Next Weekend We'll Be In Hawaii...

....but this weekend we went SLEDDING in 13 degree weather!  Talk about two extremes!  We were able to figure out where we use to go with YM/YW growing up in Hermiston and had a blast!  We were shocked to get back to the car and realize that we were out for 3 1/2 hours...boy are we paying for it now, talk about some sore muscles from all of the crashes!

 We went up to Andy's Prarie, which is a HUGE bowl that you can sled down from all directions...one side is WAY high and WAY steep.  We got tired of the hike up after a few times and went down the shorter side for the majority of the time...but not before Rick took the boogie board down the steepest part!

 As you can see...

 that was a BIG mistake!  He crashed HARD at the bottom!  Ashlyn rode a tube down the steepest/highest part and crashed at the bottom, going head over heels multiple times...it took quite a bit of convincing to get her to go back down, but she did and LOVED it.

Blake was the only one who went time and time again down the biggest part. I snapped this picture right before he CREAMED me! Layed me flat out...but I got the picture and that's all that mattered.

 We are so glad to be less than an hour away from all the snow to go and play, but not have to deal with it at all here at home...we had a TON of fun up there today and can't wait to go back.

Finally Excited to Read

Ashlyn was excited to go up on stage during the assembly at school today for an award she earned for the Accelerated Reader Program at school...a program that is used all over the country to monitor kids' reading/comprehension as they read books throughout the year.  

(Sorry the picture is from behind, my class sits on the front row of assemblies 

and that was the angle I happened to be sitting from)

Ashlyn is rarely excited to read, even though she is a great reader - she has to pick library books between 2.5-3.5 grade level - but finally being able to participate in A.R. has given her the motivation she needs.  She is the only 1st grader in the school that is at the prize level she earned today, but she still has a ways to go to earn lunch with the principal and even further to go for the end of the year field trip - they have to have 100 points.  Considering books kids read at this age are only 0.5 points a piece, that's a LOT of reading!  However, she has started reading books like the Magic Tree House series and those books are worth 1 point each, but still.  We're just glad we aren't having to fight to do her required 20 minutes of reading each night for homework...prizes are a wonderful motivator!

"Holy Cow!"

Today at morning recess we got quite the surprise...snow!  It wasn't in the forecast even, but all of a sudden the clouds rolled in and it started dumping HUGE snowflakes!  It was like feathers were floating down from the sky, I have never seen such a thing.  And for it to start all of a sudden, with such big flakes and so hard...it didn't stop until after lunch.  Needless to say my kindergartners were WAY crazy!  I kept saying "Holy cow" about it all and they kept saying, "Holy cow?  What's that mean Mrs. Harrison?" As hard as I tried to explain, there just isn't a translation for "holy cow" that does it justice.  

It came down fast enough that Ashlyn and her friend were able to make a little snow dog during recess before having to go inside.  I love times like this that I work at her school and can see fun little things she does out at recess.

Christmas Morning

This year we had a houseful of people for the first time for Christmas, so Blake and Ashlyn slept in our room for the week, which made it REALLY easy to get up at "o-dark-thirty" Christmas morning.  Just like when we were kids us adults went downstairs to turn on the lights and Christmas music and "Ooo and ahh" over what Santa brought as the kids waited very impatiently to come downstairs.

 Blake and Ashlyn must have been on Santa's Good List this year, because he brought Blake an iPod Touch he has been REALLY wanting and Ashlyn an mP3 player that she has been talking about since this summer. They were VERY excited and have been jamming all day since - so nice for them to have ear buds so we don't have to have Justin Bieber or Carly Rae Jepsen stuck in our heads all day.

We were excited for aunts, uncles, cousins and Grandma and Grandpa visit for Christmas - it had been a LONG time since we've had anybody with us for the holidays since we were in Georgia - but the kids quickly realized that it slowed down their ability to open presents...we have the one person at a time rule to opening presents. 

All the kids got a little impatient with Mason and his method of opening gifts - one tiny piece of paper at a time, but it was so cute!  He would get excited about whatever was in it before he even could tell what it was.

 Eventually we made it through all the gifts that were under the tree and then it was a huge undertaking to say the least to get it all cleaned up and organized.  

Everybody had to try their hand out at our new Just Dance 4 and Disney Dance games throughout the day...

 ...and of course no Christmas is complete without playing games... even Rick and Dad put a smile on their faces to play one day a year.  We got a handful of new games as gifts and it was fun to have a crowd to try them out with. 

Thanks everybody for coming and cramming into our little house to help us celebrate the Christmas Season!