We woke us this morning to a half inch of snow on the ground this morning!  The girls were so excited to see snow.  They wanted to go play in it immediately.    I checked the local news website, and Bentonville schools were closed!  Now spending the first 28 years of my life in South Dakota and Minnesota, I find this quite humorous.  Seriously, half an inch of snow???  This is not a big deal.  I can still see the grass poking through it!

Jon and I both found out this morning that they have their reasons!

On his way to work, Jon slowly slid down a Bella Vista hill, avoiding braking to avoid fishtailing into a car trying to make it up the hill.  He had to slide into the grass a little bit, but no damage done.  He called me from work to tell me to be careful driving this morning, and I'm so glad he did!

I was on my way to drop the girls off at a friend's house, I tried three times to make it *up* a Bella Vista hill.  I finally had to go back down the road a quarter mile or so and get a running start at it.  I still spun out all the way up, but we made it!  Olivia and Norah thought I was crazy.  Olivia kept asking what I was doing and why we weren't going.  Norah piped up, "I think we need gas!"  Too funny!! 

Now we are both seasoned winter drivers.  I myself have spent fourteen years driving in winter conditions.  It really isn't about the drivers like I always thought it was.  It's about the hills, the condition of the roads, and the lack of equipment to appropriately take care of the roads once they are snow or ice covered.  Am I officially an Arkansas now? 

Chelsea and I were cleaning out some boxes and we came across a picture that was pretty neat: Jon, Lesy, and Jess at an abandoned gold mine in Lead, SD.  That was a fun trip!

Blog to you all soon!

This morning we were lotioning and clipping fingernails after the girls' shower, and Jon was quizzing Olivia with math questions.  She got an amazing amount correct!  She did both addition and subtraction, but the subtraction was a little trickier.  Jon would ask, "If I have eight apples and gave three to you, how many would I have left?"  She would answer, "Six," because she counted (in her head) eight, seven, six--instead of seven, six, five.  She is a whiz at addition though! 

Anyway, right at the beginning, Jon asked her, "If I had seven apples and you gave me one more, how many would I have?"  She answered, "Eight!" 

"If I had eight apples and you gave me one more, how many would I have?"  "Nine!"

"If I had eight apples and you gave me two more, how many would I have?"

"Ten!  And I would be sick from all those apples!"

***

Olivia would now like to type her name for you.  Here it is:

OLIVIA

She also used the shift key to make each letter uppercase (because she wanted it that way) and the backspace key to erase her mistakes. 

Here are some more photos from the warm (and not-so-warm) days during Jess & Leighton's visit.  They had to go back this morning, and we all miss them already! 

At the school playground Saturday late afternoon.  Norah is a natural rock climber!

Awwwwwwwwww...

Cutie! 

Okay, pregnant women, do not try this at home.  Or at the playground.  Doesn't work. 

Me walking the balance beam.  Thanks to the Wii Fit, I have wonderful balance.  But look at that big baby sticking out in front!

Just a pretty photo.

Sweet... 

Now these are from yesterday, when we all went to Eureka Springs after my midwife appointment.  Sadly only about 1/32nd of the shops and things were open due to the season, but it was still fun! 

There are a lot of stairs, ups, and downs in Eureka.  Enough to make a pregnant woman pant.

Empty storefront window 

Walking downtown.

Peeking in the store windows! 

Posing for the camera... 

Putting on a show for the girls (and pasing cars). 

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your.....long hair?

Sitting on a wall, just because it had a bench.

Caught this one before they saw me...

This one after, LOL!

And a bunch of pretty ones that were Jess' idea--didn't they turn out great??? 

That's all for now.  Enjoy! 

Yesterday Jess, Leighton, the girls and Jon and I went to Tanyard Creek and had a picnic!  On the second day of January!  It was about 65 yesterday, and looks to be the same today.  We had a lot of fun!

Four going on fourteen...  She's such a poser!

Then we went up to the Cooper Memorial Chapel.

My artistic nature shot.  I'm still not great at those, LOL!

For Christmas I got a new SD card for my camera, which is fabulous!  However, when I switched cards to use the new one, I forgot to download the photos from the old card, and thus we are now out of chronological order, LOL!  Last weekend we had the Rustad Christmas in Arkansas!  Here we are!

* * * * *

Cribbage...a Rustad tradition.  Now being passed on to the next generation!

Hats off to Joel for doing dish duty!  He said it made him feel like he was back on KP with the big soup pot, LOL.

Uncle Steve and Norah

Christian getting a little TLC from Jessie after an unfortunate meeting with a hot fireplace. 

Norah, Avery, and Olivia opening gifts from Steve & Tara

New shirts!  Thanks Uncle Steve & Aunt Tara!!!

Here's the back of Norah's and Avery's.

More cribbage, different table.

Heather and Joel

Tim, Christian, Heather, and Norah.  She was loving all the snuggle time with her aunts and uncles!

Grandpa Rick and Uncle Steve raiding the snacks.

Wii Mario Kart - kept the kids' attention for a long time!

From the front

Norah getting more Uncle snuggles--this time from Uncle Tim.

Christian in the Sleeping Beauty dress.  He asked Jon to put it on him.  I promise! 

More snuggles!  Aunt Tara and Norah.

Olivia had to show off how she rides her big girl bike!

Family Photos!

Jessica, Tim, Carter, and Christian Rustad

Heather and Josh Bovee 

Courtney, Avery, and Joel Rustad 

David, Kristine, Annika, and Annelise Black

Tara and Steve Rustad 

Jenny, Breanna, Ben, and Gabe Stoesz 

Merry Rustad Christmas!!!

