The "BIG" Snow of 09. . .

We finally got a BIG SNOW! It was a lot better than the snow we had a month or so ago. It started Sunday afternoon and lasted into the night. I think I was more excited than the girls. We couldn't contain ourselves until the morning, so we went out about 8. The girls each made snow angels. Our very first. We usually don't have enough.Addie was NOT at all fond of the snow. She didn't want to touch it. It was too cold for her. I ended up holding her most of the time.I helped Brynn make our snowgirl. She was all decked out in a crown, pink sunglasses, and pink scarf. It was still snowing a good bit when we came in, so our snowgirl didn't look to hot in the morning! Her crown was completely covered and half her face! I was glad we made her in the back yard because our neighbors snowman but ours to shame. 1 was at least 6 feet tall and the other was every bit of 8! I just didn't have that much dedication.

Once we (Addie and I) had had our fun in the snow, we came in to make snow cream. I had never made this before. My grandma always made it. Thanks to the internet, I found a recipe. It turned out pretty good. Addie didn't care much for it...I know shocking! Brynn had 2 bowls.Monday morning we decided to head to Brandon's parent's to go sledding down the giant hill behind their house. It took us about 45 minutes to get there. The roads had not been scraped.

Looking out our back door

Turning off our road Intersection of Blackstock and 221Addie wasn't very sure about the sled.Mimi & AddieMaking the trek back up the hillBrynn had just fallen off the sled face 1st. She didn't mind much!Papa making a his 1 and only big jump of the day!Brandon attempted to snowboard down the hill and over the jump the guys made.Brent was a good sport all day. He made many, many trips up and down the hill with Brynn.Brynn, April, & Brent

Brynn finally got brave and started going down by herself. She had a blast. She was like a professional. She would get in, hold the rope tight, lean back, and speed off. Everytime she went over the jump she yelled "WOO HOO!"

We sledded for a good 3 hours. We headed back home. The roads were all scraped by this point. Brynn was very worn out. She was asleep within 5 minutes. Brandon carried her from the car and said she was all dead weight. This is her on the couch. She only slept 10 minutes and was ready to go out again!

Over all we had a great time in the snow, but now I am ready for the 70 degree weather that is coming this weekend! Only in the South does it snow 1 Sunday and the next you are wearing shorts!

Wordless Wednesday. . .

Addie is a Big Girl. . .

During my 3 hour cleaning extravaganza of the girl’s room after Christmas, I decided to also rearrange their bedroom in order to make more room. While doing this I thought, what better time than now to change the crib into a toddler bed. Brandon was totally against the whole idea. He thought she was too small. Well, once I get my mind set on something, I am going to do it. I took the rail off and it hasn’t gone back on!

Addie came in and saw her new bed. She LOVED it!! She was a little short, so we put a stool at the end to help her get in…this lasted only a few days…she was getting in and out of the bed like a pro. She has only fell out 2 or 3 times, but the pillows in the floor soften the fall.

All tucked inSound a sleepMade it through the night without falling out

Speaking of sleeping arrangements...

A few weeks ago, Brynn asked if Addie could sleep in the bed with her. After much debate, we said sure. We put the girls down, and waited to see what was going to happen. We could hear them talking and laughing at first. Addie banged her head against the wall a few times (which caused Brandon to want to go in and put Addie back in her own bed). I told him not to worry about. Alittle more laughing and then nothing...they had gone to sleep.

The next morning, on the way to school I asked Brynn if she wanted Addie to sleep with her every night. She quickly said "NO, she talks too much, and trys to play, and hits me. All I wanted to do is go to SLEEP!"

Fun she just wanted to go to sleep, when she begs and begs every night to please stay up just a tiny bit later she is not very sleep at all!

Snow. . .

even mentioning the word in South Carolina means the grocery stores will be running out of bread and milk. I am not sure why people only get these 2 items, but they do.

A few weeks ago, we got some snow. Enough to close school - 1 inch!! Most people had less, so we were pretty lucky.

Waiting with anticipationBrynn couldn’t get out the door fast enough. She wanted to make a snowman and have a snowball fight. The problem was the snow was extremely powdery. Poor Addie didn’t have any snow gear. Her hand-me-down Keds have NO tread on the bottom, so she was slipping and sliding all over the place.
The trampoline seemed to have the most usable snow. The girls had the best time jumping and throwing the snow in the air.Addie and I stayed out long enough to get pictures. We are not much for the cold weather! Brynn and Brandon stayed out a little longer.

By noon, all the snow was gone….just the way I like it!!!

Tis' the Season. . .

at least it was when I started this post! Nearly 2 months later I am going to finish. I am once again behind on my posting…oh well.

This year we started a new tradition on Thanksgiving night…Elf on the shelf. He came to our house while the girls were in the bath tub. Brynn named him Elfie (real original, at least it made sense. She normally comes up with off the wall names, but that is another story in itself.) He was very helpful in getting Brynn to behave. He left on Christmas Eve. Brynn did ask about him about a week later. She wished he was still her and wanted to know if we could have a girl elf next year. I explained that once we have an elf, the elf is ours forever and I didn’t think he would be changing to a girl next year.

We always get a real tree. This year was no exception. We headed to trusty Lowe’s as we do each year. We found the perfect tree in about 5 minutes. When we got come and pulled out the decorations, I found a disaster! An ornament that was made like a snow globe had broken at some point during the year. The liquid inside leaked all over the other ornaments causing them to mold and rust. It was awful. Brandon helped me salvage most of them, but I did lose some sentimental ones. I told one of my client’s (a man) this story and when his wife and children came for their appointment, they brought me a box of new ornaments. I thought this was a very generous thing to do. This year our treed lasted nearly 7 weeks, we hardly had any needles on the floor. Brandon insisted we take it down before February!

We went to the Spartanburg Christmas Parade with the Harrison’s, Martin’s, and Waddell’s. I was very proud of myself, I went without Brandon. It was freezing but the kids had a great time.Brynn had a Christmas party at her preschool. She had a great time. One of the mother’s made each child an adorable gingerbread ornament.The week of Christmas, we made our typical trips back and forth across the county. It was nice to see everyone.Addie’s favorite part was playing in ALL the wrapping paper and eating the goldfish!!
Christmas Eve night, Brandon read the girls the Christmas story from the Bible. We left the reindeer carrots and cookies and milk for Santa. Addie tried to steal the cookies. You can’t have ANY food out without her wanting some!

Our Christmas was great! The girls got WAY too many things. It took me 3 hours to clean and organize their room, but it was worth it.