Snow Again!

Well, the spring-like weather is gone for now and with a vengeance! We have at least 10 inches of snow on the ground and it's still coming! That means a lot of shoveling. We're not supposed to get sub-zero temps with this storm, so the kids can still go out to play - thank goodness!
Jason is on his way back to us from Key Largo. I made him promise to put pants on in Seattle - he's been in shorts and flip-flops all week! And I'll leave a warm coat for him in the truck at the airport, since he didn't take his Pendleton's to Florida with him (he thought about it, though!).
I've had a LONG week alone with the kiddos, but I think we all survived each other. Jessie is officially scooting (commando-style), but trying to get on her knees to crawl, so now I find her in all sorts of interesting places!
No pictures on this post because my hubby took both cameras on his trip, so I'll add some later.

The Squirrelly Squirrel

Elli and Emmett have been dueling with the squirrels who come into the yard to steal bird food.

Squirrels: 2, Elli & Emmett: 0

Emmett's POTTY TRAIN

After a failed (weak) attempt to finally get Emmett out of pull-ups, I consulted with my friend/relative Amber who gave us a great idea! Amber, maybe you should be a teacher or something???? ;-)
We put him in underwear and just went for it - yes, it was a little messy for a couple days. I also made him a sticker chart, called "Emmett's Potty Train". (When we started talking to him about potty training he thought we meant a choo choo train....) He got one sticker for pee and two for poo. For every ten stickers (only five at the beginning) he got to pick a wrapped prize (candy and dollar store items). Once he filled the whole chart he got to pick a wrapped BIG prize. The whole thing worked great! It only took him about five days to fill the chart, but we were good to go by then, so I didn't make another one. We put a pull-up on him at night, but he's been dry for two nights, so maybe we're good at night too!

DAY 1

DAY 5

Good Job, Buddy!

Jessie is 9 Months Old!

Jessie was officially 9 months old on New Year's Eve, but we just had our check-up today. Here's how she measured up:
18.3 lbs, 36th %tile
( I knew she was lighter than the first two!)
28.25 inches long, 71st %tile
Head size: 45 cm, 77th %tile
She has four teeth and is just starting to think about crawling - she gets up on her knees and rocks a little. But, she is rolling EVERYWHERE! She loves to eat finger foods like banana, baby snacks, and cheerios. I have made all her baby food (didn't do that with the first two), so she's had a much more diverse diet than Gracie and Emmett. Everything has been cooked together and pureed, but in the mix she has already had onions, garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes, beef, chicken, carrots, peas, broccoli, potatoes, salmon, sweet potatoes, corn, tiny pasta, spinach, avocados, blueberries, cherries, yogurt, oatmeal, apples, prunes, pears, peaches, apricots, cheese, and of course bananas! She seems to like everything we've given her, so we'll see how long that lasts!

We had fresh snow yesterday, 8-10 inches when it was done. So, I took (all) the kids out to play for a little bit (only about 15 minutes because it was only 8 degrees!). We tried out Jessie's toboggan and she loved it and Gracie loved pulling her in it, so it's a keeper!

Winter Walk

On New Year's Eve Jason took Elli and Emmett down to a Highland Cattle ranch in Cascade, MT to look for wildlife. They saw a few animals, but not the geese Jason was hoping for.

Family Christmas

On Christmas Eve we went to Mass at 4:30, then out to dinner at Applebee's - it was great! We were home by 7, fed Santa's reindeer (picture below), put cookies out for Santa, and in bed by 8! I think that will be our tradition from now on!

Christmas Morning

My parents made the 11-hour drive from Washington to be with us in time for Christmas dinner. We had prime rib (thanks M & D) - it was my first time cooking one and I have to say that it was fantastic!

Gracie trying out her new digital camera on Emmett in his prized new football uniform.

This is how he came upstairs the morning after Christmas.

The semi-frozen falls of Great Falls

At Giant Springs State Park - it was COOOOLLLD!

Cooking hot dogs and trying to warm-up.

Sledding with Pa and Daddy. There are straw-bales in front of the many trees in this park. Thanks goodness because Emmett hit almost every one!

Not much snow, but the ground was so frozen that it was still great sledding and the kids had no problem pulling the sled up the hill.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Gracie is attending a Catholic pre-school, so before Christmas break they performed the Christmas Story for their families - they also sang a whole bunch of songs. Gracie was a wiseman(girl) and yes, that is a camel standing next to her!

Getting ready to see Santa
Gracie missed seeing Santa this year because she had a fever and bad cough (the other two got it later - the two weeks before Christmas were pretty rough).

I thought Emmett would be okay with Santa this year and he was, until it was our turn to go up. He was the ONLY child that screamed!

We were homebound for a week because we had solid ice EVERYWHERE, but as soon as it warmed up a few degrees (to 15) Emmett wanted OUT! And
sometimes you want to go outside so bad that putting pants and coat on just aren't important! (He only stayed out for about 3 minutes!)

Playing Catch-up!

Okay, so I'm a little behind in the last six weeks. I already made one post for December, but this one is for NOVEMBER. That's right, back to November for our trip to Sedro-Woolley for Thanksgiving. We were at my parents house for a week and while we were there we went shopping, processed wild game, and attempted to put up a zip-line across the stream.

Plan B: Zip-Line Project
The trees were too pliable and were bending too much (Plan A), so they tried putting anchors in behind the trees...no go. Now I think my dad has put two-ton conrete blocks behind the trees to anchor to....we'll see how it's coming when we're home in February!

The Whole Family:
My brother Ian with his wife Julie and son Callahan (baby #2 on-the-way!)
My Mom and Dad with us

Tractor ride with Pa - he told them is was okay to yell, so that's what they're doing!

Deer and antelope meat, cut from the bones and ready to be made into summer sausage, jerky, and pepperoni (over 100 lbs).

Jason and Dad making summer sausage.