Konley enjoying the snow...........yesterday. See all that on our rails? We got that much again today? What is going on in this place?

Jack loves it! For a while anyways. Then his tiny little body is too tired to fight the cold anymore.

So, last night at 8:30 we were watching tv and Jeff jumps up and says that he should be out building a snowman with the boys. So I pushed and prodded and they all loaded up and went outside. I found some things to make the face but by the time I got outside they had decided that the snow wasn't wet enough and they were just making snow angels. :o) So, I grabbed the video camera and laughed as the older boys pelted dad with snowballs.

Since the snowman idea didn't quite make it we packed up the sleds and took them over to the small hill around the corner. We were the only ones crazy enough to be outside and it was a blast! We sledded down the hill and laughed for an hour.

We finally packed them up, put their clothes in the dryer, put jammies on and got them into bed. A great ending to a wonderful day.

Today was a bit colder and daddy is off saving people from a world of no power and no lights. Don't know when he'll be home, but he has to get off by tomorrow at midnight. Then you know he'll be back at it on Sunday with the wind that their calling for. Such is the life of a lineman family.

love

chell

So this is our house at twilight with all of the snow/ice and all of the lights. I guess you can really only see the tree in the window. Maybe I will try it when it's truly dark next time.

We did get our trees decorated before the disaster hit. We have one in the living room and one downstairs in the family room. We ran out of room with 5 of us to only have one tree. They don't make the fake ones as round as a real one and you just don't have enough branches. Besides, it's more fun that way!

Ok, so it would seem with Christmas right around the corner we would be hustling and bustling about trying to get things done, right! WRONG!?! I know that God will sometimes slow us down when we are too busy, but come one! The stomach flu?!? for all of us? We are literally on day 8. It started with Konley, moved to Jack, hit KEegan and I the same day and brought Jeff home early from work today. This was not the way I wanted to lose 6 pounds. Literally in 36 hours. Ai-yi-yi!
So, we're getting healthy...............and it snows.........and it freezes. What is wrong around here? It is not even supposed to hit 30 til after CHristmas. How is the snow supposed to go away in a state that only knows snow up in the mountains?
Well, enough whining. Got it out of my system. I went out tonight and took pix of the house all done up in lights and snow. Froze my "toukas" off but it worked out for the best. The boys both have late start tomorrow, so we get to "sleep in" and then maybe I will venture out before the snow starts again on Wednesday.
What a crazy start to winter. Maybe we could even have a white Christmas! One can only hope. If I don't get to you before next week have a Merry Christmas, enjoy your family and love those that are around you.
love
chell

So we originally thought that we would head to Yuen Lui the day after THanksgiving to have the cousins' pictures taken. WHAT WERE WE THINKING? We tried that once before and I think I was crying just as much as Jack. At the time we waited over 2 hours and by that time everyone was hungry and at least one child had to pee! We thought we would try something new this year. So we took the cousins out back of grandma's house and we took them ourselves. If they are happy and smiling what does it matter who took them? So we have the 6 of them: Brandon, Mariah, Madison, Konley, Keegan and Jack. It was a good way to start the day.

Thanksgiving is at the moms' house. We don't have room for the 19 people around the table and I wasn't trading Christmas morning for Thanksgiving. (Duh!?!) Drew and Heather and the kids were able to come up that morning and stay until Saturday. After shopping friday morning we took everyone to the bowling alley and had a blast! Wii bowling is definitely easier, for me anyways. We went to mexican for lunch and then home for a nap! I don't really do 4 in the morning, but I make the exception the morning after Thanksgiving. Drew and Heather, the kids and Gram Vicky came over for dinner (hot turkey sandwiches in the sandwich maker) and a movie. Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Good flick.

Jeff and I spent Saturday night at a wedding for a family friend. Thanks to Gram Vicky we were able to spend the night and be lazy sunday morning.

Now we're back to normal. Back to school. Back to work. Back to whatever it is that Jack and I do all day!

Have a great week

It's been a while since I've had a weekend to myself and this weekend I went up to Mt Baker Lodge with 10 other women and scrapped. I actually got our family book caught up to October and got a little done in Jack's book. (I forgot how little he was, not so long ago?!?) I could spread all of my stuff out for 3 straight days and not worry about anything else. I called home a couple of times a day, to say good morning and good night and daddy had everything under control (of course!) I didn't have to feel guilty about anything needing to be done around the house, or anyone needing anything. We set the iPod on shuffle and stayed up until 2 in the morning. I got up each morning totally excited to start again. As much fun as it is to be gone, it's good to be home. Our normal busy week starts again and it's back to being the mommy again.

