Snow, Snow and more Snow

Yesterday was a snow day and although the kids were back in school today, I am not sure about tomorrow! The snow is just coming down as I type this (8:17pm) and it keeps getting heavier and heavier! I will let you know in the morning what is going on...snow day or no snow day? We shall see!

Hugs to you all
Jaye

Snow Day!!!

Well, the snow storm the weather man has been threatening us with for the past three days arrived during the night! I woke up with Mark at 5:30 this morning to peek out the window and there was the snow and it was still coming down! I checked the school website and it was posted as officially a SNOW DAY! wheeeeeeeeeeeee....so while Mark headed off to work (SOMEONE has to bring home the bacon!) the kids and I get to stay home and play! All of my daycare kids's parents work for the school district, so when it is a snow day, I don't have any kids but I still get paid! YAY!! The sun is out now and I am sure the snow won't last long. They say there are two more storm fronts headed our way, but we will see. We have had more snow and ice this year than in many many many years (it's been a record breaking year!), so it will be nice to say goodbye to the snow and ice and say HELLO to spring!

Hugs to all,
Jaye

New Navy Trainer....

As I had posted before Christmas, Sam received an Xbox 360 for his Bday/Christmas present this year (he was away for the holidays so we combined his gifts and got him something a bit bigger). I also explained that with this game system, you can go online with it and play with all your buddies in real time. So you are all playing the same game together or in teams against each other but each of you is in your own home! So...last night, a buddy of Marks from work called him up and said a bunch of them were online and he should join them. So Mark and Sam got the xbox set up in the living room and all these Navy guys were playing Halo 3 together. I nicknamed it 'The New Navy Training Program'. What is funny is that you can all talk to each other as well, so it's like having all these guys in your living room but they aren't! Mark got his ass kicked by Sam (Sam is awesome at this game!) but they seemed to have fun. I think there will be many more "Navy Training Sessions" in the months ahead!



New Navy Training

And Now on Food Network..

It comes as no surprise that Paige has decided that she wants to learn how to cook. She DOES come from a long line of 'foodies'! Grampa Skip is always creating the most delicious treats and Gramma Barb is a whiz with a mix and a few cans of added ingredients (she should write a book I swear!). Mark is the undisputed grill KING, and as you all know, I am the worlds most marvelous cook! :) hehehehehehehehehehe...

Anywho..Paige has a 'kids cooking' cookbook and has picked out a bunch of recipes that she wants to try. So each week, she gives me the list of ingredients to one of the recipes and I shop for them and she cooks! (What a deal!). Last night was Paige's first attempt at cooking on her own (she is ALWAYS helping out in the kitchen, but this was a SOLO effort)! She had picked a Taco Salad and was it ever DELICIOUS!!! We had enough for not only dinner last night, but lunch this afternoon and we aren't sure when it tasted better- when it was 'fresh' or after is sat and 'marinated' in the fridge overnight! Either way, it is definitely something she can cook again!! I will post updates on "Paiges Adventures In Cooking"...

I am off to watch the Packers game now!!! If they win this game, they go to the super bowl!! GO PACKERS GO!!!!

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Paige "Crocodile Hunter" Greene

Paige is our Animal girl! If there is an animal that is hurt or needing a home, Paige will be the one to find it and bring it home. You know all those anecdotes about kids bringing animals home and saying "Look what I found?"....well, we live that all the time with Paige! There is nothing she wants more that to have yet another addition to our menagerie (we currently have two cats, a bird, a lizard and a hamster). Over the Christmas holidays, Mark took the kids hiking in the snow. While on the hike, Paige found a frog frozen in the ice and thought it was dying. Before Mark could say anything, she had dug it out and was breathing on it! Of course it 'came back to life'! When she brought it home, I had to explain to her that it was actually hibernating and that it was OK for it to be in the ice. That by breathing on it, she had 'reanimated' it...talk about a lesson in hibernation! So...of course we couldn't put the frog back outside as it really WOULD die. We can now add 'frog' to our list of creatures! It (not sure if it's a boy or girl!) has been dubbed 'Froggler' and is co habiting quite nicely with Paiges lizard (another rescued animal!) 'Dino'. They both eat the same thing (crickets) and aren't interested in eating each other- a real bonus! Paige seems to have a real talent at keeping all these things not only alive, but THRIVING, so I can see us traveling across country when we move to WI with a whole vehicle full of cages! :)

Hugs to you all!
Jaye

Chuck E Cheeses fun!

