Fun snow day

As promised, we got the girls up and dressed in snow gear this morning.

Matthew rigged together a "sled". He took a lid to a Rubbermaid tub and drilled holes in it. Then he threaded a rope through the holes and, presto, "white-trash sled".

It did the trick though!

Elyn was not a fan of the sled though.

While Matthew took a pit-stop to drop Elyn off, Nora made a few snow angels.

Then it was back on the sled!

This is a very quick video of her sledding. Listen carefully and you can hear her laughing. She loved it!

Matthew got a little tired, so I took a spin around the street...I made it ONCE before I nearly had a heart attack.Doesn't Elyn look enthused? Ha! She did not MOVE from this spot for about 10 minutesSnow angels for everyone!Then it was time for a snowball fight (see Elyn in the background? HA!). Nora was excited about the snowball fight until...

this happened!

She recovered quickly though.

In time to do this...

Elyn needed a little loving after that blow.

But Nora was ready for the sled again...

Elyn...ha ha ha ha! She wanted NO part of the sled!

After hot chocolate, lunch and a nap, we loaded up our car and headed to the field beside our church.

Our friends, the Grahams, joined us too. Amber has a real sled (disk) that Elyn enjoyed riding on...if she was with Amber. Amber was her favorite person today.

And, as always, Nora and Gibson loved playing together!

The older girls took a spin on the sled too.

As we were wrapping things up, the Browns dropped by. I'm sure they did not intend to get out of their car and participate in an impromptu snowball fight....but they did. And I think all the "boys" involved had a good time.

It was a great snow day.

Our church services have been cancelled for tomorrow. We are PRAYING that school resumes on Monday!

I'm exhausted. Have a happy Sunday!

To our favorite one-year-old...

Happy Birthday Noah! We hope you are having a great day...which I know might be difficult because we are not all there to celebrate with you.

Nora and Elyn made you some cards:

Nora's says "Happy Birthday Noah" and then she drew some of the people in your family. The order she drew them in is not the order that you see...Elyn and Mommy were after-thoughts and she had to squeeze us in somewhere. She was against drawing "Mommy" because Mommy has blue eyes and everyone else has brown...I didn't know it was a special club-geez!

Here is Elyn's card:
It's upside down so have your mommy stand you on your head so you can see it.

And finally, they sang a little song for you. It's the slowest version of "Happy Birthday" I've ever heard. I think they slowed it down so you would be sure to catch every word.



We love you....eat some cake for us!

snow day #6

We had a great day at home today...and we were at home. All. Day. Long. 


We did not step food outside (well, I did. I took some dinner to our neighbors that just had a baby. A sweet, precious baby girl. That I got to hold. SO SWEET!).

The girls did not even ask to go outside and play...Matthew offered but they said no. They're odd.

Tomorrow morning we are bundling up and heading outdoors to play. Play, play, play! Matthew is already figuring out a way he can rig a sled together.

So, this is how we spent our day:

coloring (it's a gift)

rocking on a horse while talking on a cell phone
catching snowflakes (yes, we wore our pajamas all day long)

playing in a measuring cup band

here is our patio table

and here is the amount of snow that had fallen in our yard by 8pm. The weatherman is predicting we get up to 8 inches.

So, that's our day...I know, exciting :). 

I am sad that because of all of this winter weather we are not going to be able to attend Noah's (my sweet nephew) first birthday party. It's in Little Rock and we do not know what the roads are like, so he will have to celebrate without us. 

Noah, look for an exciting birthday post for you tomorrow!

Our day

It is currently sleeting in our neighborhood. I can hear it popping on our patio and in our front entry.

I'm betting Matthew does not have school tomorrow...just another day taken away from our summer vacation.

About 4pm this afternoon our heat was not turning on. I looked at the thermostat and it was registering 59 degrees. Matthew went out to the heater closet (technical term) and tapped on it, jiggled some wires and blew on the dust. It kicked on and started working again.

My handyman!

We are praying that it does not continue to turn off because that would make for a VERY cold night. We basically dressed the girls in fleece tonight. Hopefully they don't combust.