So, after being sick for the last couple of days (Thanks mom:o)) I am feeling like half a normal person again. I actually took a nap yesterday! I laid my head down asked Keegan to play Wii baseball with Jack and opened my eyes an hour and a half later. Quite confused too, I might add. Keegan has a soccer tournament this weekend and Konley has his final game and team party. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Tomorrow is Jeff's grandparents' birthday party. They are 95 and 85 this month. I can't even imagine another 60 years. And to be so blessed to be married to someone that you still love so dearly after 64 years! May we all be so blessed.

Halloween around here was kind weird this year. Normally our very kid friendly neighborhood is teeming with trick-or-treaters and this year we couldn't figure out where all of the kids went! We went out around 6:30 and we had had one group of kids. I was kinda stingy with the candy cuz we usually run out. We had one, yes ONE other kid come to the door. So...............we have candy for the 3 boys, and the big boys graciously traded any of their non-chocolate candy with Jack for his chocolate, we have all of the candy that I bought for the masses that didn't show, AND we went to see Papa Bill the next day and he handed us his two remaining bags of candy. UGH! I'm trying to keep the winter weight off not pack it on like mud! So my 3 boys are Brom (from Eragon), Spanish soccer player and Racer X. My niece is in the front dresses as a drama queen. Our friends and neighbors are Karli as a pirate and Megan as a Barbie witch (with the giant hat.)

Life is actually slowing down a bit. Keegan is still playing for 2 soccer teams but now their practices are at the same time so he only has practice 2-3 days each week instead of 4-5. He played back to back games this weekend. WEll, kinda. His first game was at 11:45. It was nice and sunny. Not very cold. Not even a wind. So.......we didn't grab the umbrellas. In my defense I had the three boys by myself as Jeff was at the Seahawks game and the schedule had us at one field, that I parked near, and we were at another field across the complex. Well, the first half was great. The second half not so much. It was a torrential downpour! The kind that sounds like hail on your umbrella. And the wind. Yep, to add insult to injury it was strong enough to turn the umbrellas inside out! Yeah..........loads of fun. Of course Keegan was soaked when he got done. Thank goodness I made him pack 2 of everything (except underwear, and we'll probably pack that next time). He got changed and had 20 minutes to warm up, dry off and get some food in his body. He played a great first half of his second game and then just didn't have anything left. He was still trying his hardest, but got beat in a foot race every time. He slept like a dead log that night. We're back at it this weekend with a tournament on Sat and Sun. Konley has his final game on Saturday and Keegan starts indoor soccer on Sunday. And so goes the Roberts family............from one game to another. I should've known that life would be like this when you only make boys. :o)

So, nearly every year for the last 15 years we have carved pumpkins. It started because mom really likes to carve pumpkins. This year we had 25 or so people join us. It's so much fun to lay the tarp out all over the living room floor and not have to worry so much about where the "goop" is going to go! Jack had Jen cut out his pumpkin to look like Lightning McQueen (surprise! surprise!), Keegan and Konley both had faces and so did mom. I turned mine on its side and used the stem for the nose. It looks pretty cool during the daytime but once it's dark and the light is on the inside he just looks like I forgot to help him breath! Oh well, live and learn.

I can't believe that it is nearly Halloween already. I am so not ready for the warm weather to be gone and the blah!@! to move in. I love living here but could really do with a bit more sun for a bit longer in the year. I have already worn both my long underwear and my tights. (Of course, 8 am soccer games don't help either.)

My job this week is to finish up costumes. Jack is going to be Racer X from Speed Racer, Konley is a professional soccer player from Spain and Keegan in Brom a character from the Eragon series. (we found the coolest leather coat at Wal-Mart of all places that fits perfectly with his outfit......thank goodness cuz this was one that I had no idea where to even start).

Have a great week!

So I thought that I could try this. There are so many of you that are farther away and I take pictures like there is no tomorrow so I thought that I would share.

Things here are there usual nutso self. We have soccer 6 days a week and 4 out of 5 of us play on a team.

Keegan plays for 2 teams and Konley's team is getting better. He has gotten a bit more aggressive after practicing against Keegan. I still think that baseball is his passion though. Jack is liking pre-school, but telling me lately that he would like to just stay home and play. So, we'll see about next year. Someone just asked me if I had given any thought to waiting until he was 6 for kindergarten and I think I will keep it in the back of my mind. Ya never know, huh?

I'll see what I can do about keeping this up.