Let it snow??? AGAIN??

So, here we are again. Freezing our booties off! It is snowing again. It is turning a gross grey with all the mud and dirt. There is snow in my garage, in my shoes, or worse, in the kids' shoes, all over the house, ice on the road and in front of my mailbox - which I should try to get rid of but since the mail-lady is an idiot and I end up passing mail to all my neighbors down the street, I figure, screw it. She can just drive over it. I mean, she is on her cell phone more often than not anyway, she prawly won't even notice it.

I don't like the snow. I don't ski, snowboard, barely sled. My life is not enriched or "elevated" as Utah claims because of the snow. In fact, as you may be able to tell today, it makes me grouchy. I need one of those SAD lights like chief Sylvia (A Tree Goes in Elmo - episode) on "Men in Trees". She makes me laugh. But since everything is on reruns or frankly, I just can't get into (Lost), I'm really grouchy. -- SNOW and RERUNS AGAIN!!!

http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing

Life in Layton

Well, I know I haven't kept up with the blogging like I should. I find that I get busy and think I will and then never really do.

But here in Layton, Utah, it stinks. Not literally - but man, oh, man, are we freezing here. There is still a ton of snow and the highs are in the twenties, on a good day. In fact, right now as I post, it is about 15 degrees. I can't get my Christmas lights down from the roof, since there is so much snow and the icicle lights have icicles hanging from them. It's pathetic!

And, we have just finished our first stint of science fair-a-palooza! Robyn and Spencer procrastinated their projects until the very minute (I know what you're thinking, it must be genetic). Spencer's was on electromagnetics. Obviously, Kent helped with that one. Robyn's was Whose feet are bigger? 5th grade boys or girls. She actually did all the measuring of the 2 5th grade classes, they each did their own hypotheses, conclusions and results. There is just an obvious difference in the aesthics. Robyn used the cricut machine and made her own titles, different colors, typed her results and had my sister put them in a graph. Spencer did his experiments, used a marker and double sided tape. I worried a lot about it. I'm one of those moms who is always wondering if others will think I am not as involved as I should be, and how can he leave the house with his project looking like that. But after walking the fair and seeing what else was available, I felt much better about our parenting skills. Some kid typed up his reports and things, stapled them together and taped that on to the science fair board. Very well done. Robyn did get 3rd place for her project. And both hypotheses were wrong. Just a little FYI.
But the most exciting thing so far - Kent is taking the kids on a Boy Scout field trip = ICE FISHING! Needless to say, I will stay home in my warm bed and if I'm lucky will be dressed by the time they get home! So, good luck to them. Hope nobody falls in!

3 More days til Christmas!!!!!

The excitement is building here in the Dixon household. Dad is hoping to get the children to calmly do their jobs and get our home ready for Santa. But it is 3 days before Christmas. And frankly there is not a kid out there that is doing anything calmly!

Our stockings are hung, our tree is decorated, the lights have been hung outside, and except for the few lights blown around in the snow storm and that one section of a pesky strand, they are bright and pretty. We are almost done making treats for the neighbors and of course, the big guy. We made toffee (thanks mel for the recipe) and buckeyes - which frankly is the only way to enjoy them (GO TIGERS)!

The kids have emailed Santa, sat on his lap, given him their lists, and tried to revise their lists. But the pix turned out really cute - which is of course the reason for the post.

Here they are -

The snow

And here is the result of the snow storm...
Don't kid yourself - they're no snow angels...

The Polar Express

Wow, I am really far behind in my posting! We took the kids and some cousins up to ride the Polar Express at the Heber Valley Railroad in Heber City. We have wanted to do it for a while, but couldn't ever get tickets. But it was so much fun!

We had a chef and elves on our train car. We sat right in front of the reindeer wrangler - so he could tell Jacob all the stories. We had hot chocolate, Mrs. Claus' magic chocolate chip cookies, we sang carols and the dad impersonated Santa and we read the book, The Polar Express. Our train stopped at the north pole - we saw Santa waving and all the houses lit up in Christmas lights.

Then Santa came on our train car and talked with all the kids and gave them all a jingle bell. I think most of them worked. We only stopped long enough for the engine of the train to come around to the other end - it was, after all, a school night. We sang more carols and listened to elf jokes all the way home. And then the long trek back to reality - driving home to Layton, in a snow storm. But what a ride we had.