Ya we’re still here.  I think it’s been like 6 months.

That was Skyline again.  Grandma & Grandpa & Emily came out for Thanksgiving.  Rolls and turkey were great again this year.  For some reason Ashley was thinking about trying a different roll recipe next time – but I managed to disabuse her of that ridiculous notion.

A week or so later it snowed.  a. lot. Seriously,  it was a lot.  It was about 2 feet by the end and we were snowed in for a few days.

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I think it took me about 8-9 hours to finish shoveling that damn darn driveway.

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With 2 kids in school and Lydia in Pre-School our Fridge has become overrun with schoolwork. So Ashley being the crafty-pants that she is she got some cork boards and wooden letters for the kids to paint and put their schoolwork on.

It’s fun how the kids personalities are expressed in their painting styles and their workstation.

Cassy’s all artsy and neat.  Not mixing her paints at all.

Carson’s all business.  Painted each letter a single color and he’s done.  And yes we are teaching Carson to spell his name with a 6.

Lydia has no rules.  She’s not allowed to be a teenager.   ever.

Finished Product:

Oh ya,  -  Holy Crap Evie is 1 already! -  This sucks.  stupid time…

She’s a cute little goober.

Then it was Lydia’s pre-school christmas program.  Mommy did Lydia hair and she was very pretty.  Seriously though – never gonna be a teenager.

Merry Christmas.

Grandma & Grandpa Gibbons got the kids the piano wizard.  The kids actually like piano lessons now.  They do it every day after school.  that was pretty smart.



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Evelyn is a goober.  And she’s never even seen ‘Nite @ the Roxbury’.  She’s gonna fit in fine. These kids love to dance.

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So, I really like living in VA.  But some things I could do without.  I mean “Freezing Rain”?!?  What the crap is that about?  Shouldn’t frozen rain = snow?  Apparently not.  I would much rather have snow. Somehow our heat pump survived even though we got almost an inch of ‘ice’.  It does make the trees look cool.

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Either way – i still hate my driveway….

BJ was doing some rotations or some other kind of doctory stuff in Maryland and came down to visit a couple weeks ago.  We actually drove a bit of skyline drive for the first time.

We drove for like an hour and only covered about a fourth of the whole drive.  It was good to catch up with BJ.

Uncle Bryan came home from boot camp and tech school for the WV Air National Guard and Carson turned 5… and transformed into bumblebee.

We also had a bear visit one afternoon as we were having lunch.  He actually came right up to our deck but thought better of it once he saw us through the back doors.  It took me forever to find the camera and then a big bee kept trying to come in the door so by the time I could get out there – he was already in the neighbors yard.  Here’s the little bit of him that I got…

stupid bear…..

and it took me so long to write this post that all of a sudden it’s autumn.  I really love living here by the way.  These pictures don’t do it any justice, it’s awesome though.

Also cousin Elliana was born on 10/20.

She’s wittle.  We haven’t been able to see her yet because everybody’s been sick.  It hit Ashley really bad.  For almost two weeks.  It pretty much went through everyone.  Except me cuz I’m apparently immune somehow.

We like to watch Phineas and Ferb every night.  That show is awesome.

HAPPY 29TH BIRTHDAY!

WE LOVE YOU!

What a cute little chub!

or do I still say this summer.  It was this summer, but it’s not summer anymore. So do I say last summer or this summer?

So my family left me for a month almost to visit the folks in Utah.  I came out for the last week and flew back with everyone.  It was fun to see everybody.  There was a bunch of pics & stuff so here’s a slideshow of sorts.

It was nice to get home though.  There’s still animals pooping all over our yard though. grrrrrr.

Carson decided to take Lydia backpacking through the front yard, but there was a buck across the street so they couldn’t go too far.  Also we hung some bear bait in the back door to see what would turn up.  Nothin….

The kids started school last week. That’s just weird.  When the crap did they get that old?

And Evie had a bath.  She thinks I’m awesome.

Oh ya.  Lydia’s 3 now.

Indeed.  Happy Birthday Lydia.  Stop growing up… just knock it off.

What can I say I like Oreos!!!!

From Evelyn oreo

At least it’s not the stupid bear again.

So we bought a house.  We bought this house.  Dig the awesome outside porch fans.

This is the view from the front deck. It’s nice. Not really great view, but I like trees.

Here’s a bit of the inside. Ashley’s mad cuz the rooms aren’t that clean, but we’re still unpacking everything.

Anyway.  We really like it.  There’s baby deer in our backyard everyday, and the kids and I saw a bear walk across the road in front of our house a couple days ago.  It’s kinda cool living on a “mountain”.  I can’t really justify calling these mountains out here cuz I know what real (rockies) mountains are like.  But out here we live on a “mountain”.

So I was up in the attic trying to fill a little hole in the roof, but the actual roof is like another 10 feet up from the attic.  How are you supposed to get up there?  You can’t really bring a ladder up the ladder into the attic.  So I climbed up the roof strut thingys and fixed the hole, but slipped on the way down and made another hole in the ceiling.  I also sprained my ankle purty good.

yup it hurts.

I also have to figure out how to clean my gutters without dying if anybody has any ideas.  My roof is to steep to stand on.  And I don’t have a ladder tall enough to reach in the front.  Seriously.  anybody?

And on that note, here’s some kids dancing the robot.  I have no idea where Cassy gets her moves.

So for some reason I felt like posting even though life is crazy! I don’t post because I have another blog about my crafts and barley post there so this seems a little redundant but here we go!

So we have a lot going on right now. Nate and I are coming up on our 7th wedding anniversary and we are buying our first house, crossing fingers that we close next Friday on the 19th. Cassy just graduated from kindergarten tonight, Carson graduated preschool last week, Lydia is potty training, and Evelyn is learning how to sit up by herself. We are up for a very busy summer. Cassy’s last day of school is this Friday followed by leaving to go to New York, Saturday to visit my Aunt, then coming back just in time to close on our house, followed shortly by Judy, Hi, flying out here to fly back with us to Utah for 4 weeks. Then coming back just in time to get ready for school which will consist of Cassy in 1st grade, Carson in Kindergarten, and Lydia in 3 year old preschool. Whew I hope I get to see some of this summer before it flies right on by!

Here are a few pictures of our craziness we call our life.

Ta ta for now!

She’s thrilled.

Ha.  There – I done did it. And you thought I wouldn’t finish.  I can’t believe the last post was February.  I’m a suck. 

Evie started eatin solid food. Cassy turned 6 and lost her first and second tooths. 

Cassy just finished her PAL testing.  (I think that’s like the end of year testing for schools here in VA).  She got purt near perfect score.  i think she got like 96 out of 102.  She loves to read.  It’s really wierd that I have a kid that can read and write. – In cursive nonetheless.  That’s another thing.  Who writes in cursive anymore?  They should teach typing or something.  Seriously – nobody writes in cursive.

I went on a field trip to a little zoo in Luray with Cassy last week.  It was fun.

Ummmmm….  more things probably.