Ice Storm, Death Trap, Sledding and a Snowman

 On January 25, 2013, there was an ice storm.  It covered everything in a layer of ice.  It happens regularly in the mid-west, but it's the first time I remember experiencing it.

Can you see our car is encased in ice?

This shows the outside and then inside of our car windshield. 

 We were crazy enough to go to the church and play.  You can see the slippery ice.  It's also foggy.  There are homes across the street, but you can barely make anything out with the fog.

 A few days later there was piles of snow.  The road was slick because of the previous ice storm.

Basically for months we had a "death trap" walkway.  I am hoping to get a south-facing driveway when we eventually move. 

 There was so much snow that the plows didn't have anywhere to put it.  They pushed it into enormous mountains that remained for weeks.  Parker and his friend Braxton loved climbing all over it.

 February 1st was one of Brad's CPA exams in Salt Lake.  We decided to come with him and hang out at Grandma Aldous'.  Jackie and Isaac came over and later on we watched cousin Kade too.  The kids loved sledding down the little hill.

 Isaac is a maniac, ha, ha!

Liesel was nervous about going alone.

She enjoyed it much more with her mommy!

Jackie cruised down too.  It's a pretty tiny hill, though, ha, ha! 

 Parker stuck his face in the snow so he could eat it better, ha, ha!

They built this little snowman "Tickle Person".

 Then Jackie, Liesel, Elise, Kade and Jason came inside and Isaac and Parker stayed outside laughing forever.

I love that my siblings and in-laws love my babies almost as much as I do!

Kids Portraits

 In mid-January I wanted new photos of the kids.  My sister-in-law Jackie usually takes amazing ones, but since the temperature outside was about 2 degrees, I decided to create my own "studio" in my room and practice my photography skills.  I took a bunch, but each kid really only had one that turned out best.  The boys look especially grown up.

 I did take a few other fun ones of Elise.

We are lucky to have four beautiful children!  They are a handful, but, oh, they're cute!

January Montage

Here are a bunch of random photos from January. 

Liesel in her Sleeping Beauty attire.

 We were sorting laundry and Jason thought Parker's undies would make a great hat.  In the background you can see that Liesel found her pajama bottoms to create her own "hat". 

 Elise is adorable!

I had to mail a package and my little firecrackers were very energetic.  I had to get them doing jumping jacks and hiding under the counter for my sanity.

 

 So sweet!

 I came into the room and found Liesel cuddling with Parker.  He tried to hide it when I pulled out my phone camera though.

 Elise

 Parker bumped his head and got one of the largest goose eggs ever.

 Riding in the laundry.

 Pretending to sleep

 Parker wanted a chemistry kit out of his book order enough to pay for it himself- $10!  We paid half and he has had so much fun with it!

 Jason adores Ellie!

  Parker is normally pretty serious, but he does know how to be silly sometimes.

 Oh, I love my kids!

Rascalette

Liesel is such a funny little rascal.  She wants to be involved in everything!  She sneaks into things and makes messes, but she is really fun and sweet.  Here she is with two of the dolls she sleeps with, Katie and "Wexi" (Lexi).

Liesel has found my makeup a few times, ha, ha.  She's actually pretty close to putting everything in the right spot.

She climbed into the pantry and got down some spices.  I caught her just as she'd poured all the nutmeg in the sink.  Luckily I found her before she'd dumped the rest.

 It's kind of blurry, but here she is after church one day. 

 When were at my parents' once, she desperately needed a nap, but kept climbing out of the play yard.  This was the solution we came up, ha, ha! 

She kept squishing her face against the mesh, especially by the hole, Silly Girl!  She fell asleep five minutes after we left the room and we took the blanket off.

She is always laughing and so much fun, messes and all!

Snowy and FREEZING

For the first few weeks in January, the winter weather was crazy!  It was snowy and very, very cold!  It didn't get even to the 20s for weeks!

Mostly we stayed inside, but the kids did get out a little.