Make it Hot! Make it HOT!! MAKE IT HOT!!!

January 2010 sure has been exciting so far!!! What a first week we had! :)

Thomas is a SUNBEAM now!!! :) He wasn't quite sure that he wanted to go to Primary. But by the end of the day, he decided it was FUN! It is a little weird to think that we won't have anyone in Nursery anymore.

Edd and I got talking the other day about how this will be the decade we move having little kids to having BIG KIDS!!!

In ten years from now, Bethany will be 24, Andrew will be 21...a returning missionary, Aimee will be 19 and a freshman in college, Mattie will be 17 and a HS sophomore and Thomas will be 13!

CRAZY!!!

We have a lot of change to look forward to! Good thing life just comes one day at a time! :)

The kids started back to school on Monday. Bethany lucked out and got out really early because she had some very special out of town visitors! :)

Brooke, Raegan, Cheney & Amy Knight were visiting! They went to church with us, which was a lot of fun. Amy and I ended up in YW with the girls because I'm the new 1st councilor! Raegan & Cheney were brave enough to get up and go to Seminary with Bethany Monday morning.

Amy had an audit job in New Orleans. While she was gone, I took the girls to lunch at "BEARS" po-boy shop. Then we went to see "Princess and the Frog!"

Thomas wasn't very happy about having to spend his whole day with a bunch of girls. He cheered up some when we got him some French fries and a root beer.

After the movie, we went back home to get warm and just hang out! Amy didn't get back to the house till after 5. So they all hurried and packed up their stuff and headed back to Houston. It was quick trip, but still fun to have the girls around for a couple of days! :)

Tuesday morning we had quite the surprise...ICE!!!

We knew that it was supposed to get really cold, but it was still exciting to see ice in the fountain!!! While Andrew was waiting for his bus, he broke a hole in the ice...it was about 1/2 an inch thick! Pretty impressive! And fun to look at!

After a whole day, there was still quite a significant amount of ice in the fountain. Which froze again. By Thursday, the water in the fountain was frozen solid and we were about to get blasted with the DEEP FREEZE!!!

Of course we aren't quite prepared for this kind of cold weather! Andrew had to bundle up with 2 sweatshirts! The girls wore their big sweatshirts and Thomas actually kept his clothes on most of the time! But there's an occasional perk...NO SCHOOL ON FRIDAY!!!

I had to wrap all of our pipes outside and we've been dripping the faucets each night to avoid frozen/broken pipes. Luckily, our pipes didn't burst, but our crown moulding is cracking...we heard form lack of humidity and really dry air from running the furnace all the time to stay warm. Hmmm...I guess that's better than a flooded house.

Thomas kept himself occupied with a treasure we found during our weekly Wal-Mart trip...T-REX MOUNTAIN!!

Andrew used to have this, but over the years it has gotten wet and T-Rex won't growl anymore. Thomas has been so sad because he's wanted to play with it...so when we found it, we just HAD to buy it!!! :) Best spent money of the week...it has kept both boys entertained while we've been cooped up inside!

The kids have ventured out some. Their favorite activity is to go out back and test the ice in the ditch to see if they can stand on it without it breaking. Then they will harvest HUGE slabs of the ice!

When I was a kid, I remember having my big brother, Frank, break off BIG icicles from the house and sometimes we'd sword fight with them! So much fun! :)

Friday morning, Connor & Aubrey Whipple wanted Andrew & Bethany to come to the park with them.

Of course everyone wanted to go and it was bitter cold and windy outside. So we bundled up and headed to the park.

Before we could get to the corner, Thomas wanted something for his head...his face was cold! He wanted me to carry him because he was sooo cold.

We should've turned back right then. By the time we got to the park, Thomas was yelling, "Make it hot! Make it HOT!! MAKE IT HOT!!!" Poor little guy was freezing!!! So we stayed at the park for about 10 minutes, then I made everyone go back home. Thomas finally got warm again! :)

This weekend was stake conference. Edd and I went out to the Stake Center together. While he was in his meetings, I tried to organize my Young Women stuff. We went and got dinner during the hour break, then back for the adult session of conference. As soon as it was over, we ran to the truck and headed home...it was way too cold to just walk.

One of the talks during conference talked about dedicating your home. After conference on Sunday, Edd dedicated our home. About half way through the prayer, Thomas asked out loud, "Is this a LONG ONE???" He was done!!! He proceeded to make the fake noises that little boys like to make and would comment on them! Needless to say, there were a lot of giggles and Edd's prayer ended a little quicker than he probably wanted it to! :)

Things are slowly starting to warm up again. Yesterday we got back into the 50's. Last night was the last night, I hope, that we have to drip our pipes. The sun is out today and Thomas thinks it's warm! I tried to tell him the sun was out, but it was still cold. He didn't care and went out to check on the ice that we still have in the ditch out back.

It was about 55 degrees when I took the picture. And yes, it felt pretty warm outside! Funny how your perspective changes! :) The fountain is starting to thaw. There was a little bit of water on top of the ice when I took this at lunchtime. I just checked the temp and we're up to 59 now.

I am so thankful for "WARM" and sunny January days!!! Can't wait for Spring though!

Oh, I just learned what the four seasons are here in New Orleans...King Cake Season, Crawfish Season, Hurricane Season, and Football Season!