Day four! WOW!!! Did we get teleported to Alaska? hehehe.....This picture is what we saw when we looked outside our front door last night around 6pm...the snow fell thick and fast for most of the night. We woke up to about 5 more inches of snow...BUT! We also awoke to nice blue skies and sunshine!! YAY! The snow is getting 'soft' looking and has pretty much fallen off of the trees. The roads are still a mess in most places but it looks as though by the weekend we should be free and clear of this early winter snow and it's aftermath. The kids have had no school all week due to the districts in five counties being closed (here in WA a few inches of snow shuts the state down! hehehe). I have a hunch that they will be back in school tomorrow. YAY for me! :)

Hope all is warm and dry in your world!
Hugs

Mark, Jaye and Gang

Day three. Still snowed in...can you believe it???? Schools all closed....kids playing peacefully (for now!)... I am baking and playing pogo to keep busy! Another snow storm is headed our way so not sure how many more days we'll have of being snowed in! I hope we get this white stuff over Christmas!! Oh well...A white Thanksgiving is nothing to sneeze at! hehehe...

Hugs and love

Mark, Jaye and Gang

We woke up to a yard still full of snow this morning...you can see the view from our front door, snow snow snow! We had a few trees come down during the night. You can see the kids play structure outside- we had two trees fall- one on either side of it, and missing the structure itself completely! WOW!!

Mark and Paige went for a long walk in the woods today and saw all kinds of deer 'sign'. Once they came back Ben joined them outside to go sledding! About 3:30 the snow started to fall again and it is now coming down pretty good. I think we are in for another night of snow and I wonder what our yard is going to look like TOMORROW! I'll post pictures so you can see!

Hope all of you are warm and dry!

Hugs

Mark,Jaye and Gang

As promised, here are our 'out in the snow' pictures. The snow is actually quite heavy even though there is only a few inches of it...we've had several trees fall on our property and many many branches are down along our road (1/2 mile from main road to our driveway). Mark and I took the kids for a walk down the road and it was just gorgeous! As Paige said, "it's like a Christmas card out here!" and it truly was.

Mark is now all outfitted up and is headed out deer hunting in our 'back fourty'! Our property backs up onto State land and it is open for late season (bow hunting). Maybe we won't be eating the chicken I have out defrosting for dinner tonight...perhaps a venison roast???? Yummers!

Keep warm and toasty everyone!

Hugs,
Mark, Jaye and Gang

This picture is for my dearest friend Mim, who like me, is Canadian born but lives outside the country! Whilst I simply moved across 'the line', Mim moved across the world and is now living in Carterton, New Zealand.....I bet she misses waking up to THIS outside her front door! (The reason the picture looks so 'foggy' is because the snow is still coming down!)
This is what we woke up to this morning, snow snow snow and MORE snow...it started about 4am (my friend Bobbi emailed me to let me know, thanks for NOT phoning at that hour Bobbi!) and at 8am it is still coming down! WHEEEEEEE....
I will of course be posting 'playing in the snow' pictures later today!

Hugs to you all!!

Mark,Jaye and Gang

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful! We stuffed ourselves with turkey and ham and all sorts of wonderful side dishes (Thanks Peggy and Gordon and Carol!) and then gave our tummies an hour or so before we re-stuffed them with desserts! WOW!!! I don't know who was more stuffed, us or the turkey! :)

On Friday, after we left Peggy and Gordons, we went to WoodBee Tree Farm on Whidbey Island. This is our FAVOURITE place to get our tree each year. It took us awhile to select 'the' tree, but as you can see, we eventually found it....the one! Ben was quite helpful to Mark this year, getting right under the tree with him while he used the saw to cut it down! Just the kind of help every Daddy needs! hehehe.....Paige and Ben dragged the tree out...they insisted on doing it themselves with no help from Mom and Dad!

We managed to find a way to tie it to the top of the van and then we rushed for the ferry...which turned into a two hour wait as the ferry was running behind AND we missed a run due to overload...AND the restaurant at the terminal was closed because they had run out of food!! We have NEVER heard of that before but hey..Welcome to Whidbey Ilsand! haha...

We got home about 430 and dragged the luggage and tree into the house. We set the tree up and Mark and I did the boring part-stringing the lights on it! Then the kids all put on their 'own' ornaments and of course, each one was strategically placed to offer the best view...Sam was able to be king of the tree as he is taller and could put his ornaments much higher! :) As you can see, our tree is beautiful...and at only 6 feet, is the SMALLEST tree we have ever had...I am falling down on my duties and will promise to do a MUCH better job next year!

We hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving holiday and are ready for Christmas (we still have our shopping to get done!)....more importantly than gifts and 'stuff', we hope all of you have your health and lots of family and friends to share this magical season with!

Hugs
Mark,Jaye and Gang

Well, the Holiday Season has officially begun! I turned on my radio to my favorite 'oldies' station, and it is now 'all Christmas, all the time'....wahoo!! We are heading up to Whidbey Island this afternoon/evening to have Thanksgiving with our dear friends, Peggy and Gordon. We do this every year and always have a great time. On Friday (the day we head home), we will be stopping by our favourite Tree Farm to pick up our Christmas tree. We have gotten our tree at this place every year but two....once Mark was out to sea and I wasn't about to lug a tree home from Whidbey Island on my own, and the other year we thought we'd shop locally- big mistake..the tree was FULL of baby spiders! UGH! So, we get our tree on Whidbey now. Not sure what we will do when we move to WI! Mom and Dad, you better find us a great tree farm!

Hope everyone has a safe, happy and fun Thanksgiving! I will post pictures when we get home (yes, I found the digital camera...LONG story there!)..

Hugs and Love
Mark, Jaye and Gang

It has been WAY too long since I've posted...our digital camera has gone missing...long story....lets just say we will have to make a claim for theft on our home owners insurance! Enough said on THAT topic!

Halloween went by without a hitch. We went on base to our good friend Paul and Ami's and lilly bugs and the kids went trick or treating...had lots of fun, got really cold and received more candy than kids even remotely need! :)

If you have been keeping up on the news here in the Pacific Northwest, you know that there has been some major flooding here. Our home and lives have remained intact and ok, but that is not the luck of many people in WA state. Fall has moved in with a vengeance...pouring rain, howling winds and today it started to be bitterly cold. The mountains that we see from our living room are now covered with snow, which they WEREN'T yesterday! So winter is fast on it's way. We are hoping hoping hoping for a white Christmas!!!

We are headed up to Whidbey Island next week for Thanksgiving with Peggy and Gordon (they will be here Christmas eve to celebrate with us).

Mark received word last week that he is off the boat in July!!! YAY!!! He is trying to get into a few different things and once we have definate orders...well...as definate as we can get in the Navy we will let you know what lies ahead for us.

On the homefront, I am just two semesters away from my degree AND I am getting state certified for Daycare. I want to spend another year or so at home but also want to 'do' something without leaving my own kids with someone else while I do that! This is called wanting my cake and eating it too! :)

Hope all is well with everyone! Don't forget to leave comments so we can keep in touch!

Hugs

Mark, Jaye and Gang