I wrote a few weeks ago that Matthew and I had watched Julie and Julia. I also mentioned that I had recently received, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Well, tonight, I made my first recipe from the collection. I made boeuf bourguignon and it was delish! I was worried about the difficulty level but Julia does such a good job of breaking the recipe down so I had no problems!

I did leave out the part using the 18-24 small white onions. I couldn't find any when I was at the store. I told this to Matthew and he said that I might find them jarred. Good idea honey, why weren't you at the store with me :).

And my "I don't like onions" husband said that the onions probably would have tasted good in the stew. Next time.

Here is a picture that Matthew took of the girls tonight:
They both LOVE the bathtub and played for about an hour in it tonight. They play so well together in the tub and rarely argue. I love bath night!

I hope all of my blog friends are staying warm and cozy tonight!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Big day for me today....today I turned THIRTY-THREE!

Oh my goodness. I'm definitely in my thirties now. And it's crazy that I am.

The day was a good one! It started out with Matthew kissing me goodbye and telling me Happy Birthday as he was leaving for work (nope, I don't get out of bed and fix him a breakfast each morning. I sleep as long as possible!). About an hour later my two favorite little girls got into bed with me.

I had to remind them that it was my birthday....they don't have very good memories :). Elyn started crying because she wanted it to be her birthday too.

I finally drug my body out of bed and discovered that my wonderful husband had put up birthday signs all over the house. We had fun locating them all morning (in the refrigerator, in the pantry, in my purse, in both bathrooms).

I weighed myself and then decided we should head to the gym (ha!).

After the gym, I met up with my friends, Danielle and Jasmine, for lunch and cupcakes! It was a very nice time being with them!

Then, we hit the road for ballet. Elyn fell asleep on the way. That was her nap today. Awesome.

When we got home, Matthew was waiting for us with a balloon and big birthday sign.

Such a good husband!

After I showered (which I had not done yet...before I became a stay-at-home mom, I would have NEVER gone all day without showering....things change-big time!), we headed out for my birthday dinner at Shogun!
Our attempt at a family picture. I think my head looks like it is the size of the globe (seriously) and I think that Nora is hilarious, trying to peek around the HUGE planet in front of her.

Then, our waitress offered to help out. Nora and Elyn were not thrilled with her offer, obviously.

Then, it was time for the Shogun fun! Elyn was very serious while watching our chef perform.

Nora told me, after the fire display, that she got burned. She was serious too. Think we can sue?

Check out the rice heart! He made it "beat" with the spatula....hilarious!

Elyn ate a TON of food tonight!
Bad picture of Nora but I was trying to get a picture of her eating with chopsticks. She would take both of them, one in each hand, and shovel the food to her mouth. It was funny but I was too slow....because I was too busy enjoying my food.
My sweet girls!

At the end of the meal the female waitresses sang me the Shogun version of "Happy Birthday". I guess it was in Japanese...I don't know. Nora asked, after it was over, "What was that?"

When we got back home, it was present/cake time....okay, I had already opened the presents, so it was just cake time. (Side note: I told Matthew that I did not want any gifts this year. I was serious about it too. It seems silly to me to spend money on things that I really don't NEED. He kind of listened to me :). The girls got me presents, which I understand. They were excited to give them to me and watch me open them. Elyn gave me "trash". That's what she called it. It was a wal-mart bag saver....and we REALLY needed one! I had mentioned a while back that I would like a digital food scale. Guess who listened (Matthew) and guess what I got (from Nora). AND Matthew did tell me I could download Volume 2 of Glee...and I did.)

My cake! Isn't it pretty? With all 33 candles glowing...fire hazard. Matthew and the girls made the cake and it was delicious!

So, there you have it, my birthday. It was a special day because I got to spend it with friends and my 3 favorite people on this Earth. And I received about 5 million Facebook birthday wishes-that was awesome!

I wonder what this year will bring? I'm not big on surprises....I like to know what to expect. I always try to get surprises out of Matthew and it drives him crazy. He wants me to enjoy the whole experience, the anticipation and all.

I know many surprises will occur during this year. Some will be good and some I will probably wish I could do without.

I do know this though, I will grow in my relationships with my husband and children, I desire to grow in my relationship with God and I hope to grow in my friendships.

Thank you blog friends for helping make my thirty-second year such a great one...