Life as we know it

This past few weeks has been really crazy for us. We've had so much going on. Jacob is thankfully still busy with work. In addition to the usual construction work, he has also been getting ready to plow snow. His brother took him around to all the businesses and private homes that they plow snow for. They had to look at the driveways and the way they are set up so when they plow they don't accidentally take something out. Now they just have to wait for it to snow, which, apparently they usually get a lot of here. Tonight it is supposed to snow 2-4 FEET, so he will get to jump right in to plowing.

I have also been working a little bit lately. For the past month or so I have been keeping books for Jacob's dad. I go to his office (at his house) 2-3 times a week for a couple of hours each time. I'm lucky enough to be able to take Kelli and Laney with me (Makayla is usually at school then). If their grandma is home, they play with her but if she's gone, they color, read books, play with grandma's toys, or watch a movie. I'm so thankful to be able to do that, as it's hard for me to leave my babies!

Makayla is doing great in school. She is busy learning all her addition and subtraction facts. Next Sunday she will be turning 8 and she is so excited for that! She will be getting baptized on December 11 and this is something she has been looking forward to for a long time. She's having a lot of fun planning the baptism and deciding what songs to sing, who to say talks, etc.

Kelli is getting so smart! I try to do preschool type things with her and Laney every day, and it's hard to keep up with Kelli. She is very quick to remember things, and is so patient in teaching Laney things. For example, one day we will talk about the color green and we do lots of different activities to learn about it. Later in the day, as we go to pick Makayla up from school, Kelli will point out every green thing we pass to Laney. If it's a letter of the alphabet, Kelli looks at street signs and business signs and points them out. I have to keep finding new things to challenge her.

Laney is growing up a lot too. She loves when we take our dog Shadow for a walk. Since moving here our walks have gotten shorter. I used to put the girls in the stroller and we'd walk several miles. Now that we live on a hill and there are hills in every direction around us, using the stroller is out. You wouldn't think 60 pounds was very much weight, but it is when you're walking uphill! Now Laney finally gets to walk on walks and she loves it. I'm so impressed with the stamina she has built up. It's not easy walking those hills, but she does it without hardly complaining.

As a family we have been very busy. It seems like we have something going on almost every day. We've been helping Jac's dad build his house. Usually Jac and I work on the house while the girls play at their cousin's house, so they encourage us to help grandpa as much as we can. We play volleyball once a week and the girls enjoy coming. Lately in between games they get the ball and play with us-Makayla sure can hit the ball! Most of all, we've enjoyed doing things with other people in our family. It's a blast having dinner together, playing games, watching movies, or just being together. We love living so close to family!

It's a good life!