Winter fun in the cold

Yesterday Curtis dug the kids a tunnel through the snow bank about 10 feet long. It goes in one side of the bank and out the other. Even though it was really cold out (-28 C with a wind) Curtis was really warm. Chloe was the first to come in after about 10 minutes. Russell lasted about 45 minutes of helping. It took Curtis 2 1/2 hours. Today they went in the tunnel with Ranger and it was warmer in there than out.

Chloe making her gingerbread house with Grandma

Last week it was Chloe's turn to go to Grandma's and make her gingerbread house. She was gone from Wednesday to Sabbath. They built the house over 2 days because she still wanted to go with Grandpa and Uncle Steven to haul grain. Every day while she was there Grandma braided her hair which she loves, so now Mommy needs to learn how. Russell really loves her house and they are already planning what they can build next year. The sliegh and house are sitting on our table and they look and say things about them everyday. At Christmas they can start eating!!

One Tooth Gone!

Russell lost his first tooth yesterday. I think I was more excited than he was. This tooth has been loose for about 2 months. He bit into a rice krispie square on Sunday and the back of the tooth came out. It was just hanging there and I was tired of looking at it. I gave Russell a mirror and he kept wiggling the tooth. Once he could see how much it moved he kept going. Next was some tweezers. I asked him if he wanted me to tie some dental floss around his tooth and he agreed. Before I had the dental floss closed he pulled it out. He said it felt better to pull and he knows that he is in control of the tooth. He did not have to wait until the next morning to get a surprise. I gave him another train for his Thomas set. This is the only train he is getting because we will be broke keeping that up. The next tooth goes under the pillow and he waits till morning and there is no train!!

Fun With Grandma

Grandma wanted to do some gingerbread with each of the kids so last week it was Russell's turn. He chose to build a sliegh. I must say the finished product looked better that I expected. Grandma let him do everything and put whatever candy on it he wanted. Russell has a plan for everything so that is why the candies are in a straight row (so are his tractors at home!!). Chloe is going this week to build a house. These are beautiful memories.

Winter Retreat Dominican Republic

Curtis and I have finalized our plans this week for our vacation to a warm destination. Here are some pictures of where we sill be staying. We have book a room with a kitchen in it so we can do some of our meals. I get tired of eating out. The Dominican is also close to Purto Rico so we plan to take the ferry there and spend a day. We like to see as much as we can because who knows if we will ever get back. There is lots of the world we would like to see so we don't go to the same place twice. It will be 2 years in March since we were in Hawaii and I am in need of a vacation.