Back From Utah

Well, I returned from Utah on tuesday evening.  It was great to see family and especially to attend the Temple.  This was the first time everyone in my family has been in the Temple together.  I only wish that we had the time to do a session together.  Being there really strengthened my testimony about the importance of families and how we are blessed to have the opportunity to be together forever.
The kids seemed to do ok without me for the four days I was gone.  I'm very grateful for friends that could watch them while Jeff was at work.  Jeff handled them very well, too.  He even made lasagna for sunday dinner, which impressed my mom and sisters.  I think he's great!
I loved seeing Timp covered in snow and I was excited to get out and go for a walk to my friends home.  It has been too cold here to get outside much.  I have to admit that Utah still feels like home to me.  Someday I hope that changes.  We are enjoying living in Indiana and look forward to getting a house and becoming more permenant.
Amelia and Zady finished another round of tests at school and I'm happy that they are excelling in their reading.  We still have to work a little with math, though.  Claire is loving learning to read here at home, and Ross keeps busy playing with her.
Life is Good.

Happy 2011!

Jeff and I were able to attend the temple on New Year's Eve Day.  Our friends watched our kids while we were gone for 9 hours.  It takes us a little over two hours to get to the Chicago Temple.  It is always neat to be in a different temple.  We were very grateful for the opportunity to attend!
After we spent some time at the Bertasso's, we came home and got the kids in bed.  Jeff and I finally had the opportunity to watch "the ball" drop in real time, but we ended up just going to bed at 10:30.  We figured that the New Year would come anyway.
We are grateful for all that has happened this past year.  All of our family has been so helpful and supportive of us.  That is what I think about the most when I think about everything in the past year.  Thank you to everyone.  We miss you so very much!  We hope and pray that all of you receive the blessings the Lord has for you during this coming year.

Christmas Break

I have loved having the girls home from school this past week.  Amelia and Zady have begun one of those simple cross-stitch Christmas Ornaments.  They have really enjoyed learning how to do it.  Zady is still trying to get the hang of it, but Amelia is cruising on hers.
Tuesday the power went out in our building for almost two hours.  It did start to get cold, but no matter how much I told the girls to get extra sweaters and socks on, they didn't.  And they were ok with it!
Yesterday our apartment had a Christmas Party-Open-House.  The kids got to sit on Santa's lap.  They understood that it was not the real Santa, but sat on his lap anyway.  Ross, of course, kept running away, but eventually talked with him.  He showed Santa that they both had black boots and then he got his M&M candycane.
The girls are very excited to be counting down to Christmas.  They know they get to open one of Grandma&Grandpa Michaelis gift Christmas Eve--they love getting new pj's!
I'm trying to post some pictures for the first time.  Here are the girls and their gingerbread houses.  The other girls in the picture are Lauren and Allison Bertasso.  Their parents, Matt and Julie, went to college with us and are a big reason we are out here.

Zady is decorating here.  All the girls liked using the frosting set G Michaelis sent us.

This is the back of Zady's house.  I thought it was great.

 This is from our Branch Christmas Party.  Jeff-shepherd, Amanda-musician:), Amelia-sheep, Zady-donkey, Claire-pig, and Ross-cow. 

Snow Day!

The girls had their first snow day today and were really excited to be out of school.  The weather here in Plymouth was actually okay, but the lake effect snows wreaked havoc around us.  We had the Bertasso's over today and did gingerbread houses with the kids.  I will post pictures of them a little later.

Lake Effect Snow

We had snow that started last weekend.  On tuesday morning our clock radio went off as usual at 6:30am.  Happily they announced that it was a two-hour delay start for pretty much all of the schools in the area.  So, we let the girls sleep in--and caught a little extra shut eye ourselves!  Then, Jeff recieved a call that said his school was cancelled!  Amelia and Zady were disappointed that they still had to go to school.  They wanted to stayed home with dad.
Jeff walked the girls to the bus stop and then played in the snow for a bit with Ross and Claire.  I was able to go and finish our Christmas Shopping by myself.  The girls got home from school and enjoyed spending the afternoon and evening with dad, since he was gone every night last week for basketball.
Amelia and Zady are ready for Christmas break already!  I'm still trying to find things for us to do for fun.  I wish I could brain wash all of the kids into thinking that cleaning was fun!
Today, Claire and Ross were in the bathroom.  I was finishing addresses on the computer.  They came out awhile later and Claire informed me that she had helped Ross sit on the toilet and read books to him.  He came walking out trying to put his diaper back on.  She frequently asks him if he wants to us the bathroom.  Who knows, maybe she will get him potty trained for me!

Lake Effect Snow

Well, we got some snow yesterday.  Not very much, but it is cold now so it is not melting away.  The kids had fun playing out in the snow.  Amelia was very good to get Ross dressed for me.  She even put some purple gloves on him!
We had the missionaries over for dinner last night as well.  I didn't get to go out with the kids because I was finishing up a cello lesson and them completing dinner preparations.
The kids are excited as we count down to Christmas.  I sure hope Santa can get everything done in time!
We love and miss you all.

I guess I'll try it!

I have never been a big fan of blogs.  But, since we now live very far from most of our family I thought maybe it would be useful.  I hope to share tidbits of what is happening out here.  If you find them interesting, great; if not, please don't waste your time!  We love and miss you all.
I was trying to find a family picture.  I can't find the one we had taken last summer.  This is from our recent trip to Nauvoo.  Actually, we are in Carthage Jail in this shot.  I didn't think it would be so large--I'm still trying to figure out how to do this.