the drift on the side of our house was over five feet high!
finally on thursday afternoon, i headed out there to shovel out the cars that had been buried in the driveway for the past day and a half! 
it took me about an hour and a half, but i finally got the whole thing shoveled- papa would be proud! since the weather was back to normal, sun shining and everything, we did have to go back to work on friday. shoot, we almost got away with a two day work week! maybe next year...
this year our anniversary fell on a wednesday, so i had to go to work. i did however surprise her with three roses when i got home! she was very excited and happy to celebrate three years together.
we tried to figure out what we should to for our anniversary. diana remembered that great buffet place in michigan city, so off we went on our evening together! 
my lovely wife! with frank and julie in the background enjoying the game.
look at the size of that thing! i have no idea how big it is, but its got to be over sixty inches! fortunately, they also have a huge basement, so it is the perfect fit.
some of frank and julie's friends who came over to enjoy the big game on the big screen. 
this is poco playing with his new giraffe toy that barbara got him for christmas!
it took him a little bit of time to wear it in, but now he is able to make it squeak when ever he wants to, which seems to be what he is looking for in a toy. squeak squeak!
poco and his little friend seem to have found a pretty comfy place! 
poco nestling in to my blanket at the foot of my chair.
poco always wants to burrow in to his favorite blanket, and gets quite upset when we fold it all nice because he cant dig into it then.
ah, much better! this is how he prefers to use his blanket! warmly nestled in for the night! 
gayle, denny, diana, and matt all enjoying the feast!
barbara opening up the many gifts diana had so much fun getting for her. i think that diana's favorite part of christmas is actually picking out gifts for her sister... 
barbara was totally excited about being the christmas elf. thats the person who gets the gifts from under the tree and pass them out!
little baby lucy was having a fantastic time opening all her gifts! being the only baby in the family, she got totally spoiled!
other then the coconuts, we also got this strange gift. its a tiki bobble head. strange. what exactly do we do with this now?
the kids wrap up play time and get ready to head home. even though the kids are leaving, they get to keep playing when they get home! papa really wanted to keep those pictures of timmy and hang them up in the living room, but unfortunately jill took them back home with her. rats!
earlier in the day diana helped out with getting the taco meat cooked, while mom prepared the jalapeno pepper side dish. good thing she had those gloves on, the juice on those things always somehow seems to make it in your eyes!
for dessert the girls wanted us to have the cupcakes they had baked and decorated earlier. they even made special ones for diana and i!
so cute, and so yummy! 
oh, dear sweet aves. she really loves musical instruments. last year she got a microphone, which was one of the best memories of christmas last here- her amazing singing performances of songs with made up lyrics! (watch the hilarious video again here!) well, she did not disappoint this year when she got a barbie guitar! she was so excited! her first response to seeing what the guitar was 'here comes rock and roll!'
she's a little rock star in training, shes got the head mic and everything!
not to be out done, tweets got a keyboard from mema too! the two of them make quite an impressive rock group, huh?
the kids no me so well, for christmas the three of them got me one of my favorite things: ketchup! they are so clever, those kids! 
one of the prizes bub got was a mini air hockey table- they are going to have a blast with that thing!
everybody wants to know what aunt diana got!
the one thing tweets wanted for christmas was a fur real doggy- and she got it from mema and papa! she was thrilled! we couldnt get that thing out of the box quick enough for her!
tweets was so excited about her fur real doggy that she spent the rest of the night walking that thing around by its leash, giggling all the way! 
since this is the first year that aves is allowed to have barbie stuff, diana and i got her a barbie horse. she loved it!
uncle chad, who wasnt able to be with us this year, sent gifts for the kids anyway! bub got this cool snowmobile style sled for going down the hill in their back yard. he was super excited about it!
one of diana's many prizes from mom and papa was this little set of lip stuff. she loves them and is looking forward to using them all up. tweets is there, of course, because when ever there is make-up related items she comes running! (good luck with that, jill...)
tweets was so pleased with her new barbie that her mema got for her- look at that smile!
diana and the girls playing with one of mema's toys before the gift giving began.
all the kids lining up at the bowling alley for their shoes.
everybody is having a great time- and this year we only had one bowling ball related injury, which is down from most years...
after bowling and the pizza party, the kids got to play a strange game that the gym teacher made up. its kind of like dodgeball, but with little soft tribble-type furry beanbags. strange, but the kids loved it!
after playing the weird tribble game, they also got to go into the gym and wale on each other with dodgeballs, so everyone was happy.
brains, a newcomer this year, was dressed to impress! this being the first time he has joined us at the cabin, he called on the powers of his two coyote shirt and his fantastic winter hat!
aaron always brings the fashion. this time it is in the form of a camo ranger hat!
i was hoping to impress with my fantastic headwear as well. looks perfectly normal, right? 
i didnt want the dog getting cold, so i stuck him in my hoodie, which he didnt seem to mind too much!
this fall going for a walk with poco i was, as often happens, struck by just how little he really is!
taking advantage of an empty chair, poco swoops in to lay in the blankets!
one of poco's favorite things in the world, one of his greeny bones. i had captured it with my feet and he had no idea what to do! all he wants is his precious greeny bone! 
here's diana, barbara's boyfriend and barbara sitting around the table in the decorated basement of kat's house. we had a great time there and really loved the strange/cool decorations in the house! kat put in a lot of work making the party fun- and it worked!
