Yup this post is about the snow again... :-P

Ok so here are some pictures with people in them... shows you how high the snow banks really are! It's pretty hard to get the snow to the top of the snow bank!

Even More Snow...

Here are a few more pictures of the snow. :-) Somehow it just doesn't look as impressive on pictures as it does in real. But it is still A LOT of snow :-P



This is coming out of the side door on the garage.



another angle.





Our street. Some of our neighbors are piling the snow on the road cuz they have no more room to pile it in-between driveways...



Normally you would have to go up to get onto the driveway but now you go down to get onto the driveway lol



It's very hard to shovel snow that high :-)


Matthew thought he could do a better job taking some pictures... here is one that he took.

Snow

Here in Edmonton we have PILES of snow this year! These pictures were taken last Saturday, and it has snowed this past week and is supposed to snow some this week as well!



Miriam 'helped' Mommy and Daddy clear the driveway... except she can't reach the top of the snow bank so she just shoveled it right onto the spots we just shoveled...:-P



Throw it as high as you can! :-)



Getting cold...



A picture with Daddy... except Miriam was way to cold then and really didn't want to be in the picture! :-P

Dylan

Just a short one this morning... on my little boy.
This is how Dylan woke up on Monday - I opened the door to his bedroom and he was standing there with his hockey puck and hockey stick in his hand :-)
This little boy LOVES hockey! He loves to play hockey on the wii with Daddy, and sometimes when Daddy is watching a live hockey game, Dylan pulls out the wii controllers and tries to 'play' the game :-) lol





This boy really has no fear... *sigh*

Croquette's

I wasn't sure if I was going to make them this year, but between Christmas and New Years I decided it just wouldn't be the holiday's if I didn't :-) So here are some pics of Matthew and I making croquette's this year - we made 98 turkey, and 130 beef.


This is the night before we rolled and deep fried them. I mixed the turkey one's and half of the beef. (I made the beef one's waay too salty so I put some stew meat in the crockpot for the night and in the morning I mixed it with the salty stuff and they are deeeelicious)!


And what do you do after mixing two batches of croquette's? Have a glass of wine of course! :-)




This is the next Morning...I rolled all the meat then Matthew rolled them in the egg and cornflake crumbs.




lol this just looked weird...




The deep fried ones ... YUM YUM!


Me deep frying them.



And what do kids do when their parents are making croquette's? Get into trouble of course!!!! Here is Dylan trying to get to the top of the bunk bed. Note he also stole his puppy and his soother - he's only supposed to have those when he goes to bed...
(second picture) I asked Dylan what he was doing and he said "up!" lol




And Miriam was in the bathroom 'brushing her teeth and doing her hair' aka making a mess... Notice the white stuff in her hair? that is stucco... so she was the culpret that put the stool on the bed and got up to the top bunk of the bunk bed... and I had a HUGE stucco mess on her bed to clean up, that stuff is REALLY hard to clean up!



Done :-)






The dishes... No, I don't have a dishwasher...
But I have the most functional kitchen ever! I still have empty cupboards. We've lived here for almost 3 years, and I have ALL my kitchen stuff in my kitchen - eg. deep fryer, crockpots, electric wok, 2 sets of dishes - one set I only use occasionally, turkey roasting pan, bulk food etc. Broom, little vacuum, seriously EVERYTHING kitchen related, and some stuff that's not :-P. Not alot of square feet but the space we had we put cupboards in :-) (When we sell this place I will REALLY REALLY miss my kitchen, hopefully we will have enough money to get my Dad to make another one for me... but I doubt it, not for a while anyway) :-(





Dylan enjoying the croquette's :-)

Gift opening with the DeBoer's

We all met at Nate and Lin's place for a pick up supper and opened presents with the kids, then we put the kids to bed and did the adult gift exchange. This was the most fun Christmas gift I've had since leaving Winnipeg - Not that people out here don't know how to have fun, but it's usually just a different style of fun, in a nutshell; the Deboers are more tame than the Barendregts :-P

This is the meat platter I made for the evening.
In the works...



Done :-)




I also wanted to use my hot stone grill, (hot rocks -fondue?) We had gotten one for our wedding and hadn't used it yet. I've been wanting to try it out for quite a while now.
Here is the meat that we were going to fry on there.




And here are the veggies we were going to fry.


Ok so... This is what happens when you use too much fuel... oops



Needless to say the grill was VERY HOT! lol. The burners would NOT stop burning so Nate chucked them in the snow...Now we know for next time to use less fuel :-P




Here is some of the other food we enjoyed!



After preparing the food and after the kids were done eating then the kids opened their presents...
All the kids got M+M's Here is Miriam opening hers.




Here is Dylan opening a gift...



All 4 grandkids received a housecoat from Grandma and Grandpa DeBoer
Here is Dylan in his.



Here is Miriam in hers.



Josh in his


Shannon in hers






Both sets of Grandkids also got a Crazy forts set from Grandma and Grandpa...
Here Dylan is getting excited about them!




Here Dylan is playing with his and Miriam's new little peoples farm set from Daddy and Mommy





Nate and Lin bought Miriam and Dylan a leap frog fridge letters set... you can put the letters in the plane and spell out a word - Very cool!
And the construction site magnets are from Nana and Opa, they came with a magnetic book and you can set up the construction site and move things around, Dylan and Miriam like to play with their sets on the fridge and in the book. (Miriam's is a bunny daycare)


Daddy made Miriam and Dylan a picnic to eat in their fort made from the 'crazy forts' set.


I'll probably post again today or tomorrow morning cuz I get up at 5:30 now.
I just started babysitting a little 12mo old named Madison and she comes @6:20am, that makes for early mornings but very productive days! :-)

11 step program for those thinking of having kids.

This made me laugh when I read it. I copied and pasted it from a friends note on facebook. It is actually quite accurate. :-P

A quick note about the last sentence of lesson 2 - you will remember all the answers when your children are full grown and out of the house :-P

Enjoy!

Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.

2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.

3. Go home.

4. Pick up the paper.

5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...

1. Methods of discipline.

2. Lack of patience.

3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.

4. Allowing their children to run wild.

5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.

Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3

A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...

1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)

2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.

3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.

4. Set the alarm for 3AM.

5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.

6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.

7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.

8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.

9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4

Can you stand the mess children make? T o find out...

1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.

2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.

3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.

4. Then rub them on the clean walls.

5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.

6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.

1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.

2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.

1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.

Leave it there.

2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.

3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.

4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8

1. Hollow out a melon.

2. Make a small hole in the side.

3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.

4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.

5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.

6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

This is all very tongue in cheek; anyone who is parent will say 'it's all worth it!' Share it with your friends, both those who do and don't have kids. I guarantee they'll get a chuckle out of it. Remember, a sense of humor is one of the most important things you'll need when you become a parent!