A Beautiful Morning!

I've been up for 2 hours now, I know.... I just can't sleep in, and I have written out bills, caught up on blogs, blogging and started laundry. Some have asked me, "How do you find the time?" My answer....in the morning when everyone else is sleeping. Morning for me is the best time to read scriptures and have alone, Mom, "Me"....time!

Here are some pictures from Saturday...the first snow worth getting excited over!

Karsyn is under there somewhere! She has been fighting a croupy cough for awhile now, so I bundled her up, more than usual and told her...you have two minutes out there. After 30 seconds she comes to the door and asks, "Has it been two minutes yet?"

Benjy: "Let's see how does this work, now and do I have enough snow to blow?"

I think he is getting it down! He doesn't want me to mow the lawn...and now he doesn't want me to use the snow blower! Ahhhh....oh well!
The girls' first Snow Angels of the season.

Benjy blowing snow this morning for the third time in 3 days. He is like a kid in a Candy Store! He has been waiting all summer and fall to use his Snow blower. I wonder when the excitement will wear off? What I love the most about all of this snow and the winter! ;-)

Something Worth Seeing.....

Last night for Family Fun Night, we decided to drive around and listen to Christmas Music and look at all the Christmas Lights.

There is a house,(Don't know exact address, except for it is around....15520 Basalt St. NW, Ramsey, MN...) That has programed it's Christmas lights to music. It is really neat, cool, awesome, amazing, free, fun and well worth your time to go see it!
I know, I know Audrey, this picture blows...but it was snowing and dark and what do you expect from an 9 year old camera that we bought for $100? The lights remind me of watching the fountain show at the Bellagio, if you have ever been to Vegas! The bonus, you get to sit in your warm car without being crowded around thousands of people! :-) We stayed for almost 30 minutes and hadn't heard the same song twice....we only left because we were hungry! We will make a return trip!

Tough Exterior?

After Benjy and I got over who had to go into the cold garage last night to get the Advent Tree.. The girls were excited to open 4 days in a row. The question is....when they get up...who will do day 5? (First one up...Kaydree!) actually I am going to put it back in for when Karsyn gets up and she will never know the difference! ;-)

On Wednesday night we put up our second Christmas Tree. We have one down stairs and one upstairs. I am one who plugs them in right away in the morning and leaves them on until we go to bed....I know.. waisting energy right? I just love to put on Christmas music while I am cleaning.

This tree cost a total of 8 dollars. Tree and lights at an auction..(thanks dad) $2, Star $3 clearance, Gold ornaments $3 clearance! When we went to plug in the star...we didn't have an extension cord long enough to reach. Benjy was a little resistant....ok...a lot....a bit...resistant to putting up a second tree, so when the star wouldn't plug in...he said, "It doesn't need to light up!" When he left for his meeting up at the church he quick went to Kmart to grab a $3 extension cord....oops, tree now cost $11. That is one thing I love about him, he barks a little and likes to have a "buck the system" kind of attitude, but in the end....HE WENT OUT IN THE COLD GARAGE AND GOT THE ADVENT TREE AND HE MADE SURE OUR STAR LIT UP!

Random Thoughts...

Today is a Random thoughts kind of day. I am subbing at a middle school 1/2 day today. My first two periods are a prep and then I teach two very small reading groups. That gives me a lot of time to read the Ensign and check up on every one's blogs.

Random thoughts:
1. I have been in a writing slump lately.
2. It seems a lot of my friends with the exception of Andrea are also in a writing slump.
3. I am wondering if it has something to do with this time of year?
4. I am finding myself sitting and pondering life a lot while being mesmerized by the lights on the Christmas Tree. (after the girls went to bed we just sat with all the other lights off except for the tree and talked for about an hour, both of us staring at the tree.)
5. I am finding tremendous peace at this time of the year and can't believe that I am almost ready for Christmas.
6. I love sitting down at night to read together as a family. Our current read is a binder of Christmas stories I put together at an Enrichment Meeting 9 years ago.
7. I haven't stepped on the scale this week out of fear to see how much damage I did over the Thanksgiving Weekend.
8. I would love a huge snow storm so that Benjy can finally use his snow blower.
9. Kaydree continues to do really well in school and I love seeing her in the classroom and being thankful that she is my daughter and that she is always doing her best.
10. Karsyn continues to say the funniest things and makes all of us laugh on a regular basis.
11. Benjy never stops amazing me at being an unbelievable dad, which is why I have such Daddy's Little Girls, not to mention that he pampers me more than I deserve!
12. I am glad that my mom is an early morning person so that I have someone to talk to early in the morning when no one else is up. (Well I do talk to her usually multiple times a day and not always in the morning.) Usually I say, "Where are you at?" Since my dad retired they are busier than I am!
13. Last night I ordered Cindy Crawford's moisturizing line at 3 am because I couldn't sleep. I use to make fun of my brother Steve for doing this! I don't even know what the name of it is now...but I got a 159.99 dollar value for 29.99! (I think.....it's all a blur now!) I guess I am feeling old and desperate for something to rejuvenate my sun beaten face from over the years.
14. Wondering what I will think of this journal entry years from now?

Zarbee's Children's Cough Syrup

Benjy's Brother Danny works for this company and he gave Benjy some samples. It works great and tastes good and the bonus is that it is safe for children and all natural. Benjy even used it for himself and loved it!

Zarbee's is available to purchase in Harmon's grocery stores and online at Zarbees.com!

It's an all-natural cough syrup that is safe for children (adults can use it as well) and it tastes good to!

The reason this all-natural cough syrup came about is because of the FDA ban on children's cough medicine. If you want to read more about the ban click HERE.

We Think Karsyn might....

have pink eye? Conjunctivitis anyone?
Last night when we got home her eye started oozing.
When she woke up, she couldn't open her left eye.She was not too happy.
But once her "daddy" cleaned off her eye she was good to go. Guess who isn't going to preschool today and guess who isn't going to the gym?
I already called the doctor and they are calling in a prescription. Sorry all you "Koch" family members...I wonder who will be next? I hope none of you!

Girl Bonding...

Every year we go out on Black Friday to find all the deals for Christmas. We usually get up around 5am and would go to Marshall. The problem is....Marshall really only has Shopko, WalMart and Kmart. So this year we decided to drive and an hour and half to Sioux Falls to hit the Mall, Target, Best Buy and Kohls. All of which are 5 minutes from my house up in the cities! ;-)

I thought we all did pretty well for getting up at 3:30A.M. and out the door by 4am. In fact we were getting calls from cousins and friends by 4:30A.M.! I have almost all of my shopping done. I just have a couple of odds and ends to wrap up! We got back around 6P.M. and Spencer had Turkey Dumpling Soup and an awesome Taco Soup waiting for us! Most of the kids were still in their pajamas but they had a blast with the dads and Grandpa while we got to do some girl bonding! We ate at an amazing restaurant, Granite City Grill, for lunch (thanks again, Mom) and made some time for girl talk in between the mad dash of getting the great deals! Although I was begging everyone to let me go to bed by 7P.M., I made it until 9P.M. and this has become one of my favorite days of the year!