Ice, ice baby....

We are home from school again today. We had freezing rain start Saturday night and last most of the day yesterday. Everything is covered in a layer of ice - including our driveway! Luckily, most of the main roads are pretty clear, so driving isn't too bad. The side roads and country roads must be pretty icy since we cancelled. We're supposed to get more freezing rain tonite...so we'll see what happens tomorrow. In the meantime, I just stocked up on baking supplies and am going to spend the day doing some holiday goodie baking.
I went a little overboard taking photos of the ice yesterday around our yard and Chris' parents yard . Everything looks so pretty with a layer of ice on it.

One of my favorites.....

Another favorite.....I love how this turned out!!!

And yet another favorite....
This silly cardinal was so uncooperative! I swear he knew I was there trying to take his photo. He hid from me for the longest time and when he finally did come back to the feeder, he stayed on the back side where I couldn't see him. This is the best photo I could get of him- complete with the neighbor's electric meter in the background. Grrrr. It was going to be such a cool photo until Mr. Cardinal decided not to cooperate!

{Rylee}

The same day I did Quinn's photos, I also took photos of Rylee. Rylee is my cousin Kara's daughter...and baby Quinn's cousin. She recently turned 4 and Kara wanted 4 year photos of her. WHEW....Miss Rylee really gave me a work out. She is too funny and a bit of a dramatic poser. She had me laughing the whole time...and really reminded me of another 4 year old "drama princess" that I take photos of. She was a good sport and braved the mist outside so we could get some photos with the leaves as a backdrop. Just a few of my favorites...

Mom's favorite... My favorite...look at those eyes!! I think these extreme close ups have kind of become my "signature" photo. They always end up being my favorite.
And some fun "boa" photos with Jenna. Lori let them use boas for a few photos, and they had a ball!

{Quinn}

On Sunday I had the opportunity to visit my cousin Lori and take photos of her new baby, Quinn. He was too cute...and very cooperative! I love taking newborn photos - they are always so sweet. Quinn had so many different facial expressions and is already moving around a lot at just 3 weeks old, but I still managed to get a lot of good photos of him. The only bad part is that I was so busy taking photos that I hardly got to hold him. I'll have to do that at Christmas (although I am sure there will be a long, long line!) THANKS again for letting Jenna and I visit and take photos of Quinn! Here are a few of my favorites...


Look how alert he was!!


Gotta love baby yawns...especially when you capture them with a camera!





Baby feet....one of my favorite things to take photos of...And my favorite photo from the whole day....

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

YAHOO for snow days!!! We've already been out in the snow, bought a new snow blower, and now I'm drinking hot chocolate and getting started on my "to do" list. I'm hoping to work on photos today, work on Christmas cards, and wrap some gifts. The kids played in the snow for a long time and now are at our neighbor's eating banana pancakes with Craig (our college aged neighbor who is home on break). I'm sure they will be back out in the snow after they finish eating. I'm off to tackle my list....after sharing a few snow photos from this morning.

Wishful thinking....

There is a chance of snow tonite. I've heard anywhere from 1 inch to 5 inches. I have a feeling we will be in the 1 inch category....that's usually what happens. A delay would be nice...and a snow day would be even nicer! These photos were taken the day after Thanksgiving. We woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground. Things got crazy, and I never got around to posting them though!

Random updates from us....

