Christmas Surprise

Santa didn't bring my Christmas present this year, American Airlines did. He arrived this afternoon (a day and a half earlier than expected!) Isn't he cute??

Best present ever.

My "little girl"

At church today when I was chasing Abbi around the halls an older woman said to me, "Oh, you have such a cute little girl." At first I didn't think she was talking to me, or talking about Abbi. Because she's not a little girl, she's my BABY. Once I realized that she was talking to me, I thanked her, then I looked at Abbi and thought, "she's right, she does look like a little girl." As hard as it is for me, my baby girl is turning into more of a toddler; playing peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake, having a preference about what I feed her for lunch, fighting back when her brothers tackler her, discovering that her brothers think it is hilarious when she throws her macaroni and cheese at them or dumps her entire bowl of cereal off the high chair. The sad truth is, my babies just don't stay babies for long enough, Abbi included. As if it wasn't hard enough to have Abbi constantly growing, the boys are growing up too! Today Ammon gave the talk in primary without any help. I was so proud of him. He stood up in front of the primary and showed the right pictures while he read the words I had helped him tape on the back of the pictures. It was so fun to see him do it on his own, but part of me wished I was up there whispering the words in his ear like I did when he was a Sunbeam. The good news is, I am having so much FUN with my kids (most of the time!), but sometimes I wish I could just freeze time and keep them little for a little while longer.

My little girl, looking so grown up!

Hiding the ornament from me that she has just pulled off the Christmas tree.

I love this picture because the kids are actually all looking at the camera and Ammon is showing his teeth. (Since he has gotten his BIG, crooked, permanant teeth in he usually smiles with his mouth closed. I personally think they are adorable.)

Why is it that kids always look so adorable when they are bundled up? I love it.

Cabin Fever

Today was day FIVE of being stuck inside, all day. The cabin fever has started to set in. This time it wasn't the "epic storm," it was the "case of the broken down mini-van." Last night, as we were trying to be festive at the Jolly Holiday lights, our poor van started smoking and sputtering. I pulled into a parking lot to check under the hood. Although I had no idea what I was checking for, I did know that this was standard procedure when you are having car problems. After a thourough check under the hood I tried to start the car but was unsuccessful, leaving me stranded out in the elements with my three young children. I tried to call my husband for some "car advice," but apparently he wasn't getting phone reception in the theatre where he was watching Twilight. (Sorry to let that cat out of the bag babe, but it's the only comical part of this story!) Luckily, we have some wonderful friends here in Des Moines and they came to rescue us. By the time we got home it was 10:00. We spent a lot of time today snuggling up in front of the TV, watching Christmas movies and trying to recover from our ordeal.

We felt very fortunate that we were all very bundled when the car broke down because we had just spent the afternoon at Living History Farms with some friends.

Little Abbers even had her long johns on. (and it's a good thing because it got pretty cold!)

While we were waiting for the Nances to come rescue us, Ammon made up this clever song to the tune of Jingle Bells:

Jingle Bells, this car smells

Daddy is away.

Soon Zack will be here

so we have no fear

and we all can shout HURRAY!

This was a welcome change to the "Jingle Bells, Batman smells.." version that we have been hearing dozens of times a day since he learned it at school.

This is how we felt when the car wouldn't start,

and this is how we felt when Zack and Kyle arrived!

Thank you, thank you guys for the rescue!

All in all, it was another great adventure for the Frost family. I am just praying we don't have too many more adventures of this type before February!

Snow Much Fun

For the last two days we have been enjoying "snow days" at our house. No school, nowhere to be, nothing to do. We have spent lots of time playing outside in the snow...

and lots of time snuggled up inside watching movies,

playing games,

and playing in our tents and tunnels.

We even decorated the house with paper snowflakes.

Even if we had somewhere to be, I have serious doubts that we could get there.

You should see the huge snow drifts here!

Now I'm going to whine a little big: The novelty of the "snow day" started to get old this afternoon when I finally broke down and decided to dig our van out of the snow,

then realized that my shovel was stuck in my broken garage so I had to borrow my neighbors. Then the boys got restless and wild and fought all evening, and Abbi isn't feeling well and the doctor's office was closed. And I nearly got frostbite from spending an hour out in the 10 degree weather with 30 MPH winds

Even though school has been cancelled again tommorow, I'm afraid we may have to venture out... Little Abbi has a fever and I suspect an ear infection.... and we're out of ice melt... and dangerously low on baby wipes... and I may go crazy trying to entertain these boys another day without getting out of the house. Let's just hope we don't get more snow tonight or I may be digging (with my neighbors shovel) again tommorow...... did I mention that Colby is in Texas?

The REALLY good news

Today we got our student loan disbursement, which is always a good news/bad news kind of thing. The good news is we get a big lump sum of money, the bad news is we have to pay it all back with interest. Along with the good news and bad news, today's disbursement came with the REALLY good news. This was the LAST disbursement we will EVER get. That's right folks, graduation is just five short months away. And that is the REALLY good news.

Really, Very, Thankful

There were not enough days in November to blog about ALL that I have been blessed with. It didn't help that the last few days of the month Colby came home to spend Thanksgiving weekend with us (so no blogging was happening then.) I just watched this video on my friend Sara's blog and my heart is so full of gratitude. I can't even begin to express how grateful I am for all of the blessings in my life, including the adversity!

The things I am thankful for (that I haven't yet mentioned) include:

My health

A loving, supportive father

The world's most comfortable bed

Exercise

Great inlaws

Music

My vacume

My mini-van

Laughter

Quiet

A washer and dryer

My education

Student loans (both a blessing and a curse!)

Good books

Good food

Running water

Our country

I could seriously go on and on. What are you thankful for?