Here is our pretty driveway this morning. It was just a little snow, but the powdery sparkly kind. It's just enough to be pretty, but it won't keep us from doing anything. Sadly it wasn't enough to keep the guys from going on their annual pheasant hunting trip. As if I haven't had to struggle with missing the love of my life every year during this time, now they have stripped me of my youngest child, too. This marks the first time Alex will go with them on their hunt. I know I should be excited, but I will miss them terribly!

Here are the guys preparing for the great white hunt. Alex has been looking forward to this for a long time. I know his Dad and PaPa are happy about it, too.

Even though these two have done nothing but fight and argue for the past week, I got the satisfaction of knowing they actually love each other when Rachel hugged Alex goodbye.

This was, of course, after they had a snowball fight just to annoy the other.

However, this may actually be a more accurate depiction of what was really going on. It is possible that quiet, sweet Rachel was just hugging him to get on his nerves one last time before her little brother left.

These are some pictures of our big Nerts game with the Ewing family a few nights ago. Rachel and Jeff were partners. I like this picture of them--so cute!

Of course, these two just had to be partners. They are always good for entertainment value. Kind of scary, but they had fun. We had to keep an eye on them or they would move the table so far that Nathan and Steve were pinned up against the fridge!

Hannah and I were partners and winners! I'm looking pretty tired by this point in the evening. If you have never played Nerts you don't know how physically demanding a card game can be. I actually thought I had popped a few stitches leaning across the length of the table to make a play! I definitely had to rest the next day to recuperate.

Here are all of us playing a super fun game called Nerts. You can't tell from this picture, but it is fast paced and can sometimes be a little dangerous!

Our family Christmas picture this year tries to capture the spirit of our family life this season. I don't know if it was because we've all been together so much because of my inability to go places or what, but these two have been at each other since school dismissed. Even one of Alex's closest friends (remember he is male and twelve, which means he notices nothing) mentioned that he had never seen them fight like this before. I know they love each other and maybe things will be better after the hunting trip and school starts next week. I can only hope:)