• I'm totally in Christmas mode - decorations up, listening to Christmas music non-stop, and counting the days until Christmas.
• Speaking of Christmas music....I want to download some fun Christmas songs from iTunes. Any suggestions? What are some of your favorites?
• I have 95% of our Christmas shopping done. Just a few little things to get to add to gifts and stocking stuffers for my family. No last minute, crazy mall shopping for me!
• Basketball season is in full swing. It kicked off last weekend in full force. Between Friday and Saturday I went to 5 games (2 for Jacob, 3 for Chris). Chris had another game on Monday, but I decided to stay home. After 3 games he is undefeated. YEA!
• Jacob is a "ball boy" this year for the team. He loves doing it and takes his job very seriously. He keeps calling all the players by their last name - it cracks me up.
• I'm ready for some snow. Actually, I'm just ready for a snow delay. I could use an extra 2 hours to catch up on things. I suppose a cancellation wouldn't be too bad either!
• I love finding fun "seasonal" foods at the store - like Candy Cane Lane tea, gingerbread poptarts, peppermint M&Ms, Cranberry Sierra Mist, and hot chocolate flavored Hershey Kisses. It's all about the food!
• Today I got to go to Urbana and take newborn photos of baby Quinn and also 4 year photos of Rylee. I can't wait to go through them and start proofing them. I think there are some cute ones!!
• Jacob has to get glasses. He's been complaining about not being able to see things that are far away. He had an eye appointment last week and will need glasses just for distance. Luckily he doesn't have to wear them all the time and won't need them for reading or sports. He's excited to get them.
• Jacob is currently reading a book for self selected reading at school that I had to read in 8th grade English in Mr. Stephan's class. A Light in the Forest....I don't remember much about it, but I do remember I didn't like it very much...and he picked it just for FUN!
• Jenna is starting to read a lot! She is constantly sounding out words she sees. It's fun to hear her try to read them.
• Chris surprised me with tickets to the Rascal Flatts concert in February. We're going with 3 other bb coaches and their wives. I can't wait!

Two little monkeys....

A few weeks ago I dragged my family to the park for round 2 of family photos for Christmas cards. I had to bribe Jacob and Jenna to take MORE photos and told them they could play on the playground when we were done. This park has an "old school" playground with swings, monkey bars, and even a merry-go-round. By the way...the bribe worked! I managed to get some Christmas card worthy photos...but you'll just have to wait a few weeks until yours comes in the mail!

Chuck Pie

Who knew Chuck Pie would get so many comments? Chuck Pie is really called "Frost on the Pumpkin" Pie. I searched and found a recipe that sounds similar here. Grandma Lehman made it and it was like pumpkin pie except it had a creamy pumpkin pie-ish layer in the middle (thus...the frost on the pumpkin). Apparently she used to make it, but hasn't made it for a while. When we asked what kind of pie it was, Becky was explaining all this to us and then told us a story about how her high school boyfriend - Chuck - liked the pie and once Grandma made a whole pie for him. Fast forward several years...Chuck is now a little burned out from drugs, but when Becky saw him at her HS reunion (I think that's where it was) he still remembered the pie. Anyhow...on Thanksgiving everyone kept asking what kind of pie it was and so we started calling it Chuck Pie because it was so much easier to say than "Frost on the Pumpkin Pie". There you go...the story of Chuck Pie. AND...just for the record...it was delicious! For some reason, it just doesn't sound as funny when I type the whole story out. I guess it was just one of those "you had to be there" moments. :)

It's back!!!

It looks like "Elf Yourself" is making the rounds again. We had so much fun playing with this last year...so we had to do it again! This time, you get all four of us!!

Click here to see the Dancing Covey Family Elves.

A Very Happy Lehman Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Lehman side of the family (my mom's family). We all went to Nancy/John's for tons of yummy food and desserts. I think my favorite was definitely the "Chuck Pie"!!! Later we played a marathon game of Apples 2 Apples. At one point there were 12 of us playing - from ages 10 to 86! We always have so much fun when we get together!!

Here are just a few photos from the day...

Mom, Aunt Becky, and Aunt Connie...deep in conversation...

Austin enjoying the last piece of "Chuck Pie" - straight out of the pie pan....

Abbie and Jenna....

Jacob...deep in thought during Apples 2 Apples...

Jenna....feeling a little left out during the game...Chris....during his traditional Thanksgiving-after-dinner-during -football-nap....

Alaina, Jenna, and Kelly....
A post-dinner Monopoly game (Allison, Allison's friend, Jacob, Austin, Abbie, and Amanda)...

Abbie and Allison....

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Enjoy spending time with friends and family today.

One little indian...

This afternoon Jenna's class had a Thanksgiving performance. The kids were all dressed like Pilgrims and Indians - of course. Because their performance was just held in their classroom, each child could only invite one guest. That was a hard decision for Jenna. She really wanted to invite our neighbor, Craig, but he's not coming home from college until tomorrow...so she decided to invite Dad instead. It killed me to be right down the hall and not be able to go into her classroom to take photos. I had to hand off the camera to Chris (but not my good one!!) and have him take photos instead.