The Great Snow of 2011

It started snowing last night around 9:00 and it snowed a ton.  It immediately began to cover the driveway, sidewalk, and roads.  When it snows here it rarely sticks to the cement so it was crazy to see everything covered in white so fast.  It is beautiful.  We are actually postponing going out in the snow so that it can stay pretty for a little longer.

A little before the snow started we got a call from Lance’s cousin who had a connecting flight through Atlanta and it got cancelled around 10:30.  There was no way for us to get her because all of the roads were blocked or closed.  We were trying to think of any way to get her but it just wasn’t possible.  She ended up having to spend the night at the airport because all of the hotels were booked.

Then around 11:00 I was talking to my parents who were headed back from Indiana.  They were a couple of exits south of our house at a dead stand still so they turned around and came back to spend the night with us.

This morning Claire called saying she was in a cab headed to our house.  About a mile from our house the cab driver decided he could not drive her any further and made her get out at a McDonald’s.  Lance put on some warm clothes and boots to start walking to get her.  We figured if the cabby who just drove that many miles to get her to us wouldn’t drive the last stretch to our house, we probably shouldn’t either.

As Claire was walking from McDonald’s to our house a truck pulled up next to her and asked where she was headed.  She called me to ask where Lance was and I said heading towards her.  She told me “a nice family” stopped to pick her up and was giving her a ride.  I pictured her in a minivan with a mom, dad, and kids.  Then this huge truck pulled up and these two huge men got out.  I almost died laughing.

The kids were so excited to see everybody this morning when they woke up.  They had tons of entertainers.  I was actually starting to get worried about being able to feed everybody today.  We had enough food to feed our little family of four for a couple of days (Monday is usually my grocery shopping day) but having to feed three more adult mouths could have been tight.

My parents ended up leaving our house around 1:30 this afternoon to get back home.  There were some icy roads and lots of traffic. 

We are excited to go play in the snow soon and take some more pictures of the prettiness!!

Best Christmas Present

One of the best Christmas presents from Santa was this school bus slide he brought to Sam.

He loves it!  It took him a few days to figure it out.

But he finally figured out how to climb up in it.

He slides on his belly if he does it by himself.  But he likes to slide on his bottom too if we put him up there.  He will also sit at the steering wheel for a while and check it out.

It has brought tons of enjoyment to him, Reese, and any friends that come over to play.

Santa totally got bonus points for this one!!

I Originally Said No

When I was pregnant with Reese and found out I was having a daughter there were so many things I was excited about.  One thing that I always said though was that I would wait to put her in dance until she asked.  Selfishly, I didn’t want to start ballet with her because I grew up doing ballet, jazz, tap, etc and I knew how boring it was for the parents and how expensive it could be.

Two years ago I started Reese in gymnastics.  She loved it and I loved it.  Win!  Then she started three year old school. 

At Reese’s school they offer a combo ballet/tap class after school.  Several of Reese’s friends in her class go to “Dance Styles” as she calls it.  Every Thursday when Reese gets in the car she asks if she can do ballet.  I just kind of ignored her requests and said not right now.

In late October one of Reese’s friends from gymnastics broke her arm (not in gymnastics) so she had to quit for a while.  It ended up taking her arm a long time to heal because of how bad the break was and her mom was nervous to put her back in gymnastics.  She then started ballet.  From that day forward Reese could not stop talking about ballet.  She would tip-toe around the house, spin, wear her tu-tus and talk about how her friend got to do all of that in ballet class.  I started to feel bad about keeping ballet from her.  Over the Christmas break we went to her friends house and got to see the video of her ballet Christmas show.  Reese had such a grin on her face after watching that and on the way home asked again if she could do ballet.  This time I said we would see.

When we got home I called Lance and told him that I thought Reese would really love ballet.  So we decided to let her do ballet for a while and take a break from gymnastics. 

Today was her first day of ballet/tumble class.  She could hardly contain herself all day.  She must have asked a million times what time we were leaving.  She even entertained the bug guy with some dancing and singing…she usually hides from him.  When we arrived she was a little shy talking to the teacher at first but then walked right in.  Unfortunately there is no where for parents to watch them so I was scared I wouldn’t know how she did.  I was able to take a little sneak peek through the door and watch her do one thing.  She looked like she was doing well and enjoying herself.  After an hour of ballet/tumbling the door opened and Reese ran out to me with THE biggest smile on her face and twinkle in her eye.  She had a blast and I could tell she wanted to continue on with ballet.  I asked her one more time just to make sure and she said she wanted to do ballet instead of gymnastics.  I signed her up so she will be doing ballet through May.

