Snowmen

Tyler left last Monday to work up North again. That week did not go quite as smoothly as the week before. The kids were less cooperative, less nice to one another and my temper was shorter but amazingly, we got through to Friday. On a positive note, at least I didn't have to shovel any snow.

The first day he was gone it was a bit warmer so I took my 3 little ones into town for some doughnuts. Penelope looked pretty adorable in her snowsuit:

\

Benny sure likes his "sprinkler" doughnuts:

The next few days the temperatures dipped down into the digits that I have nothing but hatred for. Really, my van should not be allowed to display such numbers at 9am:

So the rest of the week we stayed inside and tried to keep warm. Lucy kept warm by jamming to a song that my sister-in-law, Mariah, sent to me on Voxer (the blurry hand is proof that jamming be happening):

Penelope kept warm by wiggling them legs and hands of hers and screeching away. She is sure enjoying figuring out what her hands and legs do and she is sure getting noisy. Love this girl to the moon and back. She has become so much happier and is now only waking up twice at night instead of 3 or 4 times. That's progress my friends!:

But even a wiggly 5 month old gets tired of wiggling eventually and needs to take a nap with her Sleeping Beauty:

After staying inside all week, the kids were ready to get outside by the time the weekend came. So their good daddy took them outside and helped them build some snowmen:

And of course, he had to build one too:

So glad that Tyler has no more trips up North until February. I sure miss that guy while he's away. 

On another note, I am no longer a Sunbeam teacher at church which makes me sad and relieved. I was looking forward to figuring out how to work with these little ones but they were truly exhausting. BUT I think my new calling will be just as exhausting and it technically still includes the Sunbeams. I am now first counselor in the Primary Presidency- gulp! I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. The other ladies are all older so I feel like a young thing. But I'm sure I will figure it all out because I definitely believe it was an inspired call.

And one last note, here's a fun conversation I had with Steven after school the other day:

Steven: I was quiet when I raised my hand so I got to move my clip up to green.

Me: That's good. I bet that made your teacher happy that you did that.

Steven: That's why I want to be a teacher when I grow up.

Me: Well....teachers don't make a lot of money. It might be hard to take care of a family if you're a teacher. You might have to have another job too.

Steven: I know, I'll just be a helper guy. If people need things fixed, I will fix them for them and then they will give me money.

Seems like he's got his future all figured out :)