Snow Day?

What do you do when there is a snow day and it's sunny and 50 degrees and the roads are clear...

1. We play some more because - you can never do too much of that on a snow day

 2. Channel our electric personality

 3.  Make a grocery list - and shop (and be grateful for the abundance that is always provided)

 4. Head to the zoo to use those passes Papa and Grandma gave you for Christmas - because we were curious if the gorillas were having snow fights (FYI - no snow ball fights spotted).

 5. Monkey around with the animal statues.

 6. Enjoy the family

 7.  Laugh at the elephants who probably don't know what to do with the white stuff that is finally melting.

 8. Nap on the way home - because - well - just because.

One daredevil

Lydia insisted on sledding from the top of the hill - about a 1/4 of the way down she realized this was not going to be a slow ride and she screamed bloody murder.  I was at the bottom to keep her from running into the one stump at the bottom of the hill - by the end of the day she was riding the sled with the big kids and laughing all the way.

The snowmen

The snowman has some friends - a baby with a mowhawk and a cyclops.

The snow was so powdery we had to make our snowmen like sand castles - with buckets - but the kids couldn't resist.

more sledding

Lucy in the front of a sled and Samuel on the Flyer - down our sweet neighbor's driveway

sledding

Round Three

We went out 3 times today for sledding and stayed as long as we could stand.  By round three I think we had accumulated 15 - 20 extra people in our back yard and loads of fun - Oh what fun!

Snow Day 2014

For real sledding

 The snow man

 Lydia and "Olaf" the snowman

 hot chocolate outside

 rosy cheeks inside

 utter joy at the hot chocolate and fun!

The first for #2

Her first baby tooth came out today.  YIPPEE!!!!!

giggles and fun

Sledding with cookie sheets

We're all about being resourceful with our cookie sheets...and that hill is amazing!

Let it SNOW!!!!

After about an hour of snow fall I decided I should go get the kiddos from school.  My 30 minute round trip ended up taking about 4 hours!!!!  Craziness.  We parked in a nearby neighborhood and walked home.  Grateful for the warm cozy house and crazy hill for sledding (and sweet neighbor who brought over warm pumpkin bread!)

Snow angels - with Oreo to play in the snow!

Here is comes - the snow is starting!

She had a front row seat around 11am for the start of the snow

The snow started falling - hot chocolate and PBJ for lunch

What she does at tea parties -

I walked into a tea party this morning - sounds like a great thing to do at a tea party!  Go NOLES!

pigtail punkin

Tuesday's nap with one pigtailed punkin.

Reading Bowl

Last Friday was the county-wide Reading Bowl.  Samuel's competitive spirit was evident and he was all ready to compete again next year.  Grateful for the teachers who work hard to provide opportunities for the children to participate in events like this!

Champions

A great way to start the year...

We had some neighbors over for The Game last night and it was a roller coaster of a good time.  The cold temps made it perfect for sitting by the fire (or jumping up and down near the fire) and I was glad my neighbors were atleast willing to cheer on the ACC and enjoy a good fight on the field.  I love a good game and the Seminoles didn't disappoint!  Go NOLES!

Christmas happenings

Christmas came and went like a needed breath at the end of a long swim.  We embraced the time and loved well in the simple things with my sweet five.

Lucy helped me make a menu for the days around Christmas and we cooked and ate well. We played in Daddy's new hammock, walked the dog and rode a new bike through the neighborhood. We made 27 (or 72) rubber band bracelets with Lucy's new bracelet maker, played with dolls, many games of SPOT IT!, fed a new fish, threw the baseball with a new glove from Grandpa, finished reading the Two Towers aloud and relived the most recent RUSH tour live DVD.

Children went to grandma and papa's and played with cousins and grandparents (returning with no broken bones and only one minor finger burn from fun with sparklers).  Mom went to work.  Dad graded endless papers.  We slept late, talked and tickled, giggled and sang "What does the fox say?" more times than I ever wanted. seriously.

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Grandma brought the kiddos back and got some hugs for the road before heading to see Big Papa.

We watched a hawk in our back yard, picked up sticks, mulched leaves and Daddy did lots of home improvement projects.  We are grateful for the time - as always.  Wish it could be more, wish it could be soaked up better (thinking of 100 things I didn't do or wanted to do AND people I would have loved to talk to, had over, hugged) but learning that years flow on.  Learning to embrace and fall forward into the time ahead ... one day at a time.