Cursed...Or Punished (I'm Not Sure Which)

(This picture has nothing to do with my post other than I think Jemma is really really cute.)
I think since I started complaining about my hatred for coldness, I'm being punished...with coldness...and a lot of it.

We woke up AGAIN this morning to no power. Bennett and Jacks were excited though because that meant "campout" in the living room.

It all started Monday with a few small snow storms. Monday the schools were canceled due to 4 inches of snow and no wind (Really?) Tuesday and Wednesday we got about 10 inches more.

Then the big storms moved in.

Yesterday we woke to no power. Great. The snow was so warm that the snow falling was almost rain, but not quite. Throughout the day we added about 12 inces of moisture. At 1pm the power came back on and I noticed an odd sound. Drip. Drip. Drip. Our roof was leaking! Luckily Matt had just pulled in the driveway (he was sent home early from work. Yea!!!) Matt got on top of the roof and started shoveling, by the time he was done, 3 more leaks in the same area presented themselves. (Don't worry. We aren't too concerned. Mostly because we have renters insurance and it won't be our responsiblility to replace the roof when it caves in)

Sometime during the night it turned back into snow (the really light fluffy kind) Matt got the day off again (Yea!) One thing about Arizona is if there is even a skiff of snow they shut everything down.

This is our 6 foot fence yesterday afternoon with probably about 4 feet still showing.

This is the fence this afternoon with only about 1 1/2 left to the top.

Believe it or not, Matt is standing. And Bennett is slowly sinking.

It's still snowing strong and isn't suppose to stop until Saturday afternoon.

Not only are we having some crazy weather up here. Pheonix (actually the whole state of Arizona) is crazy with flooding and such things. Last night there were 2 tornados. One in Cave Creek, just north of Scottsdale and another in Mesa and Gilbert. I don't know if they touched down or not, but scary none the less.

Jacksen, Jacksen, Jacksen (I am shaking my head at him)

I peered in through the nursery window at church today...

Only to discover my son standing on top of a table, a play kitchen knife raised high above his head, making some type of warrior like screech.

No one was paying any attention to him. Obviously they had witnessed several scenes of the like prior to this one.

I turned to the group clustered in the hall "My son is acting like a heathen!"

One parent next to the other window glanced in, "Who? Oh, you mean the Cereal Killer. He sure likes his weapons."

Apparently Jacks fasination with knives has not gone unnoticed in the ward. He has even been nicknamed.

Jemma

Ignore 2 things while watching this video:

1) Jacks wet diaper bouncing around past Jemma's head

2) The screeching noise that may or may not resemble the song "Rock-a-bye Baby"

Pictures

I received a new camera for my birthday/Christmas. I'm excited about it. Really.

The only problem...I don't know how to use it.

Today, however, I impressed myself by figuring out (all by myself) how to shoot pictures in sepia and in black and white. It was a hard task considering the camera did not come with instructions, except for the small pamplet that explained the dangers of improper battery disposal and that I shouldn't drop the camera because it could cause damage.

My next goal: Figuring out how to use the image stabilizer on Jacks. He's sooo squirmy.

Merry Christmas!

I'm sooo impressed with myself. Last year I didn't get my Christmas post up until the end of January...I'm so on the ball!
Thankfully the boys gave us all a Christmas present and slept in until 7 am

It turned out Jemma was more interested in her bottle and cuddling with grandma than she was her presents...But that changed when she realized that she had a few fun things under the tree.

Matt and I were a little worried about Bennett this season. All he asked Santa for was a lady bug pillow pet. And since Jacks really didn't know what to ask for, Bennett took it upon himself to order a frog pillow pet from Santa's workshop. We thought he would see it and find the pillow a big disappointment, but we were wrong. Both boys loved their pillow pets. Amazing...

Jacks also got a few dinosaurs and trains.

Bennett is becoming quite the artist and received an easel complete with chalk board and white board. He's been thrilled and has been drawing and writing for days.

Jacks with his Diego train set... a BIG hit.

Jemma and her Busy Zoo Activity Cube

Bennett and his V-Motion.

Christmas was just as relaxing as Christmas Eve. We all stayed in our pjs (except for mom...what a party pooper!). We played all day...watched some movies...ate our traditional breakfast hash (at noon) and potato soup for dinner.

We had a great Christmas! I hope everyone else had a day as great as ours!

Happy Holidays!!!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was so enjoyable. We had a very relaxing day. My mom and I (well mostly my mom) made all sorts of yummy things to eat. Matt got home early from work and took the boys out to play in the snow...

Dinner was ready by 4:30...

Santa cookies were baked, frosted, and placed by the fireplace...

Christmas pj's were donned and the Nativity story read...

Kids were in bed by 7...

I did not see the back of my eyelids until after midnight... I am no longer a fan of wrapping paper.

