Sigh...

...more snow. Round 2 came in tonight. It dropped about 2-4 inches overall. Which compared to the 14 inches we got yesterday, it's really nothing. Unfortunately, it just meant more shoveling...for Steve. As luck would have it, we only own one shovel. :) (Chances are we'll be buying a snowblower after Christmas. We've already been to 3 stores looking at different types.)

Here's Mary and Joseph tonight. Needless to say, we finally just shut off the light shining on them. We figure that at this rate, around Easter we'll be able to locate baby Jesus (hmmm...I see a good Children's Message in this...)

The enormous pile of snow that Steve has thus far conquered this year.

With high temperatures not really reaching much above zero this week, it's not hard to see why we're looking forward to a trip to St. Louis for Christmas!

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

We got a snow day today!! The snow started falling around midnight last night, and by noon all it had left in it's wake was 14 inches of powdery snow! Here's what our Winter Wonderland looks like...

Mary and Joseph with their heads peeking out. We do have a baby Jesus under there somewhere.....

Our Candy Cane Walkway

The no parking sign across the street...

Steve is still outside shoveling. I think we're starting to regret not asking Santa for a snowblower this Christmas!

Canon in D

Over the weekend our Pastor's cousin was in town from Brazil. He's been serving a mission over in Africa, and was sent back to the United States to travel from congregation to congregation to raise funds for the mission. While he was here, he stopped by to not only visit with Pastor Sander, but also to share with our congregation some of the things he is and was doing over in Africa.

He also shared this video of his son, and it was just too good to not pass along!

Christmas is Coming!!!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure did! It went by much too quickly though! Here's some of our highlights from our trip back to St. Louis...

Steve got to try his hand at playing hockey (for the first time!) with Jaime's brother and cousin.

Jaime and her cousin Sarah got in touch with their crafty sides and made artwork for Sarah's bedroom. For $20, it ain't bad!

When we got back we were welcomed in true Wisconsin fashion...with 6 inches of snow and 15 degree days! And since the weather outside was (and still is) frightful, we set up the Christmas tree!

We're hoping to get more lights up outside later today, but we'll see how much we can accomplish with snow on the ground and temps that struggle with hitting the double digits. Stay tuned!

Winter Wonderland?

Today, in all it's 29 degrees glory, brought us this...

In the end, it didn't amount to a whole lot of snow (just enough to cover the grass), but it sure did make a mess of things! The roads quickly became a solid sheet of ice, just in time for rush hour! Normally a ten minute drive, it took me over 30 minutes to get to church for Confirmation tonight. And that included stopping twice to help push the truck in front of me! All in all, I guess it's a nice reminder that winter is on it's way! It reminds that the time has come to put the extra coat inside my winter coat, that I need to re-locate the ice scraper for the car, and that I should pull all the scarves, mittens and caps out from their bin under our bed so that they can be reached a little quicker. I think all of this would be a little easier to comprehend if we weren't still waiting for the city to come through and pick-up our last round of leaves that have fallen off the trees.

But, in good news....

Yea! Gas is under $2!!!! (Feel free to insert comments about how boring my life is that I'm excited about $1.99 gas...) Considering that a little less than 2 months ago we were paying $4.25, I find this to be wonderful! And just in time for our trip to St. Louis for Thanksgiving!

Our New House!

We have joined the ranks of homeowners! We purchased our new home at the end of April, and have been busy doing some basic home improvements since then! We've loved every minute of having our new house!

Check out some of our before and after pictures...

The living room the day we moved in and after we did some improvements

The kitchen the day we moved in and after we did some improvements

After we moved in we found out that we live on "Candy Cane Lane", so watch out Griswald's!