Snow 2016

The kids were so excited to see the first snow of the season! I was thankful that it did not interrupt school and work too much. They did close both a few hours early but nothing crazy. We had planned earlier in the week to have a playdate with our friends. As soon as the kids saw the first snowflakes, they all ran outside. That lasted for about two minutes and was over. Driving home during normal rush hour, there was not a soul on the road. It was the weirdest thing. I guess since school and work had released early, everyone was already home.

When we came back upstairs from pizza and movie night in the basement it had started snowing and the kids could not wait to get outside to see it.

Saturday morning the kids were in our room bright and way too early, dressed and ready to play out in the snow that had fallen over night. It was not much but enough to excite them. They played outside for a bit by themselves then we went out all together for a little while as well.

By mid day the street were clear and we were out running errands! I will be really surprised if we see any more snow this year!

Since New Years...

...things have been pretty slow around here for a nice change. We know that life will be crazy once spring sports start back but until then we have enjoyed many slow(er) weekends. I still feel like the calendar is always full but in the best possible ways.

Hayes can touch his tongue to his nose just like Aunt Leah...

S'mores inside because it was so cold outside

Hayes was so excited to get to ride in Hadley's new car and even more excited to get a turn to drive it himself.

Helping Daddy put together Reese's new bed...which I guess I never took a picture of...

Sam celebrated the 100th day of school as a 100 year old man. I love that my kids get in to dressing up and doing the fun things that the school offers.

One of my January goals was to organize the pantry and the refrigerator...check!

New Year's Getaway

For years Lance and I have talked about getting a cabin in North Georgia for New Year's. The problem was we always thought about it too late. Finally this year we put some thought in to it early and asked some friends to go with us. 

This was the sunset outside of our cabin the first night. It was so pretty!

The kids were thrilled that there was a hot tub. This was our first night there and the kids could not wait to get in. We decided to feed them dinner first and then we would eat dinner while they played. It didn't work out so well though. We didn't even sit down to eat before they wanted to get back out.

We got them all bathed and cleaned up and in pajamas instead. The boys got Storm Trooper and Darth Vader pajamas for Christmas. When they opened them they said that Dylan and Denver had the same ones so we asked them to pack theirs so they could all match. I got the girls some matching bottoms at Children's Place and their Star Wars shirts at Wal-Mart. They all loved that they matched each other.

The boys started like this for bed but that lasted about as long as it took to take this picture. Hayes ended up in a trundle bed in the closet of our room and Denver slept in almost every other bed in the house.

The girls shared a room and it was honestly the best set-up we could have imagined for them. They had their own little sanctuary away from their brothers.

The first morning we woke up and went out to explore. We headed for downtown Helen to see many different things. The first place we stopped was a Granary...it was a bust but it had this beautiful scene behind it.

There was a nature trail up behind the antique store across the street and we got to see this view from the top.

Then we headed to downtown for lunch. We chose this restaurant next to the river because it was such a perfect day. I don't even remember the name of the restaurant but I am glad we chose to sit outside to hear the water rush by.

We walked around the streets and checked out the shops. The kids were being so good so we let them get some yummy treats.

We were going to try out some go-karts but realized the kids were not old enough. While we were driving around, Hayes fell asleep so he missed out on playing on this playground.

And throwing rocks in to the river...

Again, they wanted to play in the hot tub when we got back to the cabin. They made it a little bit longer this time...

It was New Years Eve so fireworks were in order once it was dark. The kids would chant and cheer for each of them. We did them in shifts so we didn't use them all at once.

These two were too cute together killing time until the ball dropped.

We played cards every night after putting the kids to bed...this night the kids were all watching TV in other rooms while waiting until midnight.

Cheers! with sparkling apple cider.

Sparklers...

The adults rarely were in any pictures so we had Reese snap a picture...

Finally! Happy New Year! All but one kids made it to see the ball drop. Poor Dylan just couldn't make it that long and was so tired.

On our way up the first day we saw signs for a Polar Bear Plunge and the kids asked questions about it. Once we explained it they were intrigued. We decided we would go and see it before we hiked up to a water fall. Well as we were getting ready that morning Maddy decided she was going to do it. She put her bathing suit on and we could not have done anything to talk her out of it.

She was so brave and ran right in to this cold water along with everyone else who was doing it.

The rest of us cheered and cheered as she swam through that cold water.

She grinned the whole time and we were so proud of her. We kept telling the kids they were all doing it next year and none of them seemed to like that idea except for Maddy.

Once Maddy was dry, we headed up to Anna Ruby Falls...it was our coldest day of the trip. It was also one of the most beautiful hikes we have done. The water was raging down stream because of all of the rain we have had lately. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be in the fall.

The pictures just don't do it any justice. After seeing the falls we took a short hike back in to the woods. The kids all did really well considering they were in bed after midnight and up by 8:00 that morning.

After the hike we had a picnic lunch by the river and a playground. However, it was just too cold to really enjoy it so we ate really fast and headed back to the cabin.

And guess what the kids wanted to do again?!? It was another quick go at it but they enjoyed it one last time.

That is the last picture I have but we cooked out that night and enjoyed one last meal in the cabin together. It was a perfect trip and went so much better than I thought it would. My only concern before the trip was that our friends would still like us after it was all said and done. I think it is safe to say we are all still friends. ;-)