Santa Claus makes an Early Visit to Scotland

On Thursday Trent and Landon had a winter concert at their school which was so cute! They sang songs on stage and had a great time. We were so proud of them!

We had a special arrangement with Santa Claus to visit our house early since we are planning on leaving to go to Texas before Christmas. After visiting with Santa at the "Grotto" Trent and Landon were excited that he remembered us from Texas. After going home and looking at the World Globe, they were also excited to see that Scotland is a lot closer to the North Pole! The boys and I baked sugar cookies on Saturday while Jon went on a pheasant hunt nearby. That night we put cookies, milk and a carrot out for Santa and the boys were sure to be in bed early. They were very surprised at all the presents under the tree the next morning. Trent received his remote control helicopter and Star Wars things he asked for and Landon received tractors and trains and new scooter along with other toys. The biggest hit for the boys were the Paper Jamz guitars. They have been playing with them nonstop and even put them by their beds at night.

This week we had another round of a lot of snow and freezing temperatures and I'm not sure when its expected to stop. It has dropped from -10 to -17 degrees Celcius (14 degrees F to 3 degrees F) so it has been pretty cold too. It has affected travel in Europe as well and we are praying and hopeful that we can fly out of here this week. Some flights are getting out and some are cancelled depending on the snow and freeze at the time. So we will wait and see. I can't wait to visit everyone back home!

Frosty the Snowman Visits our House

After 14 straight days of snowfall, at least 4 feet of snow, and temperatures dropping down to -16 Celsius (3 F) we managed to build our First Snowman here in Scotland. It was not easy, as the snow would not stick together and was too powdery, light and dry. Apparently the snow needs to have more moisture and at its melting point to be compact to make a snowman. Anyway, Trent and I worked very hard to make our first snowman since the snow would not stick very well that day. We shoveled and packed the snow to build the snowman. We had fun, and even though he was small we still were able to give him eyes and a mouth out of grapes, a carrot for a nose along with his hat and scarf and stick arms. Trent and Landon were so proud of our snowman. This is our second snowman to build as our first one was last year in TEXAS! We agreed it was much easier to build there because the snow would stick together as it was melting. 

This past weekend we met the Hollis family at Codona's, a kids play area, to visit Santa again and went Bowling. This was Trent and Landon's first time to bowl and we played 2 games. They loved and and want to go back! We will probably be doing this quite a bit on the cold weekends. 

 In the afternoon on Sunday we went for a little train ride and to visit Santa's Grotto. We had a long talk with Santa Claus and the boys asked him to come a little earlier here in Scotland since we would be going to Texas during the Holiday. Santa said he thought he could arrange that. We are hoping that he will visit us this weekend since we are leaving for Texas on the 23rd of this month.

Visit with Santa Claus and his REAL Reindeer!

While Nanny was here we all went to visit Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus as well as his real reindeer! They were very excited. Trent asked Santa for a remote control Helicopter and Landon asked for more trains and tractors! 

Visiting the Reindeer before the Parade

 Watching the Parade

Our First Visitor

Last Wednesday our first visitor arrived in Scotland, Nanny. We were excited to have my mother in law, Anita here and had lots of activities lined up for the week. Little did we know it would be one of the coldest weeks with the most snow so early in 100 years here in Scotland! We had fun despite a few changes in plans. During the time she was here Trent and Landon had FOUR SNOW DAYS at school, yes school was cancelled because of so much snow for 4 out of 5 days last week! We had plenty of cooking, baking, sledging, game time and movie time at home and plenty of fun with Nanny!

Look who's here!

First thing on the Agenda...Baking Sugar Cookies!

Will the Snow ever stop?

Our Cul-de-Sac

Our House

Getting Chewing Gum out of Trent's hair - Peanut Butter Works!

Trip to BuildaBear with Nanny and our Pretty Lights She Hung in our Conservatory (I think we are still the only house in our subdivision with lights up!)

Plenty of Snow for Play!