This is a LONG post. Sorry.

We survived our 3rd major snowstorm in 2 weeks - this one being the biggest in terms of snowfall - 14.5 inches! With MUCH bigger drifts of course. Our neighbors have one in their backyard at least 10 feet high. Unreal. Because in good 'ol South Dakota we always gotta have our 50 mph winds to go with the snow. We don't have that pretty snow with the big snowflakes peacefully falling straight down. Our snow comes straight sideways. And whips you in the face. Nothing pretty about it. Here's a view out our back door:

Poor Mark trying to stay on top of the drifts in the driveway. He snowblowed (or is it snowblew . . ?) FOUR times during this storm. He was a sport.
We made the best of our confined weekend and got very productive.

Studied for Awana. HARD. What these kids have accomplished this week is AMAZING, people. They are working on Psalm 23. Totally adorable. I'll have to record it and post it . . .

Colored Easter eggs. Very intense process with these two - they strive for perfection. Check out their expressions . . . .


Dad even joined in the fun and did his own egg (only one. The boys would only allow ONE for each of us.) For those of you that know him, I'm sure you can guess what he did with his.

His would be the purple and yellow one on the top - ? Guess what that stands for. Nothing to do with Easter, I assure you. Mine is the cute yellow one with green polka dots. I joked that I did green and yellow for the Packers. No one thought that was funny. Hmmph.
When the snow finally quit, the boys all headed outside to assess the damage. That would be Jack laying in the snow. Do you see how much is there???? Uggh.

Here's a shot of the 3-ft. wall of snow along our VERY clean driveway. Mark does nice work, no?

And here's Noah taking a break . . .

Noah got his once-a-month turn sleeping in our bed over the weekend. Here's why we don't make a habit of it.

When I came upstairs to bed, here he was, laying perpendicular across the bed with his THREE dogs and big red blanket. (The head of the bed is against that green wall) Yes he sleeps with all this stuff EVERY night. This is what we have to deal with - Noah's head is usually over there on my stomach and his legs are on Mark's. It's always an interesting night but we put up with it because we're pretty sure he's not going to be asking to sleep with us when he's 16. At least I hope not.

So, moving on to this week. It's nuts. Yesterday I spent the entire day marking stuff for our consignment sale at the school. I marked 100 items. I haven't even made a dent yet, people. I have boxes upon boxes of the boys' clothes to still go through. I might have a bit of a shopping problem when it comes to dressing my kids. Good thing I didn't have any girls. We'd REALLY be in trouble.

Today I spent the morning working on the upcoming Women's Retreat for church that I'm coordinating. Two weeks away. I'm starting to get a little panicky. Then, here was my massive afternoon project:

That would be our former camper on the left, and our new one on the right. Today I moved everything from the old one into the new one. Oh. My. Word. Did we have a lot of stuff in there. Then I scrubbed the old one within an inch of it's life because we sold it to our very good friends, and she is just like I am about cleanliness so I had to be sure it was up to her standards. :) I even vaccumed and scrubbed the icky, filthy external compartments. Then her husband thought he was going to put some wet wood in one of them and I nearly had a fit. He did it anyway. I didn't have a fit, but immediately called her and let her know the front left compartment HAD BEEN spotless until her husband thought he needed to actually USE it. The nerve.

Here's the new one: (I'll give an indoor tour later, when it's all ready to go)
And here's the old one. Goodbye, old friend. I actually felt sad when I saw our friend pulling away with it. We bought this one when our kids were 3. We have more memories in that camper of our babies growing up. Uggh. Yes, only WE can get attached to a camper. I am excited to use the new one, but am thinking it will be JUNE by the time all this snow melts.

Tomorrow is the craziest day of the week - my bible study in the morning, my bible study ladies here for lunch, a retreat meeting, Awana and sorority in the evening. I'll be a happy girl tomorrow night when it's all over. Then we're off to see my sister and her family in Iowa - whoo hoo!

The best part about this week? It's Holy Week. The most important time in Christian history. Every year I love studying about the events of this week, and it never fails, every year I learn something new. Take some time this week - think about the magnitude of what Jesus accomplished for you. It always leaves me awestruck.
Happy Easter!