Snowed In!

Wow - we have lived here almost a year and it has snowed about five times....this last time was the most snow people have seen in years, and the most snow I have ever seen in my life! Estimates are about 20 inches. The entire city shut down and it was so quiet and peaceful. Except for being locked inside the house with two stir crazy kids! Thank goodness a neighbor hosted a caroling party at their house. A normally 10 minute walk took about 30 in the snow but it was well worth it! The entire weekend was spent just having fun sledding, playing, and spending time together (plus a little shoveling for me....I am very proud of my handiwork and my "skills" in that area compared to last year). Snowplows were only plowing the major streets so our neighboring street got turned into an awesome sledding hilll...LOVED it.

Nathan loved the snow and the sledding, but Ellie was another story. Didn't much like the wet and cold and especially the fact that the snow was taller than she was! She'll come around eventually.

Here are some great pics from the weekend. We are getting excited for Christmas! GG and Pop Pop, Aunty Maryanne and Uncle Brian arrive tomorrow and the fun begins! Happy Holidays! Formerly a street, now a sledding hill

Trudging to the neighbors

Ellie and Daddy in the snow

Our house

A boy and his Christmas tree

Orlando in winter! Is Christmas coming soon?

Nothing like Florida in winter! Due to a training event in Orlando for me, the entire family packed up and headed to GG and Pop Pop's house for five days, just as it was getting cold in Virginia. It was great fun for the kids, though I am sure a little overwhelming for Geri and Lee, as they had just returned from a month long adventure to Australia two days earlier! Nothing like jumping from jetlag and exhaustion to two kids full-time! They didn't let their fatigue show, however, and immediately began to entertain the kids as they always do with Christmas preparation, cookie baking, trains, swimming, and lots of quality play-time.

One funny story from the week was Scott and I coming home from a night out at midnight to find Ellie watching the Grinch movie with Pop Pop. He said "she woke up...already slept five hours..." The two of them were so cute together nestled on the couch watching the movie. I guess since five hours of sleep is enough for Pop Pop, he thought Ellie would be fine too! Needless to say it was a bit of a struggle to convince her she had to go back to bed.

The biggest drama of the week occurred when Ellie swallowed fork tines. My dear daughter has quite a talent at the use of utensils, actually, and expanded her repertoire to forks while I was in training. Plastic forks. On Friday at breakfast when I cleaned off her tray I noticed that two halves of fork tines were broken off and missing. Needless to say, one of them came out a few hours later and the other one is still missing....I have been reassured by 3 different doctors that it will come out eventually or else she will start showing some ill effects, but I still have dreams of a plastic fork piece floating around my dear daughter's belly....I guess this explains the child safety warnings on things, "i.e. not for children under 3" or "Ellies under 3." Maybe I should advise they add that warning to plastic forks. Yikes.

Now back home in VA, we are settling in for Christmas and so excited about it. Have the tree up and with lights on it, Scott just put lights outside, presents are wrapped and in the process of being purchased, I am planning the itinerary for our family while in town, and we are looking forward to a fun holiday prep weekend visiting Santa, decorating, and making gifts for family. Really excited to spend some time together with the kids. Feels like work has been busy lately.

Can't believe it is only two weeks until Christmas! I love this time of year! Nathan decorating GG and Pop Pop's tree

Ellie up way past her bedtime watching Grinch movie with Pop Pop

Nathan, chef extraordinaire, baking Christmas cookies

Lots of fun in Pop Pop's T-bird

Snack time at the playground in the backyard

Sliding....

Happy girl sliding!

and swinging....

and watching trains

Nathan helping to carry the Christmas tree

Thanksgiving

Well, we did it. Our first Thanksgiving! With the help from Grandma and Grandpa Wilson, we actually did a good job, if I do say so myself. It was nice to stay home and relax and spend time with family. Scott did a great job with his first turkey (not that I had any doubts given his natural cooking ability) and we had the traditional fixins' of green beans, sweet potato casserole, and then a home made from scratch chocolate cream pie (no, I did not make it...my mom did). It was really fun. Nathan even contributed with homemade cranberry relish from school. We have a lot to be thankful for and I am so happy that we had the opportunity to celebrate.

Nathan and Ellie had a great Thanksgiving too. I think they really enjoyed the time with their grandparents. Nathan went on a turkey hunt in the backyard with some neighborhood kids which he loved. The big backyard really comes in handy for that. Also another example of where my husband is the pied piper...he mentioned the turkey hunt to the kids earlier in the day and we went to run errands. When we came back, as soon as our car pulled into the street all the kids (who had been waiting on the sidewalk watching for our car) started running after the car down the street to our house. One of the many reasons why I love my husband. He is definitely fun. Always an adventure.

Got some good snapshots of the kids over the holiday. The first few I had to share...our attempt at getting a family photo that we could use for Christmas cards. Laugh out loud. This isn't even all of the pictures that we took in our attempt. Really fun and really true to life.
Attempt number 3 (we stood up this time)

Attempt number 2

Attempt number 1....Ellie was really not into it

Family photo around the table

Cheese

Thanksgiving table - Grandma Norton's china and silver, flowers from Mom and Dad

TURKEY!

Scott carving the turkey

Turkey hunting with the neighbors