Heatwave

At least it feels like a heatwave..it's ABOVE zero right now! Last night at this time it was about thirty below zero (with the windchill) right now it's three degrees and it's supposed to get up to 27 this weekend!!! Anyways, we survived the storm last night! I woke up this morning expecting to have to dig out of our house, however, I think we got about an inch of snow it was just blowing all over the place! When we finally got the four foot high drift out of the end of our driveway, I ventured out. I was quite surprised at the amount of cars in the ditch - my roundtrip to/from Osage I only saw four vehicles in the ditch! I know that there were a few more because you could see were some had been pulled out already. Anyways, this first picture is of our mile drive yesterday. We had a friend call who went in the ditch and asked if we could help her out..we went a mile and had to turn around because we couldn't see a couple feet in front of the truck - luckily her neighbor came by and drove her home.
Now that I look at these following pictures, it's all kind of a mess...the two on the right are without any drawings (obviously) but only because after I saved the one on the left, it wasn't as easy to tell what was going on. You have to click on them to get them bigger but the ones on the left, I circled the No Passing Zone sign on the left (top and bottom) the Semi in the middle (top and bottom picture) the yard light (top and bottom) and the street sign (top and bottom) I guess what I was trying to get at here was how hard it was to see...??? I"m not really sure, I messed with the pictures this morning and forgot what I was trying to do.

This picture on the bottom is just a closer look at the semi. I was a little upset that I didn't get to see them pulling it out of the ditch - I went to my moms house and I was about 30 seconds too late - they were pulling it off to the side of the road when I went by...It took two tow - trucks to pull it out...after he was out of the ditch, he continued on his way..what a trooper!

Would you make up your mind?!

Watching the six o'clock news tonight the meteorologist said that right now it is 44 degrees colder then it was 24 hours ago - it is -4 right now and it was a whopping 40 degrees at this time last night!!!
This morning I woke up and turned on the news and saw that all of the schools around here were cancelled...I looked outside and thought to myself, who is deciding when to cancel school and where were they when I was in school?? I headed to my moms in Osage (10 miles away) to pick up my Schwans order..I left as soon as I got to her house because I heard it was supposed to get nasty (I've heard that before - I am yet to be convinced that the local meteorologists actually finished high school) but I had to drop off my sisters Schwans stuff before I went home. Her house is about five miles on the other side of my house from Osage...so as I left Osage, I noticed that it started snowing but wasn't terrible. I drove the fifteen miles to my sisters house and dropped off her stuff - chatted for about five minutes and got in my car to head the five miles back home. Holy cow! I didn't go any faster then twenty mph...it was NASTY!! My husband got home about a half hour after I did - so I knew it was bad because they hardly ever quit working for weather!

I took this picture of one of the cows this morning around 10:30..it had just started snowing and the wind was picking up...within an hour we could not see the cows from our kitchen window (approx. 200 ft) we couldn't even see off the porch!!!

This picture I took at six thirty tonight - the car is in the garage (the door is open, but still!) I tried to take some pictures of the weather outside, but all I got was snow.
As I type this, my husband (very kind-hearted but not very smart) is on his way to pull someone out of the ditch...quite honestly they are about ten yards from the nearest farmhouse I would go there before I put someone else in danger! What can I say...he can't say no.

Elsa

While I was babysitting the girls, Elsa was sitting in her high chair loving life - she was smiling, laughing and telling stories. Molly and I finished our lunch so I took Elsa out of her high chair and gave her her bottle. She took a few sips and looked up at me and started crying, so I put the bottle down and danced around with her a little, that didn't seem to make it better, so I put her under her little musical barn thing - instantly she started talking to the duck/chicken?? and laughing, so I picked her up and tried her bottle again - she took a few sips and started crying....to make a long story short, finally I sat on the couch and faced her away from me while giving her her bottle and she drank it right down - she just didn't want to look at me (because I wasn't her mom) After lunch she was still in a great mood and I got so many good pictures of her - she loves the camera just like her big sister. In fact, Molly was getting a little jealous. I was taking pictures of Elsa and Molly ran over to us, sippy cup in one hand, blankie in the other - she threw down her blankie, grabbed my arm and yelled "NO!" I said "what?" She said "no, elsa" and pointed at my camera and said "cheeeese!"

"More m-m'ssss, Nen?"