Dressing Up

Recently, Reese has really gotten in to dressing up.  Almost everyday she brings to me one of her princess dresses to help put it on her.  Then she will go find some glass slippers to add to the attire.  Occasionally head pieces, bracelets and necklaces are worn too.

Yesterday we had some friends coming over to play.  Before they arrived Reese asked if she could put her Cinderella dress on.  I helped her and then told her that some of her friends like to dress up too.  I asked that she be a sweet friend and let the other girls wear some of her dress up clothes too.  She was happy to share and have other people to dress up with.  She did tell me that Harrison (the only boy coming over) would not want to dress up in her princess dresses and that we did not have any prince clothes.  I told her if he wanted to wear one of her tu-tus it would be ok…he did not ask for that!

Reese is a year older than these two cutesy little girls so sometimes she feels like she need to be their boss/mommy.

Princess Mary as Belle, Princess Reese as Cinderella, and Princess Maddy as Rosetta.

And here the Princesses are with their Prince for the day.

So cute!

Walking

Our little man is walking so much more now!! He still knows he can get places faster by crawling but he is having fun walking. What is cuter than a toddling little boy? He has even started experimenting with carrying things or pulling things while he walks. It is so fun to watch him right now!!



- Posted from my iPhone

A Look Back at 2010

I feel like this year has gone by so fast.  It is so true when people say “the days are long but the years are short” when you have young kids. 

At the turn of 2010, Sam was almost two months old.  Now at almost 14 months old, we can see such a little personality coming out in him.  We can’t decide if some of his actions are because he is a boy or if it is survival mode for a second child.  He likes to hit (hard) in the face, chest, or anywhere he can reach.  He loves to pull hair, pinch, climb, and dive off of furniture.  He also is so loving and fun.  He gives the sweetest kisses and loves to give “noggin” where he head butts you really hard.  He waves night-night and is taking in everything life has to offer.

Reese was 2.5 years old.  At 3.5 years old, she still has that sugar and spice personality.  She is feisty, honest, loving, so smart, responsible, and can cry on command.  She always makes sure I know exactly what is going on at all times.  “Mom, Sam is climbing on…, Mom, Sam is crying…”  We often call her Candace from Phineas and Ferb.  She is in a trying stage of life but she definitely keeps me on my toes.  I often pray that she does big things with her personality and that in my parenting I don’t hamper her personality development.

I really can’t believe the growth and development in both kids.  It is amazing and sad that it is going by so fast.

We had so many wonderful and blessed moment throughout this past year.  I really could not have asked for anything better.

I pray that we have more giggles, more love, and more excitement in 2011.

I feel so blessed with the family and life that I have.

May 2011 be our and your best year yet!  Happy new year!

New Year’s Eve

This afternoon we headed out to visit some friends for the afternoon/evening.  They bought their daughter the Step 2 rollercoaster and oh my did our kids love it!! 

Sam had a blast while I was a little nervous watching him. 

He would get the biggest grin on his face!!  Sorry my pictures are kind of blurry.  I am still trying to figure out how to use my new lens.  It is pretty picky about where it focuses.

After a few minutes of visiting the big girls headed out to see Tangled while the babies and daddies stayed back to watch football.  The movie was soooo cute!  We all enjoyed every minute of it.  It was really funny and sweet.

On our way home from the movie we picked up some pizza for dinner and then roasted some marshmallows over a bonfire.  Instead of graham crackers and Hershey's bars we used the holiday candy cane Oreos.  They were really yummy!! It was a gorgeous day and night so we tried to soak up the nice weather!

Our cute little friend, Joci!!  The mess on her face shows how yummy our s’mores were!

And her sweet big sister, Maddie.  She is so sweet with Reese.  She even let Reese sit in her lap during some of the movie.  Reese loves her and was so sad to leave their house tonight.

We left at bed time to head home.  Sam was asleep within minutes.  The kids are tucked away in their beds now while we watch football and wait to ring in the new year.

Happy New Year!!