O' Christmas Tree

Here is a picture of our Christmas tree glowing warmly inside.  We have spent the first official day of winter break enjoying the snow from the windows.  Janet and Robert ventured out in the 4Runner with the dogs.  Stella, Arnie, and Leo enjoyed a brief romp in the snow, then they played inside.  We played Portlandopoly in which I managed to be the big winner.  I had not played Monopoly in years, and seriously could not recall the last time I had ever won.  Kelli baked a bunch of holiday treats last night, so in her words it is, "Get Fat 2008" not the 'Arctic Blast' as the news crews are calling it!

A Winter Wonderland

It has snowed all day and continues to snow here, getting heavier by the hour.  Our house has 4-6 inches of powdery white snow depending where one measures.  The wind is blowing almost side ways here creating even deeper drifts of snow.  In my short lifetime, I have not seen snow like this in the Portland area.  On Mt. Hood when snowshoeing or sledding, but not here in my own backyard.  The pictures are of Leo watching snow from the window this morning, or 'Snow TV' as we call it.  He will sit for the longest time and just stare out the window at the snow.  Once outside, he is a total nut case romping and zooming about the backyard.    The other pictures are of our house this evening and front yard.  The one with the snowflakes was taken with the flash on, the second was taken without flash.  If you look closely you can see Frosty glowing brightly right at home in snow and wind.  Hope everyone is staying safe and warms with their families during this holiday season!

Snow Day!

This is part one of the snow day entries.  I will post more later when I get outside to take more pictures.  When I first woke up at 5 AM to check for snow it was still cold and wet with no snow, needless to say I went back to bed a sad boy.  At 7:30 when Kelli and I both got up for the day, the inside of the house was glowing white with the reflection of snow.  Only a dusting, but snow had fallen! I let Leo out and he looked at the dusting of white kind of confused.  Henry spent the morning trying to catch the snow flakes from the window. Now it is 1:30 and it is still snowing and blowing.   Leo is enjoying a romp in the snow for the first time in the video. 

Cute holiday dog!

Here are just 2 of the 582 Christmas card pictures that didn't make the cut... 

Let's just say a huge thank you to my mom for being our photographer. She puts a smile on Leo's face any day and was patient enough to take his (and our) picture! When he wasn't smiling at her through the camera he was lunging at her for pets and attention. He LOVES his grandma!

Shhhh

All four boys (Randy, foster kiddo, Leo, and Henry- of course!) are still asleep this morning and I think that I have just found my most enjoyable time of day!! 

Peaceful is all I can say. :)

Praise the Lord for sweet moments like these!

Spring in November

Here is an Easter lily blooming in our front yard.  I transplanted it over the summer and it has bloomed again this past week.  I took this picture on Monday and despite all the wind and rain this week, it is still a picture of spring time!

Henry Video from the Archives

Here are some short low quality cell phone videos of Henry. These were shot the morning of September 2, 2007. He was romping about and chasing his cat house. I grabbed my cell phone and this is what I ended up recording.