I can see the light at the end of the tunnel

In exactly one week Ben should be home! I cannot wait. We are not telling the kids exactly when he is getting back. We thought it might be fun to just let Ben pick the kids up from school or just let him pull into the garage. I cannot wait to see their precious little faces light up when they see their daddy. I do not know how other moms do it when their husbands are gone. We are very thankful that this should be the last time Ben leaves for a little over 3 years. Keeping my fingers crossed!
The weather has been absolutely beautiful. We have been above 60 for the past few days. The snow is just about all melted. Thank God. Today I let the kids ride their bikes outside. Something they have been wanting to do all winter. We made our way right down the street to the park. What a nice park. They had a great time. While there I met up with a lady who I over heard talking about piano lessons. Well I have been looking for someone to teach the kids,. I hopefully not rudely asked her about it. I am hoping that she will agree yo take on Scottie and Sydney this summer! I am so excited. We have the piano, but we have no idea how to play it. I think I am more excited by this than the kids.. LOL Keep your fingers crossed that it all works out.
So with the beautiful 60 degree weather comes lots of questions from Sydney. I spent most of yesterday afternoon trying to explain to her that there is no way you can have a built in pool in the backyard. For the love of god we live in North Dakota! Yes Sydney I know it's warm outside, Yes Sydney I know when the weather is warm you love to swim. No Sydney I will not go get a job and put all you kids in day care so we will have more money to buy a big in ground pool, because really we would be loosing money paying for daycare.. SYDNEY, It's warm to us,but really it's cold.. IT'S ONLY 60 outside! That was just a bit of the conversations! That girl is going to rule the world one day! She just doesn't give up.. Oh Ben PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get us back to California so we can buy the girl a house with a pool in it! LOL

Not much

Not a lot is going on around here. Just sitting and waiting for Ben to come home. Week three is almost done. Three more to go. I cannot wait and neither can the kids. Poor Matthew just doesn't get it. Everyday he tells me not to park my van in the middle of the garage because I need to make room for daddy truck. Everyday I explain that Daddy is not home today. Today as we were walking into the school to pick up Sydney Matthew says Momma, Where did Daddy move to? It just about broke my heart. Luckily Ben has one of those jobs that you normally don't go to far for to long. So hopefully we won't have to deal with this again for a while.
Ben found out yesterday that he got accepted into Utah State to obtain his Masters degree. I am so proud of him. He is very excited and happy. He will start classes in the fall. I think after this he might take a break from schooling for a bit unless another type of degree jumps out at him. LOL
Kids are all doing well. We have some kind of cold/flu thing going around. Poor Scottie has it now and decided to share it with me. Thanks baby love you too! Hopefully it passes quickly.
So today I discovered how very easy it is to get your driveway shoveled. All you have to do is find a neighbor who is shoveling out the snow by hand and offer them to use your blower and after they accept they do your drive too because you just saved them hours of back breaking work. LOL I was actually just being nice and wasn't worried about my drive since the wind blew most of the snow to my next door neighbors drive. But hey I appreciate the time you saved me too! Thought it was a little silly


Hope all is well on your end

How long can 6 weeks really drag on for?

Ben left for TDY to Alabama on Syd's birthday (March 5) and I sware it already seems like he has been gone for a year. I have no idea how wives who's husbands leave for extended periods of time do it. I am already so exhausted and we are only in week 2! He should be home around April 23. I cannot wait!

The weather has been getting nicer here. It was so funny I took the kids to the commissary last week. ( I NEVER take all 4 shopping with me) But we survived and I am happy to say that they all behaved VERY well. NO one even threw themselves on the floor once! Granted their snacks I normally wouldn't buy added at least $50 to the tab. As we walk out of the store the kids are complaining that they are too hot and start stripping off their coats, hats and gloves. Yes I admit it did FEEL warm, but they were not happy with me when I quickly made them at least wear coats. For the love of god it was only 41 outside! WATCH OUT HEAT WAVE IN NORTH DAKOTA!

So even with our heat wave we still have tons of snow. This weekend I took the kids out to the front yard and they went sledding! It was great I was able to clean out my car and watch the kids.

Pretend

This past weekend we just had to get out of the house and go some place that we could pretend that we were actually some place nice and warm for our own sanity. We packed everyone up and drove to town with the winds whipping the temp was down to -35. We went to the mall and took the kids to the indoor warm water park. They had such a great time. It was nice to watch them splashing and playing. I stayed out with Xander partially because I had a blonde moment and left half of my swim suit in California. And besides that I do not need to be in a swim suit in public. I should be using the Wii fit everyday..

