It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Thanks largely to a huge snowstorm earlier this week.

Wednesday, we woke up to this:

 The kids were much more excited about all the snow than I was. (It's too cold for me!) They spent that afternoon happily constructing a tunnel in the snow. Oliver was quite put out with me for not letting him go outside with them--but the one time I tried sending him out in the back in full snow regalia, he only lasted about a minute before falling face first in the snow, losing a glove and a boot and crying until he was brought back into the house.

For family home evening on Monday, we set up the Christmas tree. It currently has a lovely band of candy canes around the middle third of the tree--the kids put them out of Oliver's reach (he's only managed to snag one or two), but they couldn't reach the top of the tree. So far, Oliver has largely ignored the ornaments.

Here is our official nerd cred: not one, not two, but three Star Wars advent calendars. We also have two other advent calendars (a princess playmobil and a regular advent calendar with candy). I sort of have a thing for advents--though the Star Wars thing is all Dan.

 

Other news for the week: 

We had a lovely young women activity on Tuesday with the theme of "Don't forget your PJs (prayer, journal, scriptures." Everyone came in their pjs and we talked about the importance of each element (I got to talk about journals, which is kind of a passion of mine). We gave each of the girls a nice, leather-bound journal and enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate. I feel really blessed to be able to work with these girls: they are smart, energetic, funny, kind and faithful. I could do a lot worse than follow their example.

I took the kids to our department party Friday night. They were thrilled to find friends there, and I had a nice time talking with colleagues I don't see very often. Dan was thrilled to stay home with a semi-sick baby. (Let's just say I witnessed the biggest blow-out earlier that day that I have ever seen with any of the kids. The aftermath involved a bunch of dirty laundry--his and mine, nudity (his), more mess, a bath, and bleaching the floor. . . .)

We had a lovely leisurely Saturday in anticipation of another big storm that dropped about half an inch here, but stopped traffic south of us. The kids went to an Arts Lab on campus, Dan and I had lunch with Oliver at the Garden House and we generally just hung out. 

And here's Oliver, demonstrating some of his newest skills (if you're lucky, he'll tell you what a dog and a cow say, too):