Maleah talking

This is Maleah telling us who the President is and what his daughter's name is.

Oak Trees

I love the look of this massive oak tree with its solid trunk and huge outstretched branches. This beautiful tree has weathered many storms and continues to stands tall and strong. This tree is in the middle of my neighbors yard and I'm happy to be able to see this country view every single day.

I am redecorating my bedroom and I would like to frame a photo of a massive oak tree. I have not decided if this will be the tree or if I'll use another one that I've located in my search of nature.

Sunset

It may not be the beautiful sunset that we love seeing at the ocean, but I was lucky to capture this sunset over my neighbors barn. I love seeing the snow sticking to the barn and the trees. Thought I'd share what I captured. Chick on the photo for a bigger view.

Heavy Snow

This past weeks weather has been extremely cold. Connor didn't have school on Friday with the low temperatures (below 10 F during the day). Saturday morning the thermometer read -20. So it's been darn cold here. Today we slightly broke out of the deep freeze and hit 18 degrees. We woke with close to 6 inches of fresh snow. Throughout the day, we added about 4 more inches of snow. Brian measured and we have a total of 16 1/2 inches of snow!!! We bundled up the kids and let them play for awhile. They had a ball.



This is the first time Maleah's played in the snow by herself. She got off the path that Brian plowed and couldn't go anywhere but down.



Connor enjoyed played on the high snow piles that Brian made while clearing the driveway. Maleah and Connor also enjoyed playing on the path to the wood pile.



Once it started snowing hard, the kids tried catching snow flakes in their mouths. After that, they decided they had enough and came in to warm up with some hot chocolate. At that point you could barely see the barn below the road.

Angel Note

Connor came home this afternoon all excited to show me that he FINALLY received an Angel Note. To get an angel note, you must have good behavior, good manners, and Connor says you must have perfect papers. I've been telling Connor that my one wish is for him to bring me home an Angel note to hang on the refrigerator. I hope for Connor to receive more, but this one will do. I am very happy to show this off.

Weight Loss Update

I joined Weight Watchers online last week and I had my first weigh in this morning and I'm happy to report that I've lost 5.6 pounds. I can tell I've lost weight in my midsection, where I want to loose my weight. My goal is to lose a total of 19 lbs. before my beach vacation in August.

Tinker Toys

One gift that Connor got for Christmas that's been a big hit was these Tinker Toys. Brian played with wooden Tinker Toys (why didn't I) as a boy, but Connor lives in the era of plastic toys, so his are colorful plastic pieces. Here is one of his creations.

Out with the Old...

Out with the old, and in with the new... This statement is fitting in many ways.

Today we worked hard at decluttering the house. Maleah had a full garbage bag of junk taken out of her room, and two bags of toys that need to be taken to Good Will. Room needed to be made for all those toys she got for Christmas!

Starting yesterday, I've made up my mind that this is the year I get my body back into shape after having children. I want to drop 25lbs and tighten my midsection. I will be able to get a good jumpstart this month knowing that my boss is away for the next month and that leaves me at home to play with Maleah and put the weight machines to good use.

Out with the junk food and in with the healthy foods. Grocery shopping was full of healthy foods that I generally don't buy. I'm going to look into the Weight Watchers website and possibly become a member. This is all new to me as I've always eaten what I wanted. These last few years the weight is staying on and I've had enough. Wish me luck in '09 as I toss out the extra pounds.