Snow Day

Last week we got a ton of snow.  It dumped inches & inches on us in just a couple days.

Every ounce of snow that we had gotten since November had melted.  There was even a day this month that Josh went out & raked, yes, raked the yard.

But all that unfallen snow was made up for in about two days.  This table had been bare two days before.

In two days I spent a total of 6 hours shoveling our short (but steep) driveway.  In fact, it snowed so much that the twins got a "snow day" off from school.  This is practically unheard of in Montana.  In my 18 years of schooling in Montana I got one snow day.

Knowing that this may be the only snow day they would ever get we did some extra fun stuff.

They built this snowman family, just from the snow on our deck (which had already been shoveled twice).

We made Christmas ornaments.

I know this sounds funny, but the twins had made these ornaments in class.  Unfortunately when we were packing up Christmas decorations they broke.

So we had to remake them.  We did them on plastic ornaments so that breaking wouldn't be a possibility.

And JoJo got to make one as well.

And of course there was more outside play with our overabundance of snow.  This is just one of the few piles I created with my hours of shoveling along the side of our driveway.  This mound represents the snow that sat around the edge of our van.  My back hurts just thinking about it.

Daddy help them build a snow tunnel through one of the hills.

All that snow does provide a good amount of entertainment.  But I'm happy that it's slowly melting away, it does not make life easy.  In fact, the first night of big snow Josh couldn't make it up our main road on his way home from work & had to turn around & go buy tire chains just to get home.

But all that snow provided a lot of excitement, an extra day home from school, an abundance of  hot chocolate, & a few extra moments of watching movies on the couch.  It will be a memorable day.

New Addition

First of all, no, I'm not pregnant.  I just wanted to introduce our new little puppy.

A friend of ours had a litter of Boarder Collies & we claimed one.  (He's still in that guinea pig phase, but will look more like a puppy soon.  When we first saw the pups Maddie whispered "Is it a dog or a baby rat?" :)

We really need a dog to protect our kids where we live.  There are mountain lions & bears, so whenever the kids go outside i have to go with them & carry my bear spray.  I wanted a good herd dog to watch over our kiddos while we're outside.  Not to mention the twins have been relentlessly asking for a puppy for two years now.

We had a Boarder Collie when we were first married & I loved him.  The only reason we had to get rid of him was because we moved into town & our yard was small.  Boarder Collies are great dogs.  Our friends Buck & Jami had an accidental litter & said we could have a pup.  I was so excited because I had been looking for a dog but they all were too expensive.  Even the ones from the animal shelter.

We haven't named our newest addition yet, but Josh keeps throwing out character names from Lonesome Dove.  I'm sure it will be a big debate, but in the end I'll probably get to name it ;)

It's my dog after all.  I know it's a family pet, but we all know who is going to train, clean up after & feed the little guy- ME.  That's why when Josh's brain fell out & said he wanted to get a hound dog I said "Uh ah, this is basically my dog & I don't want a hound dog.  I want a Boarder Collie or Australian Shepherd.  Hound dog.  Pleeeease."

In these pictures Puppy is only a week old.  He is now two weeks old & will come home around Valentine's Day.  The kids are so excited.  The twins can't wait to have a puppy of their own.  I'll post more pictures when we see him next.  He'll probably look less like a rat then.

Loosing Teeth

Yesterday Gracie lost her first tooth.  We were ice skating with some friends & she came over & said "My loose tooth is bleeding."  I looked in her mouth & there was no tooth.  She has no idea when or how she lost it.  That tooth had been hanging on by a thread for a few days so any little jolt would have knocked it out.

We all searched the ice intently for the little lost tooth, but were unsuccessful.  It's hard to find a tiny white tooth on a backdrop of white snow & ice.  So instead of leaving a tooth for the Tooth Fairy she left a not that read:

To the Tooth Fairy
From Gracie
I'm sorry my tooth fell out
I was skating
My tooth fell on the ice 
It was bleeding and it is lost


But no worries, the Tooth Fairy left her some money regardless of the lost tooth.  That ol' Tooth Fairy sure is nice.

Christmas Update

Sorry it has taken me a while to post about Christmas.  I've been sick since the day after Christmas, so for a week now.  It has really slowed things down around here.  On top of that we had a flooding issue in the twins' room which has resulted in pulled up carpet & an army of sandbags outside.  Looks like a fun drainage project for us come spring.  And just to make sure we stay on our toes we've had a sewer gas issue in our basement bathroom. Fun, fun.  Anyway, here are some pictures from Christmas day at the Yakos house.  Let's start with our tree.  This year was Josh's turn to pick out a tree.  He was excited to get a "big" tree, and he did just that.  Our 12 foot tree took every string of lights, garland & ornaments we had to decorate it.  It also took out my back while putting it up.

Here's our annual "kids all dressed up picture" that we take after our Christmas Eve church service.

Our Christmas was quiet this year.  We hosted my parents & one of my brothers for Christmas Eve & Christmas day at our new home.  In the morning we started by opening stockings.

Each kiddo gets a stocking full of necessary goodies like chap stick & toothbrushes.

Along with unnecessary goodies like rubber knives.  This was one of Joshie's favorite presents of the day.

He also got a "bull" pillow pet from his Grandma Leslie.

Danica got new undies from her Aunt, of which she tried on every pair in the pack.

Grandpa Buck spoiled the twins with new chaps, each in their individual show colors.

New bathrobes & sleepwear from their Great Grandpa.

Gracie was super excited about this pony set from her Aunt.

As was Maddie about her activity set & art supplies.  She has them all organized neatly in her desk.

 One of the best parts of Christmas is seeing what the twins will buy you.  They take their little coin purses to the dollar store & I pretty much let them pick out whatever they see fit for their loved ones.

 Overall a great Christmas.  We had a wonderful day spending time with each other & eating way too much.  By the end of it all JoJo could literally sleep almost anywhere!  Hope your Christmas was just as blessed & Happy New Year!