Christmas photos from the past.

Olivia's first Christmas in 2000.

Vanessa's first Christmas, 2005.

Girls first Christmas together, 2005.

Christmas 2006.

Christmas at G&G Pattersons, 2007, with my niece Alaina.


I love Christmas! Looking at these photos made me sad though, to see how much my babies have grown. I have to scan in more of Olivia, as her younger years were prior to my digital camera days. I can't believe that next year we will have another baby in the pictures!

Girls lovin' the snow!

It has arrived!

Our first snow of the winter and it's a Snow Day. Schools are closed, daycares are closed, most places of employment are closed, and any interstates and major highways into or out of the Bismarck/Mandan area are also closed. Which is great news to Olivia. There is no school monday for a teachers convention and none on tuesday for veterans day. So she now has a five day weekend. It's times like this when I realize some of the extra benefits to being a stay-at-home mom. I'm not stuck looking for someone to watch the kids so I can go to work. It's shocking how last friday it was the most beautiful Halloween I can remember in ND, and just one week later we are buried in snow! They are both chomping at the bit wanting to go outside, but I said they have to wait til the wind calms down some. It's too windy right now that they would just end up with the flu in a few days. Hopefully tomorrow we can attempt a snowman. We'll see how the rest of the afternoon and overnight goes. Happy Snow Day!

Oh, CRAP!

If there is any reason I would move out of ND, it would be the winters. I hate that icky white stuff that I like to call 'CRAP'. Driving on it is what makes it so awful, and I just hate freezing my butt off each time I step outside. They had forecast a blizzard warning lasting from last night till early tomorrow morning. So far no 'CRAP' has been spotted, however we received a hail storm instead. Now, in November it's just expected to have 'CRAP' so this was a shocking suprise. I woke up around 2:45am because of this loud pounding coming from our kitchen. When I peeked through the blinds it was hailing. Just pea size but it was coming down so hard and so fast that it made some awful noise on the windows. Olivia slept through it, but Vanessa was scared out of her mind. We sat in the living room watching tv and doing our best to ignore it for two hours until it finally calmed down enough to return to bed. I snapped a few pictures from our front door about 3am to prove to myself I wasn't dreaming! Mother Nature isn't done with us yet though, so today I made sure the girls have their snow boots and pants, hats and gloves, and that we are ready. Regardless of how much I despise it, I know it's something I have to deal with each year. So 'CRAP', bring it on! We're ready for you.

Ultrasound pics!

I will be 21 weeks tomorrow, and according to my ultrasound today it is still measuring exactly at that. What great news to hear. We pulled Olivia out of school for a short time so she could see the ultrasound as well. It didn't seem fair to leave her out of such an exciting experience. Her eyes were as big as ping pong balls! The ultrasound tech was awesome, making sure to point out everything--the bladder, kidneys, brain, liver, stomach, heart, even where the umbilical cord is connected to the baby and will some day be a belly button. We chose not to find out the sex, as we greatly appreciate the surprise, so she was careful not to give anything away. The cutest was every time she was in the area of the feet the baby would start moving its feet up and down like it was running inside of me. What an amazing experience to not only feel but also see it at the same time! Our little peanut must have ticklish feet like mommy! The next time we will see our baby will be in the flesh at the moment its born. What a long 19 weeks to go!

Halloween 2008

Presenting.....Vanessa the clown, Olivia as Phantom from Phantom of the Opera, Marei as a Pirate, and myself as a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater!