it SNOWED!

Well, it finally snowed here in St. Louis. I tried to be a good mom and bundle up all the kids to go outside and sled. It took 45 min to get everyone situated! The girls kept taking off what I put on them while I was helping the boys. The boys had a blast. The first day we went out wasn't too pleasant because it was freeze raining (does that work?). Sophia liked the snow at first, but got mad because she couldn't ride her bike in it. She got down the driveway a little ways and then got off the bike and the screaming began. I tried calming her down, but it didn't work too well. Finally I put the girls in the wagon (cuz pregnant mama wasn't about to be carrying them both out to the backyard to watch the boys sled.) They liked it for a little while, but after maybe 5 minutes Sophia started screaming again (her gloves had fallen off). So, I picked her up to console her, then twin A started in the choir. They were both cold and miserable, so after about 25 minutes outside we went back in. The boys joined us because they REALLY wanted hot cocoa. The boys got to go out again the next day, but I haven't braved letting the girls out a second time. Although I think Ben did when I was at work and the results were the same.

Anna was "toooooood"

Gabe and Matt loved the snow. We had Seth over two days after it snowed and the boys went out and played for about 1 hour! They loved eating the snow. I think that was their favorite part.

Sophia being miserable. She also kept trying to take off her hat, why, you ask? I have NO idea!

I brought all the kids inside and tried taking off the girls snow gear. Then they started screaming louder than they were outside. When they were outside they wanted to be in; and vice versa. SO frustrating. Neways. They cried until the mugs of chocolate milk were on the table and in their possesions. The above picture was the first Sophia had stopped crying in about 30-45 minutes.

Cool man, Matt, enjoying a mug of 'hot milk' as he used to call it.

Happy, happy Gabe.

Anna didn't get down from the table until every last drop of chocolate milk was emptied from her mug.

Well, this post has taken about 2 1/2 hours because of the wonderful Picasa and even more wonderful Blogger, so I must end it now.

And yet another!!!

Seeing as it is our anniversary in two (almost 1) days, I thought I'd include this.
Below are some pictures of Matt's 5th (!) birthday party. Note the absolutely cool cake. The theme was knights, hence the tunics and the dragon/knight on the cake.



Anna actually dressed herself for this one.

I swear, if I could clone this kid...
The following pics are in reverse order. It was sure fun and thankfully nobody got hurt.

The first installment

Sometimes mischief is cute....usually when we're in a good enough mood to appreciate it.
For the next few, it was hard to decide which was best so you get a bunch of the girls eating apples.




From Shawn and Tammy's visit.



She's actually a LOT bigger now, and this picture wasn't from too long ago. But man, she is BEAUTIFUL!





The kids were sitting together when we were singing Psalms. I have a video of it, and if I have a minute (yeah right) I'll upload it to youtube. It was great.

Fall Time

We went apple pickin' with our friends last month. The kids had a blast! They didn't pick too many apples because they took a couple bites then threw them on the ground. It was lots of fun.
They would pick a couple apples then climb up onto the wagon and then eat what they picked.

Gabe and his BFF (Seth)

They liked the wagon ride.

Can you imagine adding another munchin into this photo-op? (We find out Tuesday what we're having ... hurray!)

Matt did awesome writing birthday cards to his friends. I was pretty impressed - he was too. :)

On warm days we're outside riding bikes or swinging. I figure we're not going to have very many warm days left, so might as well take advantage of it, eh? (BTW, it's been mid-70s here lately ... unbelieveable huh.)

Here's my BEAUTIFUL piano I got for my b-day thanks to my family ... THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!

Anna and Sophia love it too. :)

Alrighty, gotta put the boys to bed. TTFN

St Louis Zoo

I have way too many good pictures to upload at this point, so I'm going to do a post on different trips/events that have happened recently. Here's Matt and Gabe at the zoo.

Anna and Sophia watching the ducks.

Guess whaaat??
We couldn't find the hippos here, but the kids were very content to just watch the fish swim around.

Sophia: Hmmm, what kind of mischeif can I get into??
Anna: Come on Sophia, I don't want to get into trouble and then go back into the stroller.

Gabe loves snakes. Although he was a little nervous to go up to this big guy.

"In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight."

Towards the end of the day the girls were getting really sleepy. Anna kept laying her head on Sophia.

Lovin' Monkeys

Matt on his warthog.

Gabe loved the zebra.

I love these shots of Sophia and Anna, I had to throw them into the mix. They were taken at my Uncle Mick and Aunt Deb's house.