More snow!

Ed's at it again.

Jemma is spending the day in her jammies!

She LOVES her big sister!

Jemma wears a dress

and she's looking quite pleased with herself.

Ed to the rescue

Paula and Joe had quite the adventure yesterday involving a massive tree branch, their car, and a power line (see her blog for details). Ed and his chainsaw came to the rescue. Jack and Will were of course besides themselves with the excitement of it all. Ah, boys and their toys.

"After"...almost

Paula asked for an after shot of Ed's big project but first let me explain. Since Jemma was born, we have been filling her closet with Christmas gifts galore and any random baby gift she has received and can't use immediately. I figured I would clean it out some day and that day finally came this week. BUT in order to clean out her closet, I needed to move our luggage under our bed, which meant the stuff under our bed needed to go to the laundry room, which meant the laundry room stuff needed to go to the hall closet, and, yes, the hall closet stuff needed to go to the garage (just wait till I start Ava and Jack's closets!). The garage, however, was already full of stuff (and seriously I'm not a packrat--I purge like this often! I have no idea where it all comes from!). So Ed (and Jack!) set out to make me wall-to-wall shelves in the garage, perfectly measured to hold the maximum amount of storage tubs.

Making progress inside.

Still a disaster outside.

Ta da!

To be fair to me, I have actually used all of this in the last year, in fact I think I could plan multiple weddings without having to go to a single store! So, some reorganizing down, much more to go. Gotta love January!

This one's for Ed

Ed doesn't think there are enough pictures of Ruby on our blog (she is after all part of the family you know). So here she is in all her doggie glory. The thing about Ruby is that once, a long time ago, I loved her almost as much as Ed does but then we had one, two, three little babies and dealing with one more wiggly, sometimes-stinky, bundle of hairy enthusiasm is usually more than I can (or want to) handle. Last night we went to "Marley and Me" and I give it two big fat thumbs up. The book was fantastic so I wasn't thrilled about seeing the movie but this could be the one movie actually better than the book. Some bits felt like they may have been filmed in our house (!) and while you won't find me letting Ruby lick my face any time soon, I will try to give her a friendly pat now and then.

Helloooo 2009...

Our new year started with a lot of snow,

a lot of love,

and the first house project of the year (yea! more on this later).

Good-bye 2008...

January.

February.

March.

April.

May.

June.

July.

August.

September.

October!

November.

December.

When I told Ava this was the end of 2008, she was uncharacteristically melancholy and said, "but I liked this year!" Then after a pause (and true to form) she said, "what will happen next year?!"

Two months old...

Jemma Jane is now two months old (which is quite different than eight weeks!) which means she got weighed, measured, and vaccinated today. Ava and Jack at two months were both in the 95th percentile for weight and 50th for height (we do love the chubbies!). However, I am happy to report that Miss Jemma is a perfectly proportioned 95% for both weight and height! She was very brave for her shots but has been immensely sad this afternoon, wanting to be held and rocked nonstop--I set her down just long enough to get these pictures, the last was followed almost immediately with a sad, sad cry. No one here has ever had a bad reaction to shots but now I am off to Safeway for some baby Tylenol! (Side note...still would rather have a sad afternoon and be safely vaccinated than not be vaccinated and just rely on everyone else to do it in order to keep those pesky measles and mumps away!)

Sleepy girl.

Big yawn.

Well, hello!

Back to the real world

So Christmas is over and we are back to the usual late December stuff--shoveling and finding room for the new toys! Ed spent a good three hours shoveling the roof in anticipation of rain... which came and turned our winter wonderland into a big slushy mess!
Here he is shoveling out a serious creek in front of our house! The good news is that I am planning on staying in all week and reorganizing (woo hoo). Every year I get an overwhelming urge to purge, purge, purge following the holidays so I plan to only head out for more plastic tubs, garbage bags, and trips to the Goodwill drop-off!

The Driskill Family Christmas, Take VI

Christmas one more time! (December 26)

Woo hoo, a dollhouse.

Some coug fans.

Jack's telling Jemma about her presents and how she's missing everything while sleeping.

Whew!!

Tuckered out yet again...Jemma spent most of the day asleep.

After a big ham dinner, we finished the night at the huge light display...in the snow!! I am pretty sure I have never seen a white Christmas in Lewiston.

Merry Christmas!

The Driskill Family Christmas, Take V

Christmas Dinner!

This was our eleventh Christmas since we've been married and we have never been home on Christmas night. We are always with Ed's family for the day but this year his dad had to work so we were home for the whole day. I always wondered what people do all day on Christmas and now I know--cook and clean! We had my parents and the Kimmells in for dinner and they brought the prime rib (how's that for a hostess gift??) and we had a yummy, relaxing night at home!

Emma held Jemma all night--hard to believe she was the flower girl in our wedding.

Jack helped Paul carve up the prime rib.

The Driskill Family Christmas, Take IV (Christmas morning!)

Look what Santa brought...a sleeping bag for Jack and an easel for Ava!

This little kid was just the right age for Christmas...it's all such a wonder and excitement!

This little kid was overwhelmed with all the goodness--she said "my hands are going to hurt from opening all these presents!"

And this little kid was tossing and turning all night--his excitement tops them all!

All tuckered out!

The Driskill Family Christmas, Take III

Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner--king crab for Ed (and a little for the kids if they're lucky!), shrimp and appetizers for me.

Jemma spent the evening here on the floor--she's easy to please!

The Driskill Family Christmas, Take II

Back to Grandma's for "Christmas morning" (December 24) fun! Presents, presents, and brunch!

The boys with their guns, protecting these two little dancers.

More movies!

And....more presents!!