Snowy Days, Crazy Weather, Air Hockey, and Random Catching Up

We have really been enjoying this winter. 

Here is Hadyn all geared up for fun after the first big storm and Regan with the first snowman of the year.  

The fog out here has been crazy, some real pea soup.  I don't know if Boise has been this fogged in this year or if it's just Middleton, but this is a pretty standard morning for us.  Normally you can see barns and cows out there...

I kept meaning to post this sign Hadyn made for me after I got admitted to BSU's nursing program.  She's such a cutie.  I probably should have corrected her that I am still two years away from being a nurse, but I really just smiled and enjoyed it. 

 Last week we made the trip into the big city of Boise because I (hold your applause) SCORED a full-size, fully operational air hockey table off of Freecycle!!!  Could that be any cooler?  We have spent many an evening and afternoon in the garage working on our skills, and as the girls say, learning our angles.  

Then, since we were already down there, we stopped by the Capitol building to see the tree and walk around.  I do not think there is a prettier state capitol building than ours.  I haven't been to the capitol since they finished renovating it.  It was awesome to see the old photos of all the past sessions of the Senate, here is the 33rd Session and my Great-Grandpa, H.T. Moss.  I know you're thinking, "what a looker", to which I must reply, "of course, where do you think I got my dashing looks from?"

Jeff checking out Boise from above.  This is just behind the senate chambers.

Hadyn striking a pose and looking very fashionable.  A future senator...

The Luke family in front of the Poinsettia tree in the basement level of the rotunda.

Looking up.  Isn't this gorgeous!?

  A close up of the tree...I spy with my little eye, something cute and red-headed!

And here we have Idaho

Winning her way to fame....

(for you poor, neglected friends out there from other states, that's from our state song...)

All I Want for Christmas...

In order to show that the Luke family (at least two of them) have already completely accepted the commercial side of this Christmas season, I present to you Regan and Hadyn's Christmas Wish Lists...get comfy...I'll add my own thoughts in parentheses and keep the original spelling, because it's just so cute). 

Hadyn:

1. Ice Cream Maker (we already have 3)
2. Dipindots
3. Beard-a-Bear (I think Build-a-Bear, but Beard-a-Bear sounds like an interesting take on it)
4. Pendo (I have no idea)
5. Gttre (Got nothin')
6. Doggy
7. EZE Bac Micwav (EasyBake Microwave)
8. Liv Doll
9. Fla Scen TV (Flat Screen TV...I got my first flat screen TV when I was...)
10. Gogo (I'm not sure what this is)
11. IPod in blue
12. Laptop in pink
13. ITuch in Green
14. Kitty that's brown
15. Nal Polish that's sparkly
16. DSI
17. Stilish clothes
18. A room with food in the room (We never let her leave the kitchen with food.  Apparently she's tired of that).
19. Dollhouse bed
20. Trning rack with clothes (turning rack, I guess like in stores)
21. Dollhouse and dolls with furniture with it

Regan:

1. Justice dance shirt and pants (FYI, Regan loves the store Justice, you'll see that as you read along)
2. Liv doll
3. Flip Flop slippers, pink, Justice
4. Justice sequin jeans
5. Jo-Ann kids sewing machine (my mom would be proud)
6. Dip'n Dots maker
7. I-Pod or I-Phone (what!)
8. Justice sandstone skinny cords (skinny underlined)
9. Puppy! (exclamation point included...both girls asked for this, and both girls literally climb up my body if they even see a real dog)
10. Clay Pepperoni (I'm not sure what this is)
11. Barbie video girl
12. Scrabble Flash
13. Spy video tracker
14. Paper jams (?)
15. Easy bake cookie maker
16. Pendo Penguin - Pink (this must be what #4 on Hadyn's list is)
17. Membership in Poptropica (Kids web-game)
18. Laptop !! (Again, she added the exclamation marks)
19. SpyNet night vision
20. SpyNet spy watch
21. Cute snowboots
22. Air Hogs Vectron Wave
23. Cell Phone
24. My own bedroom (Dream on sister)
25. Skateboard
26. Magic Fabric
27. Snowboard
28. Build-a-Bear
29. Light brwon boots
30. Earrings
31. My own flat screen TV
32. EasyBake microwave
33. GoGo Walking toy puppy (This was on Hadyn's list too, I'm sensing some collaboration on these lists)
34. Justice on the Go Sugar Sweet Set
35. Justice Blue Skinny Cords (Can you tell we just got a Justice catalog in the mail?)
36. Laptop mouse
37. $10,000,000 (I'll get right on that)
38. Laptop in black and white
39. Cream snow vest
40. Kit Kat (now we're hitting closer to my budget)
41. Tic-tacs (again, I'm willing to consider this one)
42. DS
43. DSI
44. Wii
45. Candy maker
46. Legos
47. Sleeping bag
48. Make-up set (WHAT?!!)
49. A pink throne (why not)
50. Dollhouse

I'm out of breath, and ran out of pretend money hours ago.  Luckily, they know these lists are just for fun, and they really aren't expecting really any of this.  I love Christmas dreaming :).  I remember going through the big Sears book every year and choosing something off each page with Rich and Kathi.  So fun...

Ummm...Merry Christmas

I decided to update my blog today.
I'm also sick...did I mention heavy doses of cold medicine.
Buttons were pushed, changes were made, and I lost my links.

All of them.

Blogs I follow.
The craft sites from which I steal countless good ideas and claim them for my own.

If you have any sort of sympathy for your sweet, runny-nosed, fuzzy visioned friend, please send me your blog links.  I'm sort of at a loss for how to continue on...

