BBBBRRRRRRRrrrrrr

For you folks reading this who do not live in the Midwest...it's FREEZING here! Literally. I think it was about 10 or 11 degrees yesterday. Windchills made it feel like negative , oh, I don't know...40!! Ok, that may be an exaggeration, but whooo...y! COLD. I'm sure the people in town think I'm nuts, because I still let the kids play outside a couple of days ago. It was just for a few minutes, we probably spent more time bundling up with snowpants, boots, mits, hats, and coats, than we actually spent outside. The kids loved it though. Then it's always great coming in and having some hot cocoa. Definitely feels like winter here.

The kids have had a great week. Must be the snow. Drue has been singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Jesus Loves Me" all by her self. She is so stinkin cute. Santa got Dig a rug that you drive your cars on, looks like a little town, with roads, etc... Drue likes to drive to the church. We sing the above named songs and she says a prayer...always..."God and Jesus, thank you for my food, Amen." That's the prayer I grew up saying at meals. My mom actually made it up when she was just a little girl, probably not much older than DD, if any. Lane also folds his hands and "prays" aloud. He does this anytime we sit at the table, whether it's to play play-dough, color or actually eat...too cute!

Lane is also saying more words. He says, "Nah-Nah" for Nanny, "boo-boo" for fish...This one took me a while to figure out. I finally had to ask his interpretor...DD. She told me what he meant and she was right... As usual, Dig continues to have several bumps and bruises. He is always speeding. He is a dare devil and nothing scares him. He reminds me so much of my brother, Steve, from the cute little grin, to the temper tantrums, right down to the 'flux capacitor' running down the middle of his forehead! :)

Drue has been waking up the last week, whispering, "mommy, is today my birfday?" I don't know if she's looking forward to the party or if she's worried because I informed her that when she's three, she no longer needs her plug. We received a letter informing us we can register her for preschool at our church, but we are waiting until she's 4. She definitely doesn't NEED to go. She's brilliant, (I know, I'm her Mom...) plus, we go to play group and do other activities where she interacts with children, and I'm a teacher for Pete's sake...she's not just sitting around chewing bubble gum and watching tv...ok, she is chewing a lot of gum! :) I told her that she can go to preschool if she wants, she kind of fussed about it and asked some questions, then I assured her she wouldn't be going until she was 4...a moment of silence, then she pipes in, "Or maybe...SIX!" :) She will once again go to Sunday school this winter, then start going to the 3 year class after the 'orientation' classes are done. She sooo enjoyed it last year, and I think her boyfriend, Gus, (real name...Angus!....for REAL!) will be there again.

We had some exciting happenings on January 10th. Our realtor called and told me we had an offer on our house. Ryan and I countered and the couple accepted it the next day. However, this in NO way means our house is sold. We are not getting our hopes up because the couple has to sell their home first and the market comes to a screeching hault in the winter. The good news...we know we have an interested buyer, if their house takes longer than the contracted 90 days, it's no biggy. They're still interested and they know what we want for it. Another thing that could happen is another couple offering cash would make and offer and we'd null the first one. For now we're just spreading the word that their house is for sale and hoping they have some luck. We had a huge dumpster brought out to clean out the machine shed. That's Ryan's job and since none of the buildings were cleaned when we purchased the acreage or even when Ryan's dad purchased it...there is a lot of JUNK! Ryan wants to get it done so if/when our house does sell, he can spend his weekends working on our new home instead of cleaning here. So that's what we'll be up to the next few months.

Last Friday, Drue had Campbell over to play. Then we had her parents and sisters join us for supper. I made hamburger soup, beer bread and apple crisp...felt pretty Amish, I did! :) Tomorrow night, I'm going to a movie with Pam and Cam...it's been forever since I've seen an adult movie...it's a chick flick to boot!! :)

Would love to hear from some of you...Stay cozy! ~kabl