Snow Day in Colorado

This morning we woke up to a wind chill of -43 degrees outside. That is just plain COLD!!! So cold in fact, that school was cancelled in Colorado. So we got to spend a fun day indoors! We started with a nail salon, Halie got her finger and toe nails trimmed and painted. Austin just got his trimmed, although I am pretty sure he would have let me paint them! After that we made our way to the kitchen to make some chocolate chip cookies. The kids are great helpers in the kitchen. Austin has started helping me with dinner most night. He will pull up a little stool and say "me hep, me hep". He has gotten pretty good at setting the table!

And I never let my kids eat raw cookie dough.... :)

Halie learned the skill of dropping cookie dough onto the cookie sheet today. A skill every girl must learn!

While the cookies baked, Halie and I taught Austin how to play Candy Land. Halie was a very good teacher and was very patient with her little brother. He was more interested in the cards than winning.

Austin thoroughly enjoying his cookie!

The finished product. These were my first altitude cookies, and I forgot to read the altitude instructions until the very end. I made a few corrections, but not all the ones they recommend, and they still turned out yummy!

After lunch the kids played barbies and cars.

Halie had her first swim lessons tonight, and I almost didn't take her, but dad acted as chauffeur and dropped us off at the door of the gym and had a warm car waiting for us when we were done. Thanks Dad!

And now the kids are asleep, Dad is studying and I am sitting by the fire warming my toes. We are six days away from having our new house and that is very exciting. We went over there last night to talk with the owners about some things we didn't know how to work. They were so sweet and had a whole list of things they wanted to tell us about too. They are a neat Christian couple, he is actually a retired pastor, and they were telling us that they had been praying for Christians to come and buy their home. They told us that when they build the house, they put pages from and old bible in the foundation with their favorite scriptures on them and they wrote scriptures over the walls before they were painted. The house was built with God in the foundation and that makes it even more special to move into. We promised them that we would keep a Godly legacy going in that house.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" Joshua 24:15

One goal that I have in this new house is to have scripture up in as many places as I can. I am such a visual person and seeing the Word as I go through my day helps bring me back down to where I need to be - serving. In the old testament God told his people to put His word on the doorposts of their houses and tied to their foreheads. I think He knew what He was talking about when He said that. Over the last year and a half, it has been amazing to me the power that is in the Bible. I remember at times in my life when people would talk about how they constantly wanted to be reading and learning more about the Word, and I didn't understand it. I wanted to, but I didn't. He has now opened my eyes and heart to that power and it is amazing. The words really are alive and full of life, and bring life! And I think I can firmly say that after a year and a half, this is not some emotional high that I am on, it is real and it is joy. I think that before my hope and my joy in the Lord was based on the fact that I knew He was in control of the world, and in control of my life, and that He loved me enough to die for me on the cross to forgive my sins so I could be with Him in heaven when I died. I never really doubted any of that. What I think I missed was that He came that I might have a full life in Him on this side of heaven too! That in bowing down and willfully submitting to Him out of my LOVE for Him, I would find an incredible amount of joy, a joy beyond myself. Sorry for the tangent, all that to say, the Word will be up in our house. I want it written on the hearts of my family.

The mover will get us in the house one week from tomorrow!!!

A new day

"O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods, in whose hands are the depths of the earth; the peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it; and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." Psalms 95:1-6

We read this scripture aloud on Sunday at church. It really hit me, as it should, how big He is and how small I am. It's His world, not mine. It's amazing how I need constant reminders of that...

I am reading through Acts right now and another scripture stopped me today. Paul is in Athens, talking to people there. Acts 17:23-31 "For while I was passing though and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription. 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD'. What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things; and He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His offspring.' Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."

What can I add to that....Nothing, so I won't! Praise God!!!

As I am sitting here at the computer, it has started snowing outside again. I hope I never get tired of it. There is a school across the street from where we are staying right now and the preschoolers just got let out for recess, they all ran out into the snow with their hand held high tying to catch it, very cute, made me smile. I love that my kids are loving the snow. We asked Halie last night what her favorite part of Colorado has been so far, her answer, "the snow". I was really worried about how she would do with the cold, but she has adjusted really well. There are times she doesn't even care if she has on a coat! That is a HUGE change from just a few months ago!

