Crazy Love Gamble-Style

I know I haven't been blogging much.  I'm having camera issues and life has just been a bit busy.  So here I am, back with a phone photo catch-up...We are currently in Government Camp, on Spring Break.  These pictures start today and go back to the last update... This morning Ava looked outside and saw nothing but snow.  She decided she was going to ski down the driveway.  No one else was interested in going out there, but we were all thrilled to watch her from the warmth of the indoors, through the window.  She got all geared up, all on her own, grabbed her skis and started the hike up the long driveway.  When she had made it about three quarters of the way up she jumped off the road into someone's driveway, we all tried to see why she had done that, wondering if there was a car coming or something, as there is rarely traffic on this road.  Sure enough, the very worst kind of car was coming, the snow plow!!  He breezed down and shov...

Today is grandpa John's birthday.  I just received an email from him and it totally made me cry.  It seems fitting on his birthday to mention that I am really impressed with how much he has changed in the last several years.  You know, when I had my girls, these precious little angels, I wasn't sure what to do about my step father and his role in their lives.  I didn't have the best childhood with him, we had had some issues.  I felt like I needed to guard myself around him to not be emotionally hurt by him and I was scared for my kids getting hurt too.   That's not the nicest thing to say, but it is honest. I made a decision to embrace forgiveness and to keep an open mind.  I wanted him to have a good relationship with my girls and I really wanted to be a positive, supportive person of my mother's marriage.  Through the years I've just sort of hung back and watched to see how things would go and two things have happened, our relation...

Valentines Day can be a little over the top sometimes, you know?   Just ask our local Dollar Tree, I've never seen so many balloons in one place in my life.  The entire ceiling was covered!  I couldn't get them all in this picture, crazy! We tend to keep things simple around here, nice low expectations from the kids... They are just as excited to come out and see this as they would be a huge basket full of stuff.   I made my mom these healthy ginger bread hearts .  I love them too, so I may of eaten a few... The girls enjoyed reading their cards and eating a few chocolates before breakfast.   They are  so sweet!  We attended a little surprise party for my friend Heather, then we headed to the mountain to spend the weekend celebrating grandpa John's retirement & birthday. We laughed when we arrived and found this.  Apparently they had asked Jeff to open the cupboards so the pipes woul...