Signs around town

The Steelers are a BIG deal here. Sports here are huge. (I think it is because there is nothing else to do here.) Anyway, since the Steelers are going to the Super Bowl tomorrow, these signs have been popping up all over town.

This one was at Krispy Kreme, but I have also seen them at Home Depot and the grocery stores.

Pinewood Derby

Henry had his first Pinewood Derby today. He designed, sanded and helped paint his car. He also picked out the stickers and put them on. He won half of the races he was in. We had a lot of fun.

The red one is Henry's

Shoveling Snow

Yesterday alone we shoveled snow 3 times. We have gone through approximately 170lbs of salt...50 of it since Monday. Usually it's not too bad, but on Wednesday they had what they call "wintery mix." Wintery mix is basically ice sludge. It is like slush coming out of the sky, but then it freezes into this weird (and very heavy) ice mixture. Henry and I were out there for 1 1/2 hours getting it off the driveway...yuck. The boys come out and help us shovel. Sadie, however, always says that it is too cold. Ben got her out there yesterday though.

Samuel in the snow

Sadie refusing to wear gloves

Pirate Fest

Last Saturday Ben got VIP tickets to "Pirate Fest." This was a celebration for the Pittsburgh Pirates (baseball team.) We had a lot of fun. I guess they gave the VIP tickets to different companies in the area. We had a free breakfast, got lots of autographs and all of the prize winning games were free. If we hadn't had the special tickets each booth would have been $1-$2 each, which adds up. They got to go in the bounce houses too. Sadie loved that part. We won tickets to a Pirates game also. The kids won about 12 hats between them, stuffed animals, clocks, blankets, beach towels, etc. It was a great way to spend a Saturday.

Henry, Samuel and Sadie in the bounce house

Samuel and Henry with the Pittsburgh Pirate Parrot

Yeah!!!

Ben and I have been awaiting news on the ARM for our home in Florida. When we moved there we got a 5 year ARM figuring we wouldn't live there that long. I was right...we didn't live there that long, but as you know, we still own our home down there. We knew that our 5 years was up next month and wondered what the interest rate would change to. We have 5% on it right now and didn't want to have to refinance. Well, got the letter today...4%! Yeah. What a blessing!!

Here's a thought...

A couple of weeks ago in Relief Society 2 women mentioned times when their husbands had dressed their young children and how appalling the results were. In the course of the lesson I made a comment and at the end of the comment I said that my husband gets the kids ready all the time and they look just fine. After thinking about it for awhile I realized I think that it's not that they look just fine...it's that I have lower standards on what just fine is. If you'll notice in the picture of Sadie eating ice cream...she is wearing a pajama top. My philosophy though, is if they will change themselves (and she had actually changed into that, that morning insisting it wasn't a pajama top) then great..it's one less thing that I have to do. Case in point:Here's the multi-layer look that the 2 younger kids seem to favor...mostly not matching.

Not sure that the t-shirt and flower pants match either

Pretty sure Sadie got these clothes out of the "too small" pile

I then remembered that the people at the Rite-Aid around the corner from the school probably refer to me as "the crazy lady who wears her pajamas to buy milk." I guess they come by it honestly.

P.S. I just took Samuel to school (he likes me to walk up and wait with him on the playground) in my slippers. I might need to re-evaluate the standards that I'm setting for my children.

Sledding

This is our side yard. Personally, I think that sledding would be a lot more fun if you could do it in warm weather.

Henry

Samuel

Max & Erma's

I took the kids to Max & Erma's (the local hamburger chain). They loved the ice cream bar...

Weather

This is the weather forecast:


Today
Snow Showers
H:11° L:-2°


Tomorrow
AM Clouds
H:6° L:-1°

Why did we leave Florida????

The kids love the sledding though. They went with the neighbors yesterday. Evidently around the corner from the house is the neighborhood sledding spot. After about 20 minutes I went to go see if Samuel wanted to come home. The first day that he had to walk home from school in the cold he came in the door crying. I guess he has toughened up though, becuase he stayed sledding just as long as the bigger kids. Samuel, loves to shovel snow too. Who would have thought that the kid that never wanted to walk (always too tired) is always out there helping us shovel?

I'm glad I don't live where they are even colder.

Car Seat

We used the same infant car-seat for all of the kids. However, after Sadie was done using it I sold it. I sold it because we had bought a travel system and I didn't like having the huge stroller kicking around the garage. We didn't have that much room in FL and we never used that stroller. It was bigger than the double that we have. Anyway, since I was selling the stroller I figured that I would sell the matching carrier also. Then, if we had more kids, I would just by a new seat.

In a brave move last week, I bought a car seat for the baby. I noticed on-line that they were selling last years "models" to make room for this years and thought, maybe the stores would be too. I went to Babies-R-Us, but they only had pink ones on clearance. Sadie really wanted to get the baby a pink one, but I had already been told by Henry that we couldn't get a pink one. So, we went next door to Burlington and got a boy one that was a floor model on clearance. This was a leap of faith, (but since this pregnancy has made it 10 weeks longer than the last) and hope that the baby will actually come home this time. Here's a picture of the one we got.

Thank you notes

I'm not always the best at writing Thank You notes, but I try. This year the kids and I sat down the week after Christmas before they went back to school to write them. Of course, I haven't gotten them sent yet. Here is one that Samuel insisted we do.

It's a Small World

So, I have been scanning Ben's mission album today. This picture is from one year before we met at the Hill Cumorah Pageant. His family came out to see it and he had this picture taken with 2 of his younger brothers with some cast members. This is where it gets to be a small Mormon world. In the background on the far right is a girl in a striped dress...this is my little sister Emily. Behind her in the white t-shirt is my cousin. How funny is that? Exactly one year later Ben and I met at the Hill Cumorah. Now, maybe those of you who have heard that I thought my husband was 16 when we met will understand.

What a Journey

Ben, Thanks for the great journey so far....

Before marriage

Ben's out of town and I was browsing a friend's blog. She has posted a picture from a high school dance thinking she wasn't at her best in High School. (You know who you are Trish.) I have been busy scanning all of my old photo albums and pictures and thought you might get a kick out of this.

Thanks for the dress Julie...

And here's one for you Trish! Thanks for the memories.

Please be kind when comparing these to the post from Henry's baptism and remember that I am pregnant.