Sophia's First Snow

Sophia finally experienced her first snow! We got close to two inches of snow which kept us snowed in for a couple of days. 

We kept ourselves busy with snowball fights, sledding, snow ice cream, lots of movies, and hot chocolate. It was a really peaceful couple of days!

Snow Days

We have really had some crazy weather this week! Sunday night it started snowing, and within about 30 minutes everything was covered! It was the first time I have ever seen it snow so quickly and cover everything like that. Even the streets and parking lots were covered in a couple inches of snow!

Since Aiden hasn't ever experienced snow like that before (and neither have I) we bundled him up and took him outside to see the snow. Yes, it was 10:00 at night. Yes, he should have been in bed. Yes, I know many of you think I'm crazy - and you're probably right. :) However, he enjoyed it and that's what counts!

The next morning though, things got worse. We got some freezing rain and sleet for a little while in the morning which created a layer of ice on top of the snow and also froze onto the streets. School had already been cancelled that day, so it didn't seem like too big of a deal at the time.

Aiden had been asking me all day if he could go outside and play in the snow. So, after hearing him ask approximately 45632 times (I overexagerate,  I know) we headed outside to play. I talked Jaime into building a snowman with him since he loved the Frosty the Snowman movie so much. We didn't have shovels, so we used dust pans instead. Also, I couldn't find buttons to use for the eyes and I didn't have carrots for the nose - so we had to improvise. We used Oreo mini's for the eyes, a stick for the nose, and Hershey Kisses for the mouth. I don't think it turned out too bad, and Aiden loved him!

Honestly, I really think Aiden thought he was going to come to life. He kept asking me where Frosty's hat was. Haha! He just kept standing in front of him saying, "Happy Birthday, Frosty!".

Now here we are on snow day #5. School has been closed all week, and the roads have been a disaster. A lot of people have been out of work most of the week, and those that have ventured out to work have been dealing with some horrible traffic problems. A lot of roads have been closed completely, while others have only had a few lanes open. There have also been a lot of people who have gotten stuck in the ice and have had to abandon their cars. Today the city of Atlanta asked that people move their abandoned cars from the streets so that the DOT could put down the gravel and salt mixture on the streets that they hadn't done yet.

I have only been out of the house once since Sunday night. To say that I am looking forward to getting out of the house again would be an understatement! I have watched so much TV in the past couple of days that I have no desire to watch TV at this point. I have caught up on every show on my DVR, read all the unread blog posts in my Google Reader, finished the first Harry Potter book, finished all the laundry, and cleaned the house from top to bottom. Who knew being so productive could be so boring?

They are saying the temperatures here will get up into the low 40's tomorrow - which is higher than they've been all week. Hopefully the rest of this ice will melt and I will finally be able to get out of the house. I can't wait for Spring! I'm ready to be able to go to the park with Aiden again and to be able to enjoy being outside. So, next September when I'm complaining about the heat and humidity and saying that I can't wait for cooler temperatures....someone PLEASE remind me that I can't stand winter and the cold!

Christmas 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas, filled with good family and friends. It is so nice to live so close to my parents, my brother, and a few of my cousins so that we don't have traveling to do around the holidays. We did Christmas Eve at our house last year, so this year we had it at my cousin's house and it was so nice! The kids all really enjoy playing together and it's great to have us all together.

On Christmas Eve we went to my cousin's house and celebrated with pizza and lots of fun games. My cousin's boys had already opened some of their gifts and all three of them each got a game. We all really enjoyed sitting around together playing their games. They got Clue, Break the Ice, and Elefun. Clue and Break the Ice are games that I played as a kid, but Elefun was new to me.

Aiden loved playing with and watching the train set that Jacob had. He sat there for a long time just watching it go round and round. He has had a train set at home that he got for his birthday, but it was one where he had to push the train himself. This one, was an automatic train. So it went around by itself. (Luckily, Santa already had a motorized train coming for him).

It is really great that my cousin and I have kids who are close in age. Jenny (5) and her son Matthew (6) play really well together, and so do Aiden (2) and her son Jacob (3). Her oldest son, Andrew (9), gets to hang out with the adults since all the other kids are so much younger than him. I think he likes that better anyway. :)

After going to my cousins house, we came home and Jenny and I baked a quick batch of Santa cookies. She and Aiden put a few cookies and a glass of milk out on the table for Santa to snack on later. Then we quickly read "The Night Before Christmas" and a few verses from the Bible in Luke 2. After that, Jenny and Aiden went to bed. They were really excited about Santa coming so it took them a while to fall asleep. Once they fell asleep, Jaime and I got their Santa stuff ready.

I don't know how Santa does it at your house, but here he always brings everything already opened and ready to play with. So Jaime and I opened and put together everything and installed the necessary batteries. Getting the Santa stuff ready is so much fun! This year I bought all their stuff before December so there were a lot of things that I forgot I even bought. I always get so excited thinking about their reactions in the morning when they see all their new stuff!

Aiden's Thomas train set,  Handy Manny toolbox, and remote control car.

Aiden's monkey Pillow Pet, Woody doll, Cars slippers, Vtech Baby game, and Mr. Potato Head

Jenny's Spongebob Vtech game, iSpy Puzzle, Cootie game, Trouble game, and lady bug Pillow Pet

Jenny's iCarly playset, Vtech computer, cupcake slippers, remote control car, and Vtech Kiddizoom camera

On Christmas Day, Jaime and I woke up early and then woke up the kids. When I was a kid I remember always waking up real early on Christmas Day and being so excited, but with Aiden and Jenny, I always have to wake them up and remind them that Santa came. Haha! They were both very pleased with what Santa brought them. I think Aiden's favorite was his Thomas train set (duh!) and Jenny's favortie was her Vtech Kiddizoom camera. They spent all morning playing with their things before breakfast. For breakfast I made a breakfast casserole and waffles.

Later that afternoon, it started snowing! At first it was coming down pretty lightly and it wasn't sticking to anything.  We went to my cousin's house  for Christmas dinner and the food was great! We had ham, corn, green beans, homemade mashed potatoes, mac n' cheese, and biscuits. I also made a Butterfinger cake for dessert (yummy!). The kids played some more, and a few of the adults played Clue with Andrew. While we were there, the snow really started coming down harder and before we knew it, the ground was covered in about and inch of snow! Of course, all the kids (and the "big kids") headed outside to play in it. We had a snowball fight, and poor Jaime really got ganged up on! It was all in fun though. ;)

Since it was snowing and we were afraid the roads might start to freeze over, we went to my mom's house to do our family gift exchange. After that, Jaime, the kids, and I all went home and spent the rest of the night playing with the stuff Santa brought. Jenny got some games from Santa and Uncle Billy that she really likes. We played those most of the night. Aiden was even able to play one of them with us.

Today we've spent all day in our pajamas still playing with Santa stuff. Tonight some of Jaime's friends are coming over and we're gonna eat and have a little game night. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, we definitely did!!