Happy New Year!

I hope everyone is having a Happy New Year so far :) I have learned to be so thankful that my family and I have a warm house with a roof over our heads this winter. It is so bitter cold up here and it just makes me so sad for people that don't have a home, or warm bed, warm clothes, warm food, a car with heat to get where they need to go. God has really blessed us with all of these things...I hope you feel blessed as well.
We spent our New Years Eve at home and were asleep before 11pm. I can't think of a better way to spend that night than getting some sleep at this stage of our lives. And as a little treat, all of the kids (and the dog) slept through the night! It began snowing yesterday afternoon around 3pm and hasn't stopped yet. We have gotten about 10 inches so far but it isn't supposed to stop until at least tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. So I began this day by shoveling about 6 inches of snow off the driveway this morning, then Patrick finished this day by shoveling another few inches of snow tonight. I cannot believe how much snow has fallen up here...it's not exactly my cup of tea. Don't get me wrong, I think snow is pretty and fun when it only happens rarely and the temperatures are still in the positive. But when it's below zero and it's the 10th time it's snowed already this winter I'm ready for warmer weather already!

Enjoying some hot chocolate this morning.
L to R: Hannah Kate, Patrick, Micah, Charlotte

Ozzie loves playing in the snow for just a few minutes at a time, coming back in to warm up and then begging to be let out again. He LOVES to eat the snow!

These are pictures of our backyard this evening...and it's still snowing! The picture on the right shows the snow still falling.

Happy New Year!
L to R: Hannah Kate, Patrick, Charlotte, Christy, Micah