Goodbye Snow!

My mom sent me this e-mail. Jan probably wouldn't agree with it, but it is my feelings exactly. Especially last year. :) Jan even tried his hand at getting paid to shovel other people's driveways this year...not worth it. I will try and get some new baby pics up soon. Ty is getting HUGE already! I don't even have a baby. He is 7 weeks and into 6-9 mo. clothes. He's the best though!

Diary of a Snow Shoveler

December 8
6:00 PM. It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our hot chocolate and sat for hours by the window near the fireplace watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven.. It looked like a Grandma Moses Print. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!

December 9
We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Can there be a more lovely place in the Whole World? Moving here was the best idea I've ever had. Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. I did both our driveway and the sidewalks. This afternoon the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a perfect life.

December 12
The sun has melted all our lovely snow. Such a disappointment. My neighbor tells me not to worry, we'll definitely have a white Christmas. No snow on Christmas would be awful! Bob says we'll have so much snow by the end of winter, that I'll never want to see snow again.. I don't think that's possible. Bob is such a nice man, I'm glad he's our neighbor.

December 14
Snow lovely snow! 8" last night. The temperature dropped to -20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. This is the life!The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again. I didn't realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I'll certainly get back in shape this way.

December 15
20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer. Bought snow tires for the wife's car and 2 extra shovels. Stocked the freezer.The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out. I think that's silly. We aren't in Alaska, after all.

December 16
Ice storm this morning. Fell on my rear on the ice in the driveway putting down salt. Hurt like heck. The wife laughed for one hour, which I think was very cruel.

December 17
Still way below freezing. Roads are too icy to go anywhere.Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her. Guess I should've bought a wood stove, but won't admit it to her. I hate it when she's right. I can't believe I'm freezing to death in my own living room.

December 20
Electricity's back on, but had another 14" of the lousy stuff last night. More shoveling. Took all day. Darn snowplow came by twice.Tried to find a neighbor kid to shovel, but they said they're too busy playing hockey. I think they're lying. Called the only hardware store around to see about buying a snow blower and they're out. Might have another shipment in March. I think they're lying. Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and bill me. I think he's lying.

December 22
Bob was right about a white Christmas because 13 more inches of the white junk fell today, and it's so cold it probably won't melt till August. Took me 45 minutes to get all dressed up to go out to shovel and then I had to come back in to pee. By the time I got undressed, pee'd and dressed again, I was too tired to shovel. Tried to hire Bob who has a plow on his truck for the rest of the winter; but he says he's too busy. I think the jerk is lying.

December 23
Only 2" of snow today. And it warmed up to 0. The wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning. What is she nuts!!! Why didn't she tell me to do that a month ago? She says she did but I think she's lying.

December 24
Another 6" fell. Snow packed so hard by snowplow, I broke the shovel. Thought I was having a heart attack. If I ever catch the man who drives that snowplow I'll drag him through the snow by his nose and beat him to death with my broken shovel. I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street at 100 miles an hour and throws snow all over where I've just been!Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas carols with her and open our presents, but I was too busy watching for the snowplow.

December 25Merry (yeah, right!!!!) Christmas! 20 more inches of the slop tonight. Snowed in. The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil. I hate the snow! Then the snowplow driver came by asking for a donation and I hit him over the head with my shovel. The wife says I have a bad attitude. I think she's a stupid idiot. If I have to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" one more time, I'm going to stuff her into the microwave.

December 26
Still snowed in. Why the heck did I ever move here? It was all HER idea. She's really getting on my nerves.

December 27
Temperature dropped to -30 and the pipes froze, plumber came after 14 hours of waiting for him, he only charged me $1400 to replace all my pipes.

December 28Warmed up to above -20. Still snowed in. THE WITCH is driving me crazy!!!

December 29
10 more inches. Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave in. That's the silliest thing I ever heard. How dumb does he think I am?

December 30
Roof caved in. I beat up the snow plow driver; he is now suing me for a million dollars not only for the beating I gave him but also for trying to whack him with the snow shovel when he was down. The wife went home to her mother. 9" predicted.

December 31
I set fire to what's left of the house. No more shoveling.

January 8
Feel so good. I just love those little white pills they keep giving me. Why am I tied to the bed?

Christmas, family, friends and New Years...

Okay, so I am taking a break from packing to update everyone on Christmas and New Years. We had the best Christmas present this year in getting Ty. Having Jan's parents and his brother Sam come for the Christmas break was also wonderful. Here is a picture of our Christmas tree on Christmas morning. Can anyone guess what time Kaile got me up?



I think these pics were taken about 5:30 or 6. Here is the LR with all of the things that Santa brought.

Kaile woke up at about 2:30 a.m. and wanted to wake everyone up. Jan told her to go back to bed. She finally woke the other kids up at about 4 a.m. Jan told them they weren't allowed in the LR until 7. I finally got up to be with them at 5:30 to help them keep quiet so everyone else could sleep. We read Christmas stories in Garrett and Claire's room until 7. Whew!