Jon, Jess, Olivia, Norah, and I went bowling tonight!  Here is the photo recap of our adventure:

Norah and Mama

Olivia had to bowl "by herself!" 

"C'mon, c'mon!!" 

Auntie Jess and the girls   

Olivia in her size elevens

 Jess took this one--so sweet!

Jess instructing Olivia in the finer points of bowling. 

Back to granny style, LOL! 

Love this shot... 

Pregnant lady bowling--pretty funny! 

Jon with his new haircut! 

Jess and Olivia waiting for a strike 

Olivia is waving the ball to the left; Jess is applauding.   

"YES!"

too bad the camera auto-focused on the pins behind them.   

Norah getting some Mama TLC after her head ran into a bowling ball. 

Jess with her cute new haircut! 

Going for the spare 

Daddy & Norah

Daddy & Olivia 

The Strike Machine 

The scoreboard just before Jon's last frame.  He got a spare and beat me at the last second!! 

Me at 33 weeks 4 days.  Think it'll be a ten pounder just like the bowling ball??  LOL!

Jess at Store #1! 

Photos from Christmas 2008!!

We ate our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, and for being impromptu (did we not realize Christmas was coming??), it was very good!  We had ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls, jello, and cranberries.  Then we got to have diced ham and scrambled eggs for brunch on Christmas Day!  Grandpa Rick came over to watch the girls open presents on Christmas Eve, and we had a great time!

First the girls wanted Grandpa to be an elephant, which didn't last long at Mama's urging.

Then they played spin Grandpa in the chair, which lasted a little bit longer since it was fun to take photos of them and they giggled a lot. 

Then came the presents!

A new Tinkerbell robe!

A new sweatsuit! Who knew it was so exciting?  LOL! 

Wearing the jacket...

Daddy's new jammies! 

Now this set has a story behind it.  About a month ago, Jon found this Cinderella dress-up dress on clearance at Walmart when he was shopping with the girls.  He threw it underneath the cart with some other things on top of it and assumed Olivia didn't see him sneakily purchase it.  Once they got home and were telling Mama about their trip, Olivia asked Daddy where the Cinderella dress was so she could show Mama.  Like has happened many other times, Daddy said, "Oh, we didn't buy that today Livi.  We left it at the store."

Total Heartbreak.

She was devastated.  Jon almost buckled and gave in--she was that sad.  She has asked about the dress at least once a week since then, and Jon and I took to telling her we would think about it and that Christmas was coming soon.  Fast forward to Christmas Eve...

Olivia opened the present and exclaimed, "The dress from the store! THANK YOU DADDY!" and ran to give him the most real, honest, appreciative hug she's ever given. 

Did I mention it lights up?

Wait, can't see it... 

And Norah's favorite present of the night was a new little Dora set, with the "super babies."

Mama's turn!

This photo is the girls opening their presents from Grandpa John, but I put it in because my belly looks so huge, LOL!

Okay, the official opening Grandpa John's presents photo:

New puzzles!  Handmade by Grandpa John himself!  Of course we had to do them right away. 

The finished products:

We also played two games of Gone Fishing (the game where the fish go around in a circle and open and close their mouths and you have to catch them using a fishing pole) and one of Chutes and Ladders.

Now this is Christmas morning, trying out some new presents.  Glitter glue pens! 

The giant canister of Play-Doh.  The four of us sat and played with that for a whole hour!!

Wearing our new Tinkerbell jammies and robes. 

Fast forward to tonight, the day after Christmas.  Stoeszes are staying with us, and went over to visit Grandma & Grandpa Rustad.  It was so amazingly warm that the girls, Jon, and I played outside on the deck for at least an hour!  It was 69 degrees when we came back in the house at 8:37pm!

Daddy danced with the girls and sang Disney songs.  Olivia was in heaven pretending to be a princess. 

The bows, while Norah dutifully applauded from the audience.

Norah's turn 

But she fell over while trying to bow, LOL!

Learning to curtsy

Taking her turn being the audience

I am a princess!

Norah's and Daddy's curtsy.

My three!

Merry Christmas!!

We had heard on the news that Fayetteville has an amazing display of Christmas lights, so we decided to go check it out ourselves last night.  Luckily, Grandpa Rick had lent us his camera (to get some other photos onto our computer), because for once I didn't think to bring mine!  Here we are:

I used the night setting on the camera, which will properly expose faces/people with a flash, but leaves the shutter open long enough to catch the prettiness of the Christmas lights.  It would look much better on a tripod, but alas, I don't have one of those yet. 

I also have to apologize, as I did not get a photo of the razorback in lights.  Yes, a red hog made out of Christmas lights.  Go Hogs!  LOL!

Here is another photo Jon took yesterday--me at 32 weeks.  Feeling big and pregnant, that's for sure.

And then, since we had Grandpa Rick's camera, here are some old pictures we found on it.

Fun! 

My daughter is a genius.  Of course you all knew that. 

Yesterday afternoon Norah and Olivia were coloring at the table.  Norah called me over to see what she had drawn.  This is what she showed me:

Immediately I asked her, "Did you really draw that? Or did Livi draw it and you colored on it?"  I totally didn't believe that she could have drawn that.  She insisted that she did, and that it was a picture of me, so I turned the notebook page and asked her to draw another person.  She drew this, while I watched:

The big one is Mama with earrings, and the little one is Norah.  Amazing!  I had no idea she could do that!!!  I came back later and she had drawn this:

Mama with a baby in her tummy.  She is only two and a half!!  Isn't that incredible!