Snow in MI, Sledding, and Gingerbread House

Alright! Finally getting around to blogging some of the fun and interesting things that we have been doing since my mom (a.k.a. - Oma) and Jessica's parents (a.k.a., Nana and Papa) have come to join us for Christmas and New Year. We could make twenty different posts about their visit thus far (they are staying until the 5th of Jan), but I think I will divide it into two posts.

First, the night they got here (Dec 18th) it snowed and the next morning it snowed until we had 18" - 20" of snow on the ground. 16" of new snow and 2 " - 4" of old stuff depending on whether it had compressed and melted or not. Here is the family taking care of the aftermath on our driveway:


Alyson and Kourtney love to help, although they just end up walking around in the snow that I will eventually have to shovel myself. At any rate, it is nice to spend the family time together.


Nana wanted to help so she was out there as well. Later in the visit (about 5 days later) she helped again and it was nice because one of my neighbors with a snow blower took pity on us (probably seeing her out there with me and thinking I am a bad son-in-law for letting my mother-in-law help with shoveling snow) and he came and helped with the removal efforts. Unfortunately, he didn't know where my sidewalk ended and my porch lights began so we lost one of our lights. Small price to pay for letting him feel good about helping out on Christmas Eve.


Here is some of the family at dinner. Jessica is feeding baby Ellary (not pictured). Next to her is Papa. Followed by Kourtney, Nana, and Aly.


We decided we would put the snow to good use. So we took the family sledding. We have a big sledding hill right downtown in East Lansing (see our earlier blog on that) and we went there again. Here is me with my mom. She actually bought Jessica and I the sleds we were using several years ago and they never got used until we moved here to MI.


Here is Kourtney on one of the sleds that was left in our house when we bought it. They are the worst sleds ever. They always turn you around backwards. So we just started the kids in them backwards. Worked much better, but it ended up plowing a bunch of snow when you went down in it.


Here is Aly coming down the hill. She LOVES sledding. After everybody was done (cold and tiered), Alyson begged us to let her go some more. Of course we can't say no to that so I got to be the one that climbed up the hill three more times with her. It was a blast! We connected two sleds together. One for my legs and one for my bum and Alyson's bum and went down like a train with two cars. I love playing with my kids.


Here are a couple of pictures of my mom (Oma) going down the hill. She wanted to try it so I said OK, but remember to not drag your feet on the way down.


She didn't listen to me and on the way down she ate the old and very gross snow. Here is a picture of her reaction to the taste of the snow. I tell you, parents never listen to their children!!!


Here is the family at the top of the hill. Nana went up for moral support. She decided not to go down because of her hip - probably a wise decision given the hill's bumpiness.


Here is Kourtney making a snow angel. She is not the biggest fan of sledding. I mean she loves to go down, but considers the work it takes to climb the hill more costly than the reward.


Jessica and I went down a few times together. It was fun and the girls really liked it when we went together. It was nice that Papa could stay in the car and watch Ellary to let us do this together. Last time one of us always had to be watching Ellary.


Here is the final picture from sledding. I absolutely LOVE this picture of our little Koco. Her eyes are so clear and she is so much fun. She is by far the most silly and creative kid I have ever met. So beautiful too!!!


Later that week Jessica and the family built a gingerbread house while I was out home teaching. Here is the crew working on the house (my mom is taking the picture and she helped a lot).


Here is the entire crew with the FINISHED gingerbread house. It was amazing how long it takes to cook the sheets of gingerbread. Not worth it in my opinion. Graham crackers taste much better anyway!


Here is Aly and her BEAUTIFUL mother at work on the house. Needs more chocolate in my opinion, but I wasn't there to be the foreman.


Stay tuned. One more big blog about last week (Christmas week) to come...