Snow, snow, snow (Happy New Year)

This is the most snow that we have received all at once since we moved to Nebraska! Yes, that is my birdbath buried out there in the yard. The snow is up to the middle of the arbor. Crazy. The blizzard made getting around on Christmas Eve a little difficult, but we still had many friends brave the roads and come to our Open House. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed our friends and family very much. Now that New Years is upon us we must reflect about the damage our gluttony from Thanksgiving to New Years has wrought on our bodies and will have to take measures to correct it :)

Nick's extensive tunnel system in the back yard.

Yes, college guys still like to play in the snow!

Happy New Years to all of our friends and family.

Our 2009 ornament

Grandkiddo's decorating cookies

Taylor, Elizabeth and Zach spent some quality time together frosting cookies Sunday afternoon. L' John was taking a nap. They make a huge a mess and have a great time doing it and Grandma gets decorated cookies. It's a win win situation for us all!

This is serious business picking out which cookie to decorate. This year they chose from snowmen, Christmas trees, ornaments, stars, snowflakes and a present.

The weather outside if frightful, but inside it is so delightful!

The snow that Tommy is working on in this picture is still here. It looks like a winter wonderland here in Nebraska. But inside our kitchen the elves are busy working away preparing raviolis for our Christmas Eve Open House. My favorite part about his activity is that all of my children are back together under one roof having a great time. Pete tries to rein in their excitement and keep them focused and productive. He succeeds about half of the time! They are all so excited to be together and are busy telling each other about their lives that they get a little distracted. But in the end we always end up with the raviolis finished and ready for Christmas Eve.

This year they made 160 veal raviolis and 150 cheese raviolis. The bonus is that if any are broken they can be eaten later that day as a late lunch or dinner.

Tonight, Pete will be making meatballs and tomorrow they will conquer stuffed shells. This is a fabulous time in our house! We have so much fun preparing for the Open House and our house smells incredible.