Halie is doing great at school. She has a good time, except sometimes she complains about another little girl in the class who is kind of bossy to her. It makes me laugh inside, because sometimes she can be the bossy one! We have been going up to the YMCA to swim alot and she is doing really well. She has taught herself the backstroke and can hold her breath underwater for about 13 seconds (that is her record so far :) She will start swim lessons 2x a week in Feb.

Austin also loves the water, almost to the point that it is kind of scary. He will jump off into the water and go under. He tries to get himself up, but still needs my help. He comes out of the water with a smile and a squeal every time! He has sporadically started potty training again. He started before we moved, but put the brakes on it when we got up here. Last week he asked to go, asked for a magazine that was sitting on the counter, then asked me to leave and shut the door. When I came back he had done his business!! There is no doubt that he is 2 now. He is becoming quite stubborn and willful. We spend alot of time in timeout, but lucky for him, he is really cute, so it is hard to stay upset with him for long!

Paul is working and studying hard for the bar. He has been able to take some time to play with us though, which has been a lot of fun. He and Halie went out on a little doughnut date on Monday, and he took us all out for ice cream at McDonalds the other night which the kids really enjoyed.

So far everything for the house is looking good. The inspection went well and the owners eagerly agreed to the one thing we asked to be done! We are so excited to get moved in!!!!

More later, I'll try to get some pictures on too!

Halie's First Day of School

When Halie found out we were moving to Colorado she was not too excited, to say the least. She was very happy with her life and her new found place in her kindergarten class. She has told us over and over again that she did not want to finish Kindergarten in Colorado, she just wanted to stay home and play with her dolls. Austin would be her best friend. We knew that she would adjust just fine and would fit in, in no time. Well she was pretty consistent with her boycott of the new school all the way up until the moment we went to meet her new teacher the day before school started.

She didn't even want to go with me then. But, once she saw Mrs. Ensign for the first time, her eyes lit up and she didn't want to leave. After spending about 30 minutes in her new class, seeing all the fun things she was going to be doing, she was hooked. I had to drag her out of the classroom and all she could talk about after that was going to school. We are 4 days into her new semester and she is doing great! Here is a picture of her on her first day.

Our New House!

We bought a new house this week!!! Woohoo! After weeks of looking, we found one that will work great for our family! Here are some shots of it. I have to apologize, I did not get great shots because the online pics of the house are pretty good and I was just trying to make up for some shots that aren't on that site. Once we close, Feb 7th, I'll get some better ones on here. But, until then, here we are!

This is a shot of half of the front of the house.

The front porch that wraps around 3 sides of the house. From the front porch you can see the mountains.
The kitchen, Paul is just imagining the wonderful meals he will be preparing for the family!
This is the formal living/dining area that will be converted into Paul's office. I think the room color will need to be converted as well.

The main level powder room.

One of the kids rooms upstairs.

The other kids room upstairs.

The master bedroom, also upstairs.

A little loft area at the top of the stairs, we will use it as a play area for the kids. The open door to the right is the laundry room.

The living room

The basement

The next two shots are the guest room in the basement

Daddy's garage

The backyard with a little water feature creek running through it. I have no doubt that my son will constantly be wet...oh joy.

The fire pit

The kids little playhouse. Halie can't wait to get it all decorated for tea parties!

So those are all the pics we have so far. Obviously that is not our stuff in it, but we sure are excited to get ours in. We have been so thankful for John and Sheila opening their home to us while we have gone through this process, but we are also very excited to start our new life in our new home! Come on Feb 7th!

New Years Eve Fun

Every year for the last 30 years Sheila has made doughnuts on New Years Eve and this year we got to join in the fun. Halie helped cut them out, Sheila cooked them and they all helped decorate them. Here is Halie enjoying the finished product!

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!

Snow Fun!!

On Dec 31 we finally got to out and play in the snow. It snowed a couple days before, it had just been too darn cold to go out! The kids were thrilled to go out and play. Here are some shots of us getting ready.

All the kids loved playing with the shovels. Austin got 2 shovels for Christmas, the red snow shovel from Grandma Barstad and the little blue one from Santa.

Halie had fun making her snow angles!

Me and little man!

Halie going for a sled ride...me getting winded way too quickly!

Austin's turn!

Big Sis pulling Little Bro

Snow ball fight!

"I finally get to use my shovel!"

Me and Halie Bug

Jessica and Noah

"heaby!" Austin's way of saying heavy.

Halie and Noah

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, The Dynamic Duo, Monkey See Monkey Do...

mmmm, snow.

We had a great time playing. Hopefully the first of many fun snow days!