We have rats!

The girls are both major animal lovers and both asked for real animals on their Christmas list this year. Katrina wanted a guinea pig and Emma wanted a mouse. We compromised somewhere in between and went with rats! They were so excited when they opened their eyes and are very excited about being responsible pet owners! They named them jewel names, Emma's is Ruby and Katrina's is Diamond (it has a little white diamond on it's head).
And for those of you who think rats are gross and dirty; I did my research before we went with rats. The pet rats sold in the stores are as far removed from wild rats as our pet dogs are from wolves and wild dogs. They are actually highly recommended for kids because they are very clean, friendly, intelligent, and affectionate, and not to mention very easy and inexpensive to care for. So there you have it!

Chistmas Day 2008

We had a great Christmas. We spent the night at my parents house on Christmas Eve because of the snow and weather. The girls woke up at 6am on Christmas day! No one else was ready to get up that early! We had to wait for Uncle Ben and Andrea to get to my parents and started opening gifts around 9am. After we opened all the presents we cleaned up, played a little Wii, snacked, and then ate dinner. After dinner Justin, Andrea, my mom and the kids all went out and played in the snow, and they played hard! We got all our stuff packed up and left after a yummy dessert and pretty much went straight to bed after we got home. It was a great day spent with family and it also snowed like crazy that day so we got our white Christmas! We missed Justin's parents this year as they were celebrating in South Carolina with Justin's sister. We hope all our friends and family had a very blessed day!

Peacock Lane

Tonight we braved the roads and drove into Portland and took the girls to Peacock lane to see the lights. We took some hot chocolate, snacks, and the camera. It was so pretty in the snow. The kids had a great time walking in the snow and pointing out all the little details. It looks like we really are going to have a white Christmas after all!

Snow and potty talk

We still have a ton of snow right now and it doesn't look like it's going anywhere anytime soon! Last night was the first time I have gotten out of the house in a few days and it felt really good. We took the girls down the street to the church that has a big hill and went sledding and we had a blast. We didn't get any photos but we did video tape it.
Then we decided to go and try to find some snow boots for Katrina since she has grown out of hers from last year (with no luck), get some chains for Justin's vehicle, and go out to dinner. The first 2 places we stopped at were closing their doors right when we got there, it was only 5:30pm and one of the places was Red Robin! We were shocked. We finally found a place that was open and had a yummy Mexican dinner.
Now on to the potty talk. I don't know what I was thinking but I left my purse/diaper bag at home when we left the house because I didn't think I would need my stuff (not thinking about the fact that there are diapers in my purse). Of course the whole way to the restaurant Addy kept 'tutting' and I kept asking, did you poop? "nope", she would say, "Addy tutted!". (she always refers to herself in 3rd person). As soon as we got seated at the restaurant I went to the bathroom and when I got back Justin said,"she pooped". Just what I was hoping she wouldn't do since I had no diapers or wipes. I took her to the bathroom and had to take her diaper off and clean her up and she sat through her dinner with a naked bottom and a praying mommy. She made it all the way home with no accidents in her pants. I guess this means she is ready for some serious potty training?

Snow Pics from Friday and Sunda

Friday Night

Sunday Morning

Update on our crazy NW weather

Since my last post on Wednesday they released the kids from VSD 2 hours early that day because it kept snowing and I think they were worried it would get worse. It really didn't, it kinda melted by the afternoon. We did wake up to more snow on Thursday though and they did close the schools for Thursday and Friday so the girls started their Christmas break 2 days early. We enjoyed sledding on the little hill at the park by our house throwing snowballs, and just being out in the unusual weather. Since Friday it has continued to DUMP snow on us and as of this morning we have about 6-7" of powdery snow covered in a 1" thick layer of ice as a result of the freezing rain from overnight. It really is a beautiful sight. I went to check my mail the morning and the sound (the only sound outside) of my boots breaking through the ice into the snow was deafening! They expect to get more freezing rain today and tomorrow so we will be staying inside, baking cookies, making gingerbread houses, and wrapping presents! I have to say I am really thankful for close friends/neighbors so when we start to get a little cabin fever we can always crash the Curry's house! I did finally get brave enough to get outside for some pictures and some are from Amber's camera.

Thursday

Crazy Weather

I don't have any photo's to share because I am too much of a wimp to go outside and take them but we have been having some crazy weather here in the NW. It started Sunday morning when we woke up to a dusting of that white stuff most of the states call snow but here in the Northwest we call "Arctic Blast 2008!"
Portland really got the bulk of it, getting up to 6" in some areas by the end of the day. Church for us was canceled since it was in Portland so we found one to go to here in Vancouver and really enjoyed the service. We didn't get hardly anything were we lived and although most of the school districts in Portland and up North of Vancouver were closed on Monday, our schools in VSD were still open. No snow Monday or Tuesday but VERY cold and windy, especially for our region.
Then today we woke up to more white stuff falling from the sky. I watched the news and seeing that every other school in the surrounding areas were closed figured ours would be too, but no, they still had school in VSD! Now don't get me wrong, I am glad they get to keep going to school but I do feel bad for all the older kids in our school district who know what a snow day is and have to keep going when all the other schools are closed.
They say it will keep snowing all day and then possibly have freezing rain tonight (Ugh)be clear the next few days then have more snow on Sunday and Monday.
Good thing I am all done with my Christmas shopping! Maybe the white stuff will hold on till Christmas. And maybe, just maybe I will suck it up and go take some photos so you can see what it takes to shut down almost all the schools here!