come back inside.  A big improvement from Ben's first experience with snow where he cried and cried in our backyard and asked to go home :-)

The snow finally melted a week later and things went back to normal.  It was definitely a memory making week that's for sure.  Sorry for the snow Mom, we all survived right?  And I promise.....it'll never happen again.  Wink wink!  :-)

Christmas Tree 2013

Since we were home for Thanksgiving and Peter had off from work, we decided to go out on "Black Friday".  But not to shop, goodness, no.  We went to go and find our perfect Christmas tree.  We've gone to the same tree farm in Albany for awhile now and it was fun because Benjamin remembered it this year.

The boys were sooo excited to go find our tree.  Riding on a tractor, getting a cookie, playing in the mud with sticks before you saw something down?  It's every boys dream :-)

We got our tree home and then while the boys napped I asked (forced) Peter to get the Christmas decorations down from the attic.  Part of me loves to decorate for Christmas while the other part of me knows what a big task it is.  But its so festive and cheerful when its all done so that is motivation enough.  The boys 'helped' once they woke up from their quick nap.  Though it took the whole afternoon and evening we finished all the decorations and the boys loved our tree especially.

We always let them hang their own ornaments....we get them one new ornament every year that helps remind us of their personality or interest at that age.  That way they will have a collection to take to their own Christmas trees when they grow up.  Unless of course they want to go with my plan and marry their Mama and live with me forever :-)

The next day the boys even convinced their Daddy to put a few lights on the outside of our house.  He is So good to them.  Thanks love!

Definitely got us in the Christmas spirit and ready for the magical season that it is!

Thanksgiving 2013

This year we spent Thanksgiving at our own home.  There were a few reasons why we weren't able to travel anywhere, but we were still glad to spend time together as a family, including my Mom and sister.

We started the day just relaxing and watching the Macy's parade for awhile.  The boys colored, we prepped a few food items and enjoyed the morning.  I had cooked a bunch the day before so I wouldn't be totally stressed that day.

We decided to have a noon meal so the boys could eat before taking naps.  And then we could clean up and all take naps.  It was a great plan!  It makes my mouth water just thinking about all that yummy food.  We had enough to feed the the whole neighborhood and we stuffed our faces.

The menu was:
* turkey
* stuffing
* mashed potatoes & gravy
* Ruth's Chris sweet potato casserole
* broccoli Cheez-it casserole
* french onion green bean casserole
* rolls
* jello salad
* sparkling cider
* chocolate pie
* cherry pie

We all napped and vegged, maybe munched on a few leftovers that night, and the boys ate popcorn and watched a movie.

We are so beyond grateful for all the blessings God has given and provided for our family.  2013 has been a year of highs and lows, changes and sweet, sweet memories.  How wonderful to take a day to thank our Lord for His steady hand in our lives.  Happy Thanksgiving from our family!

the rest of November

November seemed to fly by, but I wanted to post a few pictures of the last few weeks of the month so I could remember what we were up to.

 the boys loved that I brought out the playdoh one morning

 Jonah loooves to vaccuum....why did I not think of this sooner?

 a little morning show while Mommy gets ready?  Perfect.

 you cannot separate Benjamin and his beloved bugs, slugs, worms, etc

 one final bush to plant in the yard before retiring for the winter

 oh sweet Jonah, you were so cranky on that morning :-)

 small attempt at a picture before church

 the boys were all too willing to "help" Peter fix something under the sink

 puzzle time with Mommy after naps one day

 my boys love to be firemen.  Calendar future perhaps??

 look at those muscles!

 oh Jonah, you little poser.  Ready for his close up

 I found the boys reading to each other in the corner one morning

 ready to go run errands in the Oregon rain

 the boys wrapped up their Floppy dogs up in their blankets and pretended they were babies.  So sweet!

 they love to color.  And I love that they color together

 we had a quick, but fun visit from cousin Azalea!

 celebrating Nana's birthday with a nacho chicken dinner and yummy trifle dessert.  Happy Birthday Nana!!

Benjamin is so into Legos.  This is one of his smaller creations, I love to watch him learn and play!!