As hard as it is to believe, Paige turned NINE on the fifth of January! We are planning her birthday party as I type this (an owl themed sleepover for her and 7 of her friends!), but on her 'actual' birthday we took the kids to Chuck E Cheeses for some fun! After they had used up all their tokens and spent all their tickets at the prize counter, we picked up Paiges ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery (the BEST ice cream EVER) and a pizza from Camp Union pizzeria. We came home and had a feast and watched a movie! It was really nice that Shelbys Christmas vacation times allowed her to be here for Paige's bday! This is only the second time she's been able to help us celebrate Paige's birthday (the first time was when we went back to WI for Christmas, and it was Paige's fifth birthday).


Here are the three kids at Chuck E Cheeses (Sam had other plans!)



The Birthday Girl!





Shelby playing a game...




Ben playing a snowmobile racing game...he's really good at these games!




The most delicious brownie chocolate fudge ice cream cake! Yummo

Computer and Christmas Trees..

I finally have my laptop back! The hard drive crashed and burned so we sent it in to have it replaced. It was still under warranty so the fix was free! Whew! So now I can catch up on all that has happened in the past month! As you have all noticed, this blog is now private. As I am sure you have all guessed by now, Mary has been spewing her filth again and brought my blog into a conversation. I felt that if she was going to lie about what was posted in the blog, then I would make it so that she could not see it anymore. This is sad, as it means that Shelby can't see it, but that is not my doing!

Ok..onto better topics! New Years Eve was a blast! We invited Paul and Ami over as well as our neighbors and we had a Christmas Tree burning party (I told Mark that almost sounds like some sort of Satanic celebration! haha) in the snow! I made bruschetta (VERY easy to make!) with toasted baguette slices, deviled eggs, and a few 'chip' type items..Ami made Lumpia, and our neighbors brought over a cheese and meat platter along with a wonderful artichoke dip! Of course we had wine coolers and Champagne to bring in the new year!!...It is AMAZING how quickly the trees went up, no wonder the fire dept is so antsy at Christmas time! Below are some pictures of the trees going up!

It took a few seconds to get started...alot of smoke..



and then, FOOM...up in flames!!



What would New Years Eve be if you didn't have sparklers?

Birthday Girl

Today was Paiges' 9th birthday!! I cannot believe how time has simply FLOWN by! We took her to Chuck E. Cheese's to play games. She and Shelby and Ben played for over an hour and won lots of tickets which then morphed into all sorts of little treasures that they brought home. The consensus of everyone was that the pizza there is AWFUL, so we ordered a pizza from a little pizzeria just down the street from us and by the time we drove from Silverdale to home, it was ready! We had also ordered an ice cream cake for Paige from the Cold Stone Creamery, which we picked up on our way home. Once home, Paige picked National Lampoons Vacation to watch...all in all a really fun family night! She is going to have her 'girly sleep over' party in a few weeks. I have pictures to post, but as my laptop is at the Doctors right now, you will all just have to wait until I get it back and I can 'edit' my posts from this month and add pictures to them all, so DO check back in a few weeks to see the pictures that go with all these words!
Shelby flies home to WI tomorrow. We always have so much fun with her when she is here. She is getting to an age where Mark can really reach her heart and answer some of her many questions. Some will have to wait until she is older, but this kid is no dummy. She knows exactly what is going on and see's alot more than some people give her credit for! There are going to be some very tough questions asked by her in the future, and I am glad that I can rest at ease knowing that neither Mark nor I will have anything to be apologizing for when that time does come. :)

Hugs to you all,
Jaye

Nasty Ex's have Access DENIED!!!

For various reasons, I have decided to make this blog private. It is now by invite only. If you get an email from anyone asking how to view this blog, please email ME and I can add them to the invite list. Please, DO NOT invite someone to read this blog without okaying it through Mark or I first. I am tired of the complete insanity of some people and their inability to be mature and functioning as adults. Therefore, you can only read this blog if I say you can! :)
Hugs to all,
Jaye