Snow Week

We headed to Wenatchee for MLK Jr. weekend to help Eric's brother, Brandon in his proposal plans to his girlfriend Janelle.  They are really cute and happy together, and we are excited to have Janelle in the family.  The kids didn't give them much time to themselves the whole weekend, but Brandon and Janelle are good sports about it.  

We made them a 4-course lunch - Aubree and Tanner were their servers.   We had to make sure the kids knew they needed to come right back out, since they wanted to join the lunch date.

Loraine (Eric's Mom) did most of the work, and Eric grilled the steaks.

 

We got back from our weekend in Wenatchee to find the beginnings of a lot of snow.  They ended up canceling the whole week for Aubree and Eric only had one day of school.  I love the four pictures above.  If you look closely you can see (in sequence) Travis' snowball fight with Spiderman, including his celebration after knocking Spiderman down.  

 The kids loved their time in the snow.  They made a pretty good snowman and Travis even let the snowman borrow his hat. 

 A whole week of being cooped up in the house made us have to get creative in our activities.  The kids played a lot of dress-up, "camp", and house.

 It was really nice to have Eric around for the last 3 snow days, so he could play with the kids outside.  He helped them get in a good snowball fight with some neighbor kids.

Eric, Aubs, and Trav making snow angels. 

 When Jared woke up from his nap, I bundled him up to go out.  He loved trudging around in the snow till his hands got too cold.

They had fun jumping on the trampoline with all the snow. 

 Jared "helped" Eric make some cinnamon rolls.  We had the intentions of bringing them to friends, but with the weather we didn't get out and ended up eating the whole two batches of cinnamon rolls.

 I don't talk about Sara enough on here.  We appreciate having her here with us and the kids sure love her.  She spoils us.  Jared is always with her when she is home.  His favorite words are, "Mom, Dad, and Sara."  You can see Tanner's injury from the snowball fight on his cheek.

 Trav trying to figure out how to wear his eye patch. 

 We had a nice day this week and we hadn't been to the zoo in way too long.  We had a lot of fun, and it was especially fun now that Jared is older.  He has been making all sorts of animals noises since.

Jared munching some popcorn from our movie night.

I still want to incorporate Andrew into all of our posts and have been trying to think of a new way to do that.  Last year, we included a memory.  I think this year, we will share quotes or thoughts.   My brother, Jon, wrote this poem for us after Andrew died and I haven't posted it in a while.  We have it framed on the wall in our house and we love it.

THE UNEXPECTED TEACHER

A baby, from unexpected circumstances,
teaches us humility.
A boy, with unexpected authority,
teaches us correct principles.
A man, through unexpected cruelty,
teaches us the true meaning of love.

An angel, from unexpected parents,
needed love upon this earth.
This angel, with unexpected timing,
finished his mission on the earth.
Our angel, through unexpected separation,
teaches us the greatest lesson of all...To Depend Upon the Savior