"Peeeease!?!?"

So I have decided that (when Mom and Dad aren't around) a little bribe never hurt, because look at the adorable pictures I got of Molly and Elsa. I watched the girls today so Becky could go have lunch with her old boss - after she left and I fed Elsa, I asked Molly if she would sit in the chair and hold Elsa while I took some pictures.
"NOOOOOOO!" was her answer, so I walked to the kitchen and got a bag of Peanut Butter M&M's out of my purse took them into the living room and held them up - her eyes got huge, "peeease" she said. I said you can have one now and the rest after you let me take some pictures of you and Elsa together. "Yep" she said as she climbed into the chair and held her arms out..I thought the pictures I was getting were pretty cute until Molly rested her head on Elsa's and I just snapped away - I thought it was the cutest thing ever. Of course I held up my end of the bargain, she really enjoyed those M&M's..

Christmases...

Our first Christmas was with my family the day after we got back from Vegas - Tom and I had a case of jet-lag (if that's how you spell it)...It took us seven days to get (sort of) back on track. Vegas is only two hours behind us, but we had been going to bed at like 1 or 2 Vegas time which was 3 or 4 our time, so it was tough to get back on schedule. Dylan looked so handsome in his plaid and oddly he was in a great mood until he had to sit down and open his presents - he really could have cared less - he just wanted to be up and playing!!

Our second Christmas was on Christmas Eve with Miss Molly and Little Elsa - the girls looked so pretty in their (matching) Christmas dresses!! It was a long night and by the time we were done opening presents these little girls were pooped!

Happy Anniversary to us!!

Where is the only place you can go (as far as I know) and see the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and the Pyramids all within a mile of each other?

Las Vegas of course! We had a fantastic Anniversary week! Thanks to Tom's aunt, who let us use her time-share, we were able to spend seven fun-filled days in Las Vegas, NV - our third trip there in the past three years! We took 537 pictures while we were there, and since I can't possibly put that many pictures on here, I chose a few of my favorites...*NOTE* Tom took the one of the waterfall and the gondolas below.

These pictures are from the wax museum...it was a lot of fun, especially since it was a museum where you could actually touch the figures - and take pictures with them...Notice in the middle picture, my husbands dirty mind....He insisted I put this one up...

The food in Vegas is fantastic! The first 3 pictures are from Toby Keith's Bar and Grill - we ate there twice while we were in Vegas. The top right hand picture is the deep fried twinkie (with strawberry topping and whipped cream) it was the best desert I have EVER tasted!!! The bottom middle was at a sports bar called Blondies - it was excellent, I would say the best meal we had (Pilly Cheese Steak Sandwhiches and Chilli Cheese Fries) - it doesn't look real appetizing in the picture, but it was great!

I apologize...

I am skipping ahead a couple weeks to this morning...yes, I have other posts I will be putting up from the last few weeks, but I don't feel like doing that just yet. The only thing I love more then waking up to a fresh blanket of frost is taking pictures of it. Quick note: After my initial disgust with the huge spider web on the side of our house - I thought it was pretty cool all frosted over, however, my favorite picture out of the ones I took today is either the Christmas wreath with the lights on it or the leaf.

Next, I have a little story about my cats....WARNING: If you have a weak stomach do not read the following paragraph.
I assume that those of you that are still reading this have read and understand my warning. Four (ish) weeks ago, (the night before deer season) I was sitting in bed watching t.v. and I heard a HUGE bang outside - Tom thought it was a poacher out early "getting the big buck" but I assumed it was a car hitting a deer...so, both of us in our pajamas get a flashlight and jump in the truck and drive about a quarter of a mile down the road and find nothing so turn around...we are turning back in our driveway when I notice a deer (a doe - not the big buck that Tom was going to get hunting the next day) in the ditch right by our driveway...well of course the next day is opening day so we (Tom) are too busy to move the deer so it stays there through the snow and ice storm until this week when it finally starts to thaw a little bit. I notice our cats are not as hungry as they usually are in fact they are no where to be found when I go out to feed them in the morning...So I am on my way home from work and as I am pulling into our driveway I sort of glance towards the deer and there is a big hole in the stomach - gross but not too bad, you kind of expect that other animals are going to start eating it....however, I did not expect to see three of our cats walk OUT of the hole in the stomach of the deer. Now that's gross!