This Is Us

  On Friday we went over to Dieter and Colleen’s because Zain wanted to have a Nerf Gun Fight. Lydia’s cheer practice got cancelled, so we headed over as soon as Nick was home from work and got ready. Zain does lots of things to help and get money, so he’s purchased a lot of Nerf Guns. All but Colleen got in on the fight. It was really fun! If you want a fun family activity, have a Nerf Gun Fight! Although, I don’t recommend using the Nerf Rebel Guns. The small round yellow bullets really hurt! Ouch!

  I recently discovered a better way for our kids to have pancakes. Our kids like their pancakes cut up so they can dip pieces into the syrup. I’ve tried making smaller pancakes and they still want them cut up. So... I make really big pancakes, use a pizza cutter to cut them in pieces, and then divide them up among the kids. It’s so much faster and easier! This way I only had to make two giant pancakes, and a couple normal size for Nick and I, instead of 20 small pancakes. 

  We got our first snow storm of the season. We went to bed Saturday (which was a pretty nice day too) and woke up to it snowing. I got up to get ready for church. I tried to wake the kids up, but they just stirred a little. I went into the bathroom and started brushing my teeth when I looked up at the skylight I saw snow. I told Zain, Lydia, and Tyler it had snowed and they jumped up immediately to look out their windows to see it. The asked if they could play in it, and I said probably after church. After church, they changed their clothes and got on their snow pants, gloves, beanies, and went to play. They had so much fun! They even made a little snowman!

  I love our sink. It has two sections, one small and one large. The large side is nice for washing big things, and I can use the smaller side for filling up with hot soapy water so I can mop the floor.  When Lorena was alive she and JoElla would make scrubbies for all the holidays. Now it’s just JoElla. I used to have them on a suction cup with a hook, but recently I found this metal holder at Target. I had the yellow scrapper (for scrapping cheese off dishes) and magic eraser just sitting behind the faucet, but it would get really dirty back there. With this metal holder I can have all of it stored in it, and it drains access water into the sink. This is the suction cup. I had it stuck to the inside of the sink. This is the metal holder. It was only $4.00!

  Even though there wasn't much snow on this day in 2017, Lydia and Tyler decided they wanted to go play in the snow.  So they put all their snow clothes on and went and played. I went and grabbed our camera and when I came back they had made a tiny snowman and put it on the porch. They have so much fun outside!

  We love having an annual pass to Hogle Zoo.  We can go anytime we want, and we get to go to their special events, like Zoolights. It's so fun.  You get to go explore the zoo at night.  There are so many light structures and trees that are light up with Christmas lights.  On certain nights they have special things... Like a s'mores making station, caroling, and other stuff. These pictures were taken in 2017, but for the most part the lights are the same.  They change them up a little, add new ones, take away others. They had a booth with light up toys, so we bought each of them one that they wanted. The kids got to meet Santa Claus.  We highly recommend going to see all the lights.  Plus a lot of the animals are more active so you have a better chance to see them.