Sigh...

It's Not Late, I'm Just Stretching Out the Halloween Season...

We were lucky to go back to our old alma mater and spend Halloween in Moscow with Jeff's sister Cathy's family and the only friends who will still be our friends from the old U of I days, Dave, Christine and their boys.  We had a lot of fun trunk-or-treating, and we even spent an afternoon at the ice rink where Dave gave us all ice skating lessons.  Fun, no injuries, lots of candy...a very successful Halloween weekend...  

Ninja Regan

Queen Hadyn (do not say princess or you are likely to be banished)

The cousins, ready to hit the trunk-or-treat.  Quite the motley crew, a ghost, queen, black cat, ninja and a fireman.  Jeff's company would be very pleased with the diversity we have embraced...

Regan rockin' the rink.  She took to skates immediately, no surprise.  If my kids have all this natural talent, shouldn't I have a little...I don't understand genetics...

Hadyn after letting go of my hand.  She did awesome.  Once she started, there was no getting her off the ice.   Let's just say she slept very well that night.

The crew of cousins and friends.  Fun times...

Field Trip Double-Header

Hadyn's class went on a field trip double-header yesterday, walking to Ridley's Market and the local fire station.  I loved the comments and questions that can come out of the mouths of kindergarten children :).  Hadyn had a lot of fun, and I left have small anxiety attacks about our lack of fire readiness.  Guess what our next Family Home Evening Activity is going to be...  Anywho, here are a few pics from our fun day.

Hadyn being lifted into the firetruck

Showing the kids what a fully outfitted fireman looks and sounds like so they won't be scared if they see one.  Sparky the fire dog fielded the most questions..."How does he stand on two legs", "Why doesn't he have a radio", and other very important facts were discussed.

Regan's Photo Shoot

We had Regan's pictures taken professionally by Brooke Mack in her baptism dress (that is, Regan was wearing her baptism dress...Brooke was just in jeans :)).  I wanted some really nice photos to remember the moment between her and her dad.  I love how they turned out.  Brooke is amazing, and if you are in the Boise area, I couldn't recommend her more.  Between the beautiful girl, handsome dad, and talented photographer, how could we go wrong?

Back on the Chain Gang

After a lot of patience, Hadyn has her new bed, and yes, it does swing back and forth and side to side.  It actually makes me a little sea sick watching, but she loves it, and actually went to bed at bedtime and, get this, stayed in bed!  She has a great dad who was as happy with the bed as she was...I suppose he was just happy to see the perma-grin on her face.

Now they both have their super-cool beds.  

After getting them to sleep, Jeff and I went to bed in our very boring, headboarded, sitting on the floor bed... 

Burn Baby Burn and Ride Baby Ride

I grew up in southeast Idaho, and burning stubble fields and ditches is not a new thing for me.  However, doing so with the right equipment is.  Our neighbors (the one's with horses) are going to put some cattle behind our house, so was burning the ditch bank and clearing brush so a fence could be put up.  Jeff went out to help, and was excited to learn a gigantic flame thrower/propane tank would be used.  To say he had fun is an understatement.  I just kept wishing that my dad lived closer, because he would have loved it.  

As a side note, as I left the men to their work and walked back into the house, Hadyn was standing at the back window with tears rolling down her cheeks.  All she could see was Jeff standing in the fire.  So sweet.  I wonder what she thinks of me, since I just walked away leaving him to the flames...actually, I don't want to know...

Also this week, we had something very exciting happen...

Livin' the Life

Just a few pics of the goings-on at the Luke residence...

I just thought this was funny.  Those are noise cancelling headphones that Regan is wearing, so, of course, the volume on the TV was totally jacked up.  To make it even more interesting, guess what she was watching?  

Yep, the Antique Roadshow on PBS.

Hadyn has probably been a little neglected in recent posts, with a baptism and a birthday for Regan.  She got ready for school the other day and came out of her room and I was suddenly hit with how fast she is growing up.  

This is not a picture of my baby...where did little Hadyn go?

We found that we have a slightly lackadaisical tooth fairy here.  

It took her two days to come get Regan's two teeth that came out. 

In what I am sure was an attempt to make up for/release some guilt over the incident, she left two intricately folded dollars.  

Regan thought it was awesome and can't wait to see what else the tooth fairy can do on the next tooth...

I bet the tooth fairy is a little nervous since, I bet, that was the only origami she knew...

This weekend we got all of our Saturday work done quickly, mostly by choosing to put it off, but that is another post...so we went for a ride on the greenbelt.  It was, as always, fun.  The most exciting thing was that Regan rode her own bike the whole time.  This may seem less-than-exciting unless you understand that Regan DOES NOT do anything she is not immediately good at.  Luckily, she is a natural at most things, but riding a bike was not one of those things.  She's been able to ride for some time, but has never liked doing it.  Just the last week or so she has been actually having fun riding around our subdivision.  The greenbelt was her first time with crowds and a narrow space (since there are two lanes of opposing traffic).  

She did great and rode over three miles.  

She crashed and burned once, but that was my fault.  

I know, super mom.  

Hadyn got the sweet ride in the bike trailer.  

Someday I'm going to find a bike trailer I can ride in.  

It seems like a very relaxing way to travel.

More Horsin' Around

Sam...aside from my own, the cutest kid on the planet.  He's 4, and just a little gentleman cowboy.

Sarah, Sam's sister.  She and Regan are really good friends.  The sun is in their eyes...

I Like to Look for Rainbows...

Regan had a big day on Saturday.  We are so proud of her.  Got teary-eyed then...getting teary-eyed now...better keep it short...