Jenelle thinks these pictures show how much Annika looks like Jonathan when he was little.  What do you think?

In our last episode, the Portland metropolitan area was shut down for a day when several inches of fluffy snow showed up.  That proved to be just a test run for the arrival of the real snow.  The Sunday before Christmas, over six inches of fresh snow fell from the sky.  By Sunday night, our street looked like this (click on the photo):

Jenelle and Jonathan built a gingerbread house this year.  Normally, this would be too ambitious a task for them, but this year they took the easy route and purchased a kit from Costco.

So, that probably means the house is the gingerbread equivalent of manufactured housing.  You can see more photos here.

Given Portland’s temperate climate, the local weather experts are surprisingly fond of predicting snow, ice, freezing rain, or a combination of the three.  Usually, nothing that exciting happens, except maybe a run on snow shovels at the hardware store.  (Hmm — is that why The Home Depot sponsors the weather page in the local newspaper?)

When my siblings and I were young, our mother would occasionally become frustrated with one of my sisters.  Sooner or later, Mom would end a discussion with a daughter (or both daughters) by saying, “I hope all of your children are girls!”  She said the words like she was casting a curse.

Once again, Jenelle whipped out her sewing talents for Halloween this year.  Autumn gave us a ladybug costume for Annika, so Jenelle made a ladybug costume for herself and a manbug costume for Jonathan.

Maybe you already knew this, but fall is apple season. Yesterday we attended a festival at a local farm that grows 40 apple varieties. Annika took in the farm animals and the hay maze.

Annika has been working on her walking skills. Here’s a look at her progress from the beginning of this month.

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This past weekend Jenelle and Jonathan held a Japanese chocolate tasting party.  In other words, they purchased four tasty chocolate bars and, after sampling a bit of each, composed haiku poems which reflected each chocolate.  Here’s one poem that describes a bar of Chocolove Rasberries with Dark Chocolate:

raspberries from the

We recently had a chat with Annika regarding important matters like contributing to the team, the cost of a college education, the nation’s unfunded entitlement liabilities, etc. As a result, Annika has begun doing chores around the house, including unloading the dishwasher. We hope to get her working in the yard next.