Snow: Day 2

Friday was a GORGEOUS day! It had rained for days and days so the sun was a welcome change! We bundled up after breakfast and headed back out.

My sweet vehicle-lovin' boy. Of course he wanted his firetruck outside in the snow:

The kids loved playing in the fort covered in snow:

I attempted a few snow pictures while they played:

Love this picture!

Dakota doesn't get enough camera time in our family, so I attempted a few candid shots of her:

 She wants to be outside every second when it snows. Ryan's parked van left a patch of grass and she stayed here most of the day. So funny!

Oh, this crazy pup. She loves snow as much as these kids do. Maybe more. When we have a snowball fight, she is right in the middle--eating them midair. She seriously stands next to you waiting on you to throw snow at her face! It's so funny. You can imagine it took me a few shots to get this one! Hilarious.

And most of the time she looks like this--covered in snow!

Gavin also loved eating the snow:

I am not as talented as Dad, but Henley and I made a tiny Frosty:

Our friends the Oldacres didn't get much snow at their house, so they came to play for a bit before it melted:

 Melanie and I came up with a Science Experiment for the kiddos. We made 4 snowmen and put them in 4 different locations to see which one melted the fastest--outside in the snow, in the sun on the grass, in the shade, and inside. The inside snowman was the winner!

Do you know my biggest regret of our 2 snow days? We didn't make a snow angel!! For goodness sakes. What kind of a mother am I!? I sure hope it snows again so I won't have any regrets from this Winter! :)

Snow: Day 1

I actually wasn't skeptical. I think it's the school teacher inside of me that still wishes for snow--even though I don't get snow days from being a Mom. :) In fact, snow days are HARD as a mom. There's more messes of wet floors to clean, more laundry to do, and whining kids as you get layers on. BUT it's all worth it! I love love love snow! So when the weatherman said snow, I totally believed him. And it actually came!!

Gavin has been wanting snow since Christmas because he thinks the two go hand in hand. Both kids boycotted naps on Thursday, so as soon as flakes started falling, we bundled up and ran outside. I didn't know how much it would snow and didn't want to miss it if this was all we were getting.

Henley loved catching it!

And loved sticking her tongue out to taste it:

We met our neighbors outside and the girls stuck their tongues out together. So cute!

So we went back inside to warm up, and we decided to meet back outside after there was more snow on the ground. So this is what it looked like when we came in the first time:

Gavin couldn't wait to get back out!

Dad was done with work and we ventured back out!

This was about 45 minutes later! It was coming down so hard! I think the weatherman called it a "thundersnow." Here's our 3 youngins trecking through the street :)

Henley helped Dad make a "Fro-ee!" (Frosty--her favorite!)

 It was perfect snow for a snowman. It was really wet and stuck together so well!

Ryan made this guy in under 5 minutes. It really was the perfect snow!

I want to show this to Henley when she decides to boycot naptime again. She was soooo tired!

Gavin had a blast. 

He loved rolling his own snowballs like his Dad did with the snowman.

Then we pulled the tractor out!

We ended the evening snowball fighting with our neighbors, but of course my camera was safely put away for that! It was so fun having the dads there to play with us, because normally our snow days are in the morning when they are at work! I don't remember the last time it has snowed in the afternoon like this!

Frosty the Snowman

Henley climbed up to our opening in the addition and saw my snowman decoration and started serenading him. Thankfully when I grabbed the camera she continued! Good gravy, she is so cute.

LAST Christmas Post: Christmas @ Nani and Pop's

Whew, my life is too busy these days to keep up with this blog! But I want to capture these memories. So here goes the last Christmas post (that is long, I'm sorry, but I just want to finish!)...

The morning after Christmas day, we loaded up the van and headed to my parents' house to stay the week with my brother and his family. 

We started the afternoon with a "snowball fight" with cotton balls:

And Will and Henley serenaded us with Christmas carols on the piano:

 

We ended up opening present that evening because we couldn't wait 'til the next morning! I dressed for the occasion as an elf. (Actually, I had these crazy socks from my aerobics class and had to put them to use one more time!)

This was Will's first Christmas! These guys were so tired because they flew out of New York at 6 am!

Megan changed Gavin's life forever with their gift. I requested action figures for the Gavster from them. Well Meg knew of this group called Rescue Heroes and OH.MY.WORD. is this boy obsessed. OBSESSED.

"Billy Blazes" the fireman. Gavin put his fireman pj's on and said, "Mom, take my picture!" Love my themed boy--just like his momma. :)

Ranger Rita playing with Rescue Heroes with Gavin:

I had a huge surprise for my Mom. Mom has written children's books for her grandchildren, so I secretly had a picture taken from our family pictures with the kids reading her books. So #1 she was shocked with the picture, and #2 was shocked at a blown up canvas print of it!

She says she looks at it like this over her fireplace every day. Ha!

Henley was content to play in my Dad's big box from his cooler:

My Aunt Joanna is the "PJ Aunt" and always gets her great niece and nephews fun pj's that they love love love!

My other Aunt Lynn got the kiddos these horses. I love this picture! They were having a blast.

Gavin had a Bruder Christmas from both sets of grandparents--without them even planning it! These are the most realistic construction vehicles I have ever seen. He got a dump truck, excavator, and this crane! All the parts move like a real one. He, of course, is in heaven. (And notice the crane is lifting his rain boot! It's the real deal!)

The Hughes Crew was worn out from all the present opening!

I found these footed pj's at a yardsale for $1 that I've been saving to wear on Christmas. I look like I'm 12! :)

Chad sporting his Christmas Vacation shirt:

Speaking of Christmas Vacation, it's my family's favorite Christmas movie. This year at the young age of 3, Gavin got to watch a little bit of it. Don't worry--we definitely censored it for him (and us!).

Henley and Will playing together. Don't let this fool you--Henley was a bit jealous of Will!

Particularly when this happened!

And as usual, I had to snap some pictures of my precious nephew:

Nani's latest book for Will (that Chad and Meg surprised all of us with): Will Power!

Nani and Henley bonded with numerous viewings of Frosty the Snowman:

Marching down the hall to "Thumpity thump thump, thumpity thump thump, look at Frosty go!"

 And a Frosty art project:

Pop sadly had to work all week so I don't have a ton of pictures with you, Pop!

 But this one I know you'll be proud of. :) My brother-in-law Cole kindly gave my brother Chad garbage bags full of clothes he was getting rid of. So the men had a fun time trying them on. Ha!

Friday evening we went to my Aunt Christie's house and celebrated with my Dad's side of the family. Here's our annual family Christmas pictures:

My grandmother Jane with her grandchildren and great grandchildren:

(And that's my famous cousin Renee who starred in Courageous! And now she has a new CD she recorded! We're pretty proud of her!)

The cousins are not super close in age, but they love playing together:

Henley sat down on Reid's lap and started playing and he was not so excited about it! This cracked us up:

Caroline and Henley:

Love my two boys:

Henley the helper rocking her cousin Will:

To say we are unbelievably blessed is an understatement. We have such a fun family to celebrate the holidays with for such an extended time. And the amount of presents we received is amazing as well! I can't wait for next Christmas! (And Gavin can't either! :) )