I don't need ribbons for this special Christmas present.
Enjoying cousins.
Enjoying cookies first, and cousins second.
Chad got this guitar for Graduation, Christmas and his birthday.
The kids opened their presents from Grandma and Papa early, thinking we'd be leaving the following day for home. That's so funny I forgot to laugh (remember that lame comeback from childhood?).
We enjoyed some fun before the snow got really bad. That was the first of three snowmen Sam made and Noelle is touching snow for the first time.
The abominable snow-van.
Deck the deck.
Our one week trip to head out for graduation has turned into two. My excitement to finally have a Christmas in our very own home has fizzled and died with the snow. All this snow, plus 1-84 closures, plus snow currently falling, plus more snow on the way means our first MAYBE opportunity to head home is this coming weekend. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for a warm place to stay and food and the opportunity to reflect more on the true meaning of Christmas, but I'm more than a little bummed that all of Sam's presents and most of Noelle's are in Idaho. Our pictures with Santa, cancelled. Cute Christmas jammies, hundreds of miles away. Christmas stockings, in Idaho. Video camera to commemorate Noelle's first Christmas, also in Idaho. Is it wrong that I want to cry? The suggestion to wait and have Christmas when we get home is valid, except the kids are getting major cabin fever and I'd much rather pull out what we do have here so they have something to play with. By the way, if you're expecting a package from me, it's most likely coming much, much later than you probably can imagine. I'm never travelling at Christmastime again unless I'm going somewhere tropical.
After several years of schooling, 2 surgeries, 4 career changes (for me), 3 schooling major changes (for Chad; can you guess which ones they were), 5 homes and two kids later, Chad has finally graduated from Western States Chiropractic College. Now I got me a doctor for a husband. Mrs. Doctor Woolner... has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
During our decorating festivities, Sam discovered which decoration Noelle enjoyed the most and used it to do what big brothers do best, tease. A glimpse of the future and I didn't need a ghost to show me. God bless us, everyone.
Here's our sweet bundle of "Joy". Not long before I took this photo, Noelle and I had a Hollywood near brush with death. For real. We were late for the parade so Chad went on ahead with Sam. I rushed to get Noelle in her stroller, coat on, blanket, buckled in and then started running to catch up with Chad. "Better hurry," said the traffic attendant. "The train is coming." Train? What train? I don't hear or see a train crazy, inbred traffic dude. So I'm pushing Noelle over the tracks and that's when the bells sound and the lights flash and the crossing guards start coming down. I turn to see the train coming. Now I see the train. I take back the whole crazy, inbred thing. But I think, well, I'm nearly across the track, no worries. Then, Noelle's stroller comes to a dead stop in a track rut. I swear, those things are made to catch wheels, feet, shoes, opossums, etc. Now I'm panicking trying to yank the stroller free of the rut. I get it out and start to stroll (although "stroll" implies moving at my leisure which at this time I am not doing) . . . ok . . . force the stroller ahead only to have the blanket now loose and caught in the wheel. I yank the blanket loose and shove the stroller ahead with super human strength and duck under the guards in the nick of time. True story.