Santa always leaves a nice letter to the kids telling them all the wonderful things that they have done that year. He also left a special note to Kaile this year because she left a very special note for him. I need to try and see if I can take a picture of it. It asks Santa to take some of her presents to other people who really need them. It was so sweet and made her Dad cry. :)

Kaile got a hoola hoop. She can hoola hoop straight for atleast 20 minutes and is learning all sorts of tricks. She can already make it go up to her neck and back down and can do the macarena (sp?) while hooping. She is quite the girl.
I think this was Christmas night. We sure enjoyed having everyone here. Several days before Christmas we also learned that we would be moving home, so we had lots of planning to do. (Christene will be lots better after Saturday, Kaile will have a rough time for awhile.)

I don't know why we didn't get any pictures with Ty and Papa (I wasn't very good about taking pictures this year), but here is Ty with Nana!

And we caught a pose with Uncle Slam before he left for central California.

Garrett and Daddy got a pair of Nerf guns for Christmas. This is Kaile and her friend Ben having what Nana Peterson called "the most friendly battle" she had ever seen. They would wait for the other person to load if they ran out, and would make sure that each had an even number of bullets. They would make sure no one got hurt after each shot. It was fun.

Here is Jan and his friend Spencer playing the wii. No doubt our families new favorite. (I have to admit it is quite fun.)

This is Spencer's wife, Paige. I have really enjoyed getting to know Paige. She helped me knit my first baby hat. As you can see she is expecting and has a c-section scheduled for Jan. 6th. We've been hoping her little girl Avery would come early so we could see her before we left. Hurry up Avery! Only one night left!

Jan has been the brownie and cookie master over the holidays. I love it when Jan cooks with the kids!

Nothing like a good old brownie batter kiss!
This is Jan and his friends Dominic and Spencer. He met them in his communications class this last semester, and they have become good friends of our family. We had them over on New Years day for some fun.

the Peterson's and the Marecle's (Spencer, Paige, and Briella[did I spell that right?])

The Peterson's and the Bailin's (Dominic, Rebecca, Stephen, Joseph, Jennifer, Sarah, Jessica and Sadie.)

And here is Garrett playing the wii. We have enjoyed our time in Idaho this year and we are sad we are leaving so soon. Thanks to all those who have touched our lives! Happy New Year!

New pics of Baby Ty

And our exciting Christmas news is that we are moving home in a couple of weeks!!

Ty's Birth Video

I'm sorry this has taken so long to get here.... Ty is a great baby. He was 9 lbs. 7 oz. at his dr's appt today (2 weeks). He is already growing fast! Just a word of ****warning****, this video has footage of my c-section on it. You don't see anything you shouldn't and it isn't gory, but it is surgery. I absolutely think it is beautiful, and cry every time I watch it. This is the first time Jan has been allowed to video it, so it is my first child I have ever seen "born" or gooey from birth. Usually they rush them off and clean them up a little before I can see them, and then I only get to hold them for about a minute before they take them away and I go to recovery for an hour. This experience was wonderful, and we were only separated for about 30 minutes.

If you can catch it, Ty is holding his umbilical cord on the way out. Guess he wasn't done eating. :) Sorry if the quality is low, I really had to reduce it to get it to fit.

The birthday song was sung by the doctors and nurses. They were wonderful! I have had my easiest recovery yet, and we are both doing wonderful. Thanks for all of the notes and e-mails!!! Thanks Susan for being there to help, and thanks Mom for coming up to take care of us!!!

Love,

Christene & Ty

p.s. Guess I forgot some of the pertinent "birth" information. Here you go...

Ty Andreas Peterson, born Dec. 3, 2008, 8lbs. 10oz, 21-3/4" long.

Kaile's first taste for the stage...

Here is a tidbit of Kaile in her first play. She did great. Sorry about the movement of the video - My fault. I wasn't ready to video and my arm was stuck in my jacket. Oh well.

Here is her after the show. She was so proud. I am really proud of her as well. All that hard work. (Kind of glad it is over. They have had school and then practice/performance from 5:30 until 11 pm every night for a week and a half. Now maybe she'll quit crying every day because she is so tired!)

Pictures by Garrett....

Garrett was so excited to take some pictures the other day, so now all those who have been asking to see the progress... you asked for it!

Here you go - bigger (40+ lbs.), heartburn, tired, and waiting. Only 15 more days! Luckily Jan can't figure out how to post... the other night I asked him for a hand to get off of the floor. He laughed and got the camera. Now I have a video of me rolling around on the floor struggling to get up. What a guy.

I don't feel as big with this pregnancy as I did with Garrett. Maybe we'll have an 8 lb. baby! (That's my guess by the way. Between 8 and 8 1/2.) Maybe these pics will help you decide on the vote - boy or girl?



The kids have been so excited for the new baby. We were unable to get our old bassinet because of unforseen circumstances. Luckily the day we found out we were in Idaho Falls and I found this one at a Once Upon a Child. Used is great! It looks brand new, and I've washed it all. Now all we need is the baby.
Garrett and Claire have been practicing taking a baby doll out of the bassinet to prove they are big enough to help! :) Garrett has been so gentle and it has been fun watching them get excited and ready. He kissed my stomach over and over as I combed his hair for school today. What a boy.

My Latest Accomplishment....

I crocheted these for the friend who taught me how to crochet a couple of years ago. I think they turned out pretty cute! This was my first attempt at using bedspread thread to crochet.