The Polar Express

Depending on who you ask, the Polar Express was fantastic! Whoever didn't have Jacks slapping, punching, hitting, biting, and slamming their head into the window, was having a very enjoyable time.

We boarded the train in Williams just in time, with only a few minor mishaps, like...Matt losing Bennett in the train depot. Matt and my mom searched frantically for him, while unbeknownst to me, I dragged a screaming Jacks and Jemma to the train car. (Everyone passing me had the same expression on their faces... "I hope they aren't riding with me!")
Bennett was very excited to board the train and was very content the entire ride to sit and enjoy himself. He hadn't heard The Polar Express story, but once they handed out the cookies and hot chocolate and began reading the story he was enthralled. As we passed the North Pole and waved to Santa his excitement level went up a notch. As we started back and realized that Santa had boarded the train he could hardly stand it.

I was certain when Santa entered our car Jemma would go into hysterics, but she graciously accepted her bell and Bennett and Jemma had a marvolous time shaking their bells in each others face.

The Polar Express was a great experience. I'm glad we got to go this year.

Santa Claus and Snowmen

Bennett's preschool met Santa today.

He's been looking forward to it all month (mainly because I made such a big deal out of it)

Unfortunely, he woke up with a stomache bug. We were going to keep him home, but he was extremely sad about missing out on all the fun, so I figured it was alright to give Santa our own little gift for Christmas.

We made him abstain from cookies and juice until we were safely home. I couldn't risk Santa knowing what kind of illness to expect in the days to come...and especially who to put on his naughty list.

Poor Jemma...I had to do it. Poor Santa gets a crying baby and the flu. Jacks really has perfected his scowl and used it as he backed away from Santa. So no Santa picture for him.

Bennett is very proud of his snowman. He loves playing in the snow! (Weird) Thank goodness for a dad who loves playing in the snow with him.
Jacks loves our christmas tree. He's trying sooo hard to be good and not touch, but sometimes he has to give into temptation and take an ornament off the tree. However, he treats them nicely and just likes to watch the ornament dangle from his little finger...he's fasinated

What a week!

I'm certain I've mentioned before that by moving to Arizona, I had certain expectations about the weather. Mainly 60+degree Christmases.

This December I had hope. The month started out in the 50's-60's...not bad.
Monday my hopes were dashed.

At 2pm the snow started in earnest. A storm warning was issued. (However, being from Idaho, I know the National Weather issues those all the time and never get any results)

Matt called at 4pm. They sent some home early from the hospital. Unfortunetly, the mountain was shut down and he was stuck at the bottom with everyone else waiting for a snowplow to take them up.

At 5pm I decided to do some shoveling. I turned around after 30 minutes of hard labor to discover that my clean sidewalk was piled with 2 inches of snow again.

Matt made it home at 8pm. Shoveled the driveway once more for good measure. At 11pm the power went out.

We woke to no power and our breath coming out in little puffs of white frosted air.

From Monday night until Wednesday night our neighborhood, and many others in the area were without power. And let me tell you...IT WAS COLD!

Tuesday afternoon the kids and I spent the day at Wal-Mart wondering around and sampling food from the deli (thank goodness for Wal-Mart's generator!)

We were able to light the gas fireplace so we shut the rest of the house off, pulled our mattresses to the living room, and made camp.

Wednesday the kids entertained themselves the entire day by jumping on beds and making forts with pillows, while I huddled around the fireplace. (Have I ever mentioned that I don't like being cold?... At all.)

We were down at McDonalds Playland for heat, food, and entertainment when news came that power had been restored.

One good thing came out of this experience...Well let me think about that. I'll get back to you later.

PS. We also had our ward Christmas Party

Matt and I were dreading it because our kids tend to make enjoying ourselves at these types of functions near impossible.

But we were prepared! Matt and I have a new parenting motto...Containment!

We strapped Jacks and Jemma into boosters. All went splended! We all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly! The food was good as well as the company. We had a great program, and then Santa came. Bennett was so excited to tell Santa what he wanted. Jacks rushed up, snatched his gift bag and stalked back to stare at Santa from a distance. Our only mishap was when Bennett stormed the stage (thankfully with other children at his elbow for encouragement) (I mean thankfully because ours wasn't the ONLY one) during dinner and made his presence know through the microphone. Fortune for us...people still think he's in his cute stage.

Jemma

I've been forgetting to post these pictures.Jemma turned 9 months at the first of November. She is getting sooo big, it makes me sad.
Jemma started accomplishing all sorts of feats this month like crawling, standing, and even saying a word or two.
She nods her head yes and every once in awhile I can actually get her to say it. She says dada when Matt's around.
Jemma has also mastered the fake cry. She will make small whimpering sounds and then look out one eye to make sure she's being watched.

Wow, time really IS going fast.