When we can’t go out….

…..we have fun inside!

Lindy spent some quality time with Sunshine!

 

Stella lived out her princess dreams….

 

And Will and Avery, well they just danced….

No Mo’ Snow!

Okay, I know I said I wanted a chance to wear my new warm and cozy (and yes they were) snow boots, but I did and now it can quit snowing for 2014. Especially since Will is tracked back in at school now!

This snow was “better” than the snow a few weeks ago because it was wet….better for snowman making and sledding evidently.  Every time we went outside it was still snowing hard or freezing rain, so I didn’t have the camera out a lot with me because it was getting too wet.

This was just a little bit after it started snowing. It was coming down hard and fast!

 

Stella liked this snow a little more and even had a little fun with her friend, Macie.

 

Matt decided to make the world’s largest horizontal snowman. By the way, snow is really nasty when it is dirty. Avery still ate it. yuck.

 

Avery and Tegan….Avery loves this big girl!

 

And then it snowed some more….

 

Sled time!!

 

So this was on Wednesday….by Friday it was in the 60s. Gotta love NC weather!!

A V-Day and a B-Day

Today is my dad’s birthday. He would have been 62.  Growing up, I always thought it was so cool that his birthday was on Valentine’s Day. Then I think I probably went through a stage where I felt bad for him…having to share a birthday with a holiday.  Like you don’t get as many gifts. And people forget it’s your birthday. Etc….

Dad’s 60th B-day

 

Looking back, it seems fitting that my dad shared a birthday with a day that really epitomizes what my Dad thought life was about….love. Hallmark holiday or not, my dad loved Valentine’s Day.  He loved showering us with love, especially my mom of course. But I remember little surprises for me too. Like the year he gave me (and my mom) a diamond heart necklace….my boyfriend had just broken up with me and I had just sprained my ankle, ending my basketball season.  Talk about tragic for a 16 year old!!! 

 

But Dad didn’t need a day to show us he loved us.  Mom takes him shopping (and he never complained!!) and sees something she likes, well, guess who comes home with that. No matter how many she already had “just like it” or how much it costs. My brother saw something he wanted for hunting or his boat….pretty soon it would be his.  Sports camps, top of the line volleyball shoes, vacation days spent taking care of my kids so I could go do something fun…..consider it done.

He didn’t do it to be showy.  He didn’t do it because he wanted something in return. He did it because he loved us. Period.

I’ve thought about him a lot this week with all this snowy weather. Bad weather excited him….he would be a ball of energy, probably driving my mom crazy right now. He would have called me 100 times already, getting the latest weather update. Seeing what the kids thought of the snow.  He would have already talked to a bunch of his salesman who were up in this area, getting the report from them too.  You know, verifying that I was indeed “fine”.

Funny how it is this weather that would have excited him so much that is maybe making it so I can’t travel to Beaufort this weekend to be with mom.  Bring on the warm weather! He liked that better anyway!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!! I know you are having the most awesome birthday party ever.

 

Lindy’s Birthday Celebration!

Lindy is 12!! My little girl is a pre-teen! Or a senior citizen, depending on how you look at it.

On her actual birthday, it snowed. Pretty sure it was her worst birthday ever. Lindy doesn’t do cold. But she has a great dad who puts a big blanket out on the lawn before it snows so Lindy will have green (okay brown) grass to do her business on when she ventures out. Or is carried out. It is usually the latter.

But a few days later, with both of her beloved g-mas in tow, we had a birthday celebration! She even wore her pearls!

Fried shrimp for the adults, some T-Bones for the girls!

Lindy, even though you get a little more stubborn with each passing year, you are my sweet little girl that loves to snuggle, LOVES kids and tolerates your other 4 legged sister.

We all love you SO MUCH! Happy Birthday!

PS-this was the best of like 50 pics.

Snow Day(s)!

Yay, we finally got some snow!!! Last year we really didn’t get anything and the kids were getting antsy. We’ve had a few “snow dances” done at our house this year already.

The forecast was 3-6 inches. We got 2. But that’s okay because those couple of inches completely shut the city down!

Matt and I both were working from home and I had a 90 min conf called scheduled at 9:30 so about 8:30, we headed outside. I don’t think the kids could have waited another minute!!

 

Thank goodness one of Avery’s puppy dogs let Sunshine borrow her hooded sweatshirt. I got a lot of grief the last time it snowed that Sunshine didn’t have a coat. So I was glad to find one that fit so I didn’t have to make one at 9PM the night before the snow.  It was going to be cute though…poncho style!

More fun in the snow!

 

Yay, a good picture of the 2 of them!

Of course it’s not hard to get a good picture of this dude!

 

Avery decided to shovel for a bit. What a good helper!

 

We had so much fun playing outside, although my toes got really cold really fast. I promptly went inside and ordered me a real pair of snow boots from a “Northerner” on eBay!

 

Matt and the children hopped in the car and headed off to meet the neighbors at a big hill at the Nature Park. Umm…okay…Avery’s gloves were soaking wet and her hands were frozen. I was just about to take her inside and away they went!! But they had a lot of fun, even though I was a nervous wreck the whole time they were gone!!

Meanwhile me and the dogs tried to stay warm. I don’t even have a picture of Lindy outside…that is how short of an amount of time she stayed outside!! Stella didn’t even seem to enjoy the snow that much this year. I guess she is just getting older. Sniff, sniff…

When everyone got back home and got warm, we made snow cream!

 

Avery had a lot of fun making snow angels. She was in awe of them…so sweet.

 

Sled, sled, sled!!

 

I think, being from the beach and all, I wasn’t born with the snowman making gene. But I’ve also heard that this was a “dry” snow and not good for snowman making. I believe it as I couldn’t get anything to stick together much bigger than this little guy! And forget getting something to stick in for eyes, etc….everything would fall if you pushed too hard.

Of course about 30 seconds after I took this picture, someone let Stella outside and she promptly ate his carrot nose. Poor snowman.

Schools were closed for 4 days!!!!  Thankfully Will is tracked out right now and doesn’t have to make the days up because year-round school make up days are on Saturdays!!  Will and Avery’s programs re-opened on Thursday so we were able to get back to normal a little earlier than most, which was good for all of us!!

My new snow boots came yesterday. Maybe it will snow one more time this year and I can try them out!