Bdays and Snowdays!

 Scott bday was the 14th, on Friday the kids had a hot tub party so we sang to him ....because.... they all wanted to eat his cake.  Joc and Avery and I took him to Red Robin (the girls LOVE when they sing to you) and then Sat. Mark and his friends took him out.  For his bday I bought him a brand new snowmobile and trailer.

 Eric has a black light in his bedroom, so every night when I pass by it in the hallway you can see EVERYTHING white glowing.  It is kinda crazy looking, Austin and him got out his glow in the dark airsoft pellets and made decorations on the floor, this is what you see when you walk by their room. 

The kids are ding dongs.  They heard that they would announce any delay's in school or cancellations at 5:00 am ...... so they set their alarm for 5 on wed. and then jumped around the house yelling "yay we get a 2 hour delay........ they (Eric and Rin) couldn't go back to sleep so they got their snow clothes on and went sledding.  The Iverson's came over Thurs. to play in the big bowl we have behind some of the apts.  My school has been cancelled as well, good thing so we can all play, but I was supposed to learn to cut Thurs.....  so Im very excited for the roads to clear and get back to school.  Im glad the storm hit right after our field trip to the fire station with the scouts!  Fun.

Beauty School!

Yay Im so excited, I started cosmetology school.  I have wanted to do it forever but it just never seemed like the right time.  It will never be the perfect time, but now is definitely better than in the next few years.  We all sat down and talked about how hard it was going to be for our family, but it would only be 14 months and then I would be done forever and could do whatever I wanted with it, to make it work with our family.  It is Tues.-Sat. from 8:30-2:30 so I am home everyday before the kids get home from school.  I have no homework so once Im home I can just be Mom.  I didn't want to start it during Austin's senior year or his last summer home so really this is the best time for us.  Im in the apt. for another 6 months and I can't really work on fun things for the house (crafties are all in storage) and I don't really know colors or anything yet so Im kinda just stuck...... SO what a great time to get schooling done.
I have wanted to go back to school for the last few years but to get my AA  would cost so much money and take so much time away from my family with homework and things that it just didn't feel right.  And once I got it..... what could I do with it?..... nothing.... and a four year degree sounds so far away and costly.  SO I do want to get it one day but making money now seems smarter, and then I won't feel so bad to spend money on schooling for me. 
So the going to school on Saturdays stinks BUT it is nice that my kids don't wake up until noon if I don't wake them..... so by the time they get up, eat, lay on the couch, do their jobs, and then get ready for the day,  I am home. 
I LOVED this week, we learned SO much already!  The time goes by so fast, Im always shocked when she says its time to clean up, I feel like I just got there.  I have already learned so many fun things.  It is nice to be old, I have no parties or boyfriends to be thinking of so it makes the class very interesting and fast moving.  There is one other "older" girl in my class and we giggle at the 18 year olds and the things they talk about.  So for week one, I love it!

This is Kamila, she is my partner.  She has many piercings and tatoos, I told her my kids would not approve of my hanging out with her.  She thinks Im funny.  She wears her hair in a mohawk, the sides of her head are shaved, it is wild!  I will have to take a picture of it when I get to know her better and am not afraid of her beating me up.
This is the pretty hair-do I did on her after our fun day of shampooing and styling each others hair.  She liked it and said "it's not as bad as I thought it would look".  She is actually a super sweet girl, just has different taste than me.  :)

Austin's dreams are coming true!  He is in the new play Robinhood.  He plays the villain, Riccon.  Are you ready for this....... they have hired a licensed fight choreographer from California..... so everyday after school he gets to go sword fight with all his friends.  He loves using the real (unsharpened) swords but ends up with bruises when they mess up.
He comes home and teaches it to Eric and Jocelyn, you should see the bopper sword choreography going on in my living room.  Marinda decided to be backstage this time, she has to take drivers ed so she didn't have as much time for this play.  They put her in as props manager and she has her own assistant.  She is very excited. 

Cabin

 The day after Christmas we packed up to go to the cabin.  Then sweet little Penelope was born!  Marinda and I ran to the hospital to see her and all that beautiful hair! 

 The cabin was so fun, they had remodeled the kitchen, it was so different.  There was not much snow so we had to drive to the sledding hill.  This is the view from my room, so beautiful!

 Marinda, Kylee, Jocelyn, and Avery went snowboarding for the first time.  They all had a good time and didn't leave the hill until it was dark. 

 Austin, Carsten, and Taryn tried to get the ladder off the dock..... brrrr.

 We took Amalie (the exchange student from Norway) up with us.  All the girls had a good time staying up late in the girl party room.

No snow meant muddy Razr rides.

I love watching the cousins have a great time together! 

Christmas

Christmas was very simple this year.  We only got one bin of decorations out.  Marinda walked around the house putting up all the decorations in the box all around and then when she finished I took them all down and put them back in the box.  She didn't mind, putting them up is the fun part. There just wasn't any room in this big apartment.  The tree, stockings, and Holy Mary with baby Jesus were all we put up.  It took almost ten minutes to put it all away this year.  Yay. 

 

Christmas Eve we went to my Mom & Dad's.  Cathy's family was at Todd's families cabin.  We played the gift in a bag game.  Ate delicious turkey and cried that there was no snow to play in. 

 

 

 I made everyone go outside for some pictures that they were all so excited about.  Im so glad I did, all the kids are getting so big! 

 

Christmas Eve us girls were excited about our footsie pajamas!  We danced all around the house in them.  Your never too old!

 

The week before Christmas...... Scott took the girls to watch The Nut Cracker Ballet with the Walla Walla Symphony.  My girls LOVED it, Scott said it was amazing for the first few minutes and then.... eh.  Some of Marinda's friends (in Scott's church class he teaches) were in it.

 

 Then we went to Tollgate to go sledding with some friends.  It was SO warm and sunny, perfect day to play in the snow!   Eric jumping over Austin.

 Scott

 Marinda and Ashtyn crashing.

 The last picture my battery was going dead.  It was the little guys by the fire drinking hot chocolate.