Well, to start: A MAJOR deep freeze.
And so, our life became: All things you can do indoors and All things you can do with a blanket.
Quinten Mummified himself while watching cartoons
Sadie likes to walk around calling herself Mary.
I dabbled in making Great Grandmas Homemade bread. I took her advice and made a recipe out of it, because she doesn't use a recipe :)
We had a final evening with Derrick and Jillene before they left on their winter travels. We read books and played XBox Kinect.
FYI, Derrick is not easily exciteable. BUT he didn't want to leave. He had kid-like fun. Well, not in this picture....but later.
Kindergarten provided the fun opportunity for PaJaMa Day! for Colby
and Quinten
Logan has maintained his status as Road Runner. This was one of his 15 break-aways in his game on Saturday.
Break-away #2. How do boys without the ball not catch the one handling one. I will never understand. I am NOT a prideful person BUT I find it difficult NOT to be an overly proud Saturday gym Mom.
Break-away #3 (I'll save you the remaining 12)
And then, the most wonderful thing happened; The chinook arrived.We left hibernation and ventured out into the great outdoors. I even found a little girl at the park wearing shorts! Good times.
Quinten and his Dad
Colby
sLeDdInG!! Colby taking the jump.
Quinten hiking the hill.
Snowsuit Swingin'
Even those playing in the Great Outdoors become bored (waiting for her brothers).
Picture perfect for a season that we often attempt to escape. We're glad to be stuck here finding fun with the white fluffy stuff.
Our family routine is often (if not always) Ryan and I staying up much too late. Thus, we are still sleeping when the twins enter our room with an armfull of books, crawl into bed with us and read while we slowly return to the land of the living. Every 5 minutes they ask, "Can we go downstairs for breakfast now?" Well nothing changed on Christmas morning. At 8:00 am the twins rolled into our room with the same procedure. Even though, the night before, Quinten asked if he could seek out his stocking first thing in the morning. It seems he forgot! Colby asked if he could go down for breakfast. He forgot too! Shortly after being reminded they ran into Logan and Will's room to notify of the good news! Will dashed out of bed saying, "I forgot it is Christmas!" 2010 brought many great memories. One I will remember is the re-introduction of the live Christmas tree. We took a 3 year break. It was more messy than I remember but the smell made the process worthwhile. I love the memories created by our sense of smell. Hopefully the kids will learn the same appreciation. 
Another memory which will likely last a lifetime is Sadie's gift direct from Santa's workshop. When her Dad pulled it out of it's bag he announced it was a bed for her dolls. To which she replied, "Nooooo" I'm certain she thought it was a bed of her very own....but didn't have long enough to digest her own thoughts before she was convinced of her Dad's announcement. Phew! Nearly a story of Christmas excitement, turned to upset.
So I should speak to the moments of 2010 that make a Mom proud. I am quite stubborn with the intense consumerism that exists. I'm frustrated by people feeling stress rather than excitement for the opportunity to embrace the gift of giving. I was speaking with my Mom on the phone and realized I totally forgot to ask the boys what they wanted for Christmas (not really top priority for me) and Will overheard. He came running over and said, "All I want for Christmas is a globe" - to which I responded, "Like, a world globe?"
Then the automated snowglobe version which illuminates and continually fans the snow around. It's so pretty and he wants to watch it as he falls asleep.
Will also wanted to 'play Santa' and hand out all the gifts. At one point, we could only see his feet sticking out from under the tree. 
But back to the the gift of giving. The kids all drew names for each other. Quinten and Colby walked directly into Toys R Us and bought what they, themselves, wanted. And walked out. I thought how nice it was for them to be so thoughtful as they were using their own money and were purchasing for someone other than themselves. The bonus was that these are toys they would have wanted - but chose to give away. Maybe it's as simple as knowing the toys will be passed down to them someday anyway. Who knew Will would be so receptive to the gift. 
I forgot, that at Sadie's tender age of 2, 2 gifts are enough to satisfy. She left her remaining 5 gifts under the tree and was off to find Mom's Ipod and have some down time. Berry juice on her face is compliments of a yummy homemade waffle, whip cream and berry breakfast. The cute frilly outfit is compliments of Great Auntie Barb and her pretty painted nails compliments of a girls day morning with Auntie Amanda on Christmas Eve. Her red hair is, of course, compliments of her Grandma. 