It was so nice and steamy in there, my camera started to fog up! Matt loved the froggie slide..

Xander Boo waiting so patiently to get out of that stroller!

A few days ago Xander was playing in my pots and pans. I stepped out of the kitchen for a moment and suddenly he was screaming. I thought for sure that he had caught his little fingers in the cabinet door. As I raced into the kitchen I found him stuck inside of a pot! I nearly fell over laughing. I quickly grabbed the camera.

I love his little expression. UGH Mom are you going to get me out of here or just keep snapping away and laughing! The kids came running in and thought it was hysterical too!

Okay I am off to bed. Hope all is well on your end!

No More Snow PLEASE!

We have been getting lots of calls from family the past few days asking about the cold and snow. I can tell you it is FREEZING! I took the kids to school today at negative 28 with a wind chill of negative 50! The snow has ceased for today. Ben and I watch our grill in the back yard to tell us how much snow we have gotten. Here are a few pictures. I took one after 1 hour of snow and took one the next morning.



The snow on the patio is at least waist deep. I am done with snow! The weather report is calling for no more snow this week. Oh how I hope. But somehow I think they are lying. LOL

Here are a few pictures that I have snapped of the kids this week. Xander is now pulling himself up to everything. He will be 9 months on the 18th.


My baby is getting so big!

Bushia and Papa sent this to Scottie for Christmas, We stayed up till 1am to finish this



I see a lot of myself as a young girl in Sydney in this picture.



And last but certainly not least my Mattie. So full of life!

10 years ago today

10 years ago today I married my best friend. Happy Anniversary Ben! We have had our ups and downs, but always seem to pull through stronger then we were before. I can honestly say that I do not know where or what I would be if I hadn't found Ben. He is a wonderful husband and terrific father. I thank god everyday for him! He is determined to suceed and has created a wonderful life for our family. Thank you Ben!

The forecast is calling for 5 -10 more inches of snow today. Ben went out today. If we get that much snow I am certain that he will not be home tomorrow. The snow is getting to us all! The other night Sydney and I were watching T.V and we saw a pool in the yard. She said kinda angrily MOM why can't we live some place without snow and lots of sun so we can have a pool too. I told her that if she wanted a pool we had to go back to California. He response Well then what in the heck are we doing here? Good question Sydney. I really do like the area and people, but winter here SUCKS! I am very much waiting for Spring to get here. I have heard that the summers here are awesome. Highs in the 80's. I want to be able to walk to the mail box at the curb without taking 5 minutes to bundle up first!! Lets hope that they are wrong and we get minimal snow today.

Have a great day!

Back to Normal

So today everyone went back to school and Ben went back to work today. I really enjoyed this break with the kids and Ben. I truly dreaded today. We had so much fun together. I loved every minute of it! So how long until Easter break?

But as everyone is getting back to their normal so are my kids. Scottie woke this morning and pulled a booklet from his back pack and said "Oh Mom I forgot this had to be done over break" Yeah good timing Scott. I sware sometimes I think he would forget his head someplace if it wasn't connected! BUT He would never ever forget where is video games are.LOL So we rushed and got a few pages done, then I figured he messed up he needs to face Mrs Johnson today and take some responsibility for his forgetfulness. Sydney was back to screaming because some article of clothing wasn't on just right. Oh and because I haven't folded the whites just yet and the world is coming to an end if he has only 2 pairs of socks in her drawer. (I guess she realized that I went through it and trashed all the ones that she refuses to wear for some reason or another!) Matt Matt was Matt this morning. He wakes up every morning with his eyes barely cracked looking for hugs and kisses. He was very excited to get to school today to see Smokey the bunny. Xander and I went off to town to go to the DMV. It was -20 I really did not want to go, but up here they will not send your new plates to you. So we drove down, were in the DMV for less then 2 minutes and drove back home. Usually I would make it a shopping day, but it was just way to cold.

I have been bugging Ben for weeks now, Actually since we first moved here to go out and get a snow blower. He always refused. A few days ago he was out there in -37 shoveling and got only half the driveway done in 45 minutes. He quickly ran back in and said YOU WIN! So here are some pictures of Ben and his new toy. That thing hauls! I tried it out and I thought it was going to take off without me! Now we are just trying to figure out the setting so the snow doesn't blow back in your face. Ben was able to do our drive and 2 neighbors in 30 minutes! Good investment I say.

Hope you all have a wonder day!