Tuesday, December 23, 2008

quick update! a.k.a. vegas snow, gingerbread, and homework.

we have been loving our first holiday season together! granted, we get a tad envious when we hear about the white christmas weather back home, although our family and friends back there seem to be growing restless now. there is something just a little strange about getting ready for Christmas in the sunny, kinda warm weather... although, as you may have heard, our area got a little snow last week. where we live, it did not accumulate at all. but nearby, in north las vegas, i think people got some real measurable amount of the fluffy white stuff.

here are some pics of the snow:

this is a view of the mountains that surround the valley we live in. when they have snow on them (currently it has melted off again) they are so beautiful! i took this photo last week while driving to my sister's.

here is Miss M watching the snow fall outside. notice the lack of accumulation.

you can actually see a couple of flakes in this one!

...so, then, what else have we been up to?
well, most weeks i head over to my sister's 2-3 days a week to nanny for her three kids while she is at work (she is a nurse at the base hospital). this experience has been such a blessing in many ways! i am really enjoying getting to know my nieces and nephew so well. before, when i lived in bellingham/vancouver and they lived in spokane/vegas, i would only get to see them every once in a while. usually they were pretty excited to see me, but initially would be shy at first and need to warm up to me before being comfortable.
now, though, we have such a history together! we are building many memories and i will always treasure this time, and i hope they will too. this last week, we built real gingerbread houses together! my sister actually baked the pieces one night. the next day, the kids and i built the house and decorated some sugar cookies, and the day after that we decorated the house and made a gingerbread man land! it was TOO fun! check it out:

aprons? check. candy and icing? check. holiday cheer? check.

i love them.

Mr. T eating the sprinkles he was supposed to decorate the wreath with.

some of their cookie creations. yum yum.

our finished house. it even had a pond and little men all around it. check out my sister's blog for more pictures.

most days tom comes over at some point to say hi to us when i'm nannying. he is still on night shift, which means he works 4pm-midnight. so if i nanny from 7am-5pm, our little visit at the house is the one of our only chances to hang out that day! we usually play on the playground with the kids- they love tom!
tom has been doing really well in an online math course he is taking! this means that he is doing homework a lot! i'm so proud of him and his hard work towards his bachelor's degree, which he is eventually hoping to get in professional aeronautics. this will aide us in our calling to overseas missions. here is a picture of him doing homework.

work it!

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