Snow?!...On Christmas Eve?!?...Really??!!

Don't get me wrong, I love the weather. I love to watch the weather on t.v., I love it when the weather changes, anything about the weather...I love it. However, I was seriously skeptical about all the "snow" we were supposed to get on Christmas Eve. Weathermen always get everyone all in a panic and NOTHING ever happens (why is it that I love it?!? I don't know.) When I woke up at 8a.m. on Christmas Eve and saw no snow, I just knew it had happened again. Especially when the weather people were now talking about sleet and the stopping of the sleet would affect the snow amounts. I said to myself, "Here we go again, all sleet and no snow...blah!" Well, boy was I wrong....my apologies to the weathermen!! When the sleet changed to snow, it really changed! We haven't seen this much snow in a really long time...and it was super exciting...IT WAS HAPPENING ON CHRISTMAS EVE!!! I like this pic of the kids checking out the action, I like to call it, THE BEGINNING:

It was way too cold, windy, and snowy to go outside to take pictures, but I would brave the elements from my front and back door to take "update pictures" from time to time (no, I do not have the dedication of postal workers!)

These were taken pretty soon after the snow started coming down...It was accumulating really fast! I was really amazed at the size of the drifts. Usually when we DO have snow it is not accompanied by crazy wind, that really affects how it all lands.

Another "update picture" taken awhile later..it snowed ALL DAY and even into the early evening. Towards the early afternoon, I did brave the elements to take some outside pictures. I have never experienced anything like that in my life! It was so crazy when the wind and snow hit my face, it was so strong I couldn't breathe. I will never forget that feeling. Rejuvenating!

After the kids went to bed, Brian went out to play in the snow. We couldn't let them play on Christmas Eve because it was way to cold and windy and they were both sick. Since Brian was going anyway, I had him take some nigh time pictures for me. Perfect, right? This was the view from our house of Christmas Eve night. These type of scenarios only happen a couple times a lifetime, so we better enjoy them!

The next day, we were fortunate enough to be able to make it to my parents for Christmas dinner. The kids were really excited to be able to get out in the snow, even for a minute. I was so amazed by the huge piles of snow. I know most of them were drifts, but when your entire yard is one big drift, it's like it really did snow two feet! Exciting!!

Later on, in the afternoon, it warmed up a bit and the kids were able to play for awhile. Even though they both had coughs, I didn't want them to miss out completely. We only stayed out a short time and we warmed them up really fast when they came in. They were thankful to get to play, if only for a few minutes.


My apologies to the weathermen. I'm glad that I was wrong and you were right. This was a really great Christmas present! :)

The Last of the Christmas Fun Festivities (In One Post)

Christmas week did not exactly go the way that I wanted it to go. Poor Ava was sick for most of the week (and by sick, I mean alternating Tylenol and Motrin every three hours around the clock...blah). Three trips to the doctor later, she was finally diagnosed with bronchitis and given the proper medication, however, during this time she also gave it to Chance. Luckily, he never seemed to have it quite as bad as she did. I'm not telling you this to make you feel sorry for me (or them)...just trying to explain where the rest of my Christmas posts went. It really bummed me out because I had a ton of really fun things for them to do on Christmas week, but since most of them involved being outside, they didn't happen. I tried to make the week as fun as possible, considering they were sick and didn't always feel like doing much. They did enjoy Brian being home a little more than usual...it's always fun to play with Daddy...

...and Nevan...

Did I also mention that we got Chance a new gerbil? Yeah, crazy, I know... Ninja was not at his best and Chance did not want to go through the pain of seeing another pet die, so Daddy found another "home" for Ninja and we got Chance a gerbil. Gerbils always seemed a little creepy to me because of the very mouse-like tail, but the guy at the pet store promised that gerbils are quite a bit more friendly and if Chance wanted a little friend to play with, a gerbil was the way to go. Who were we to argue with the pet store guy?? We got a gerbil. I must say, he does seem to be more friendly than the former hamsters (he has definitely not earned the "devil" nickname yet!) So far, so good! :) Let's hope this is the last rodent purchase for awhile. It's like Christmas came early, though...I'd say that Chance was pretty excited about the new addition to his "family".That's right, you would have never seen any of us picking Ninja up, that's for sure!

Ava spent quite a bit of time taking it easy. She had a horrible cough and running around made her really tired. Luckily, she really likes to color. Please don't think I dressed her, she did this all by herself. :)

Wednesday night, the kids were feeling moderately good, so I took them to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. They had been really excited about seeing it, so I took advantage of their semi-healthy conditions and jumped at the chance. It was good that we saw it on Wednesday, because crazy snow came in on Thursday and I don't think we would have made it to the movie...(but that's a different story altogether!)

A couple of nights during the week, I let them sleep in the living room. They made a giant blanket pile on the floor and watched Christmas movies til they fell asleep. I also let them keep the Christmas lights on all night. They really liked this. It was on of my favorite things to do when I was a kid. I'm glad they liked it as much as I did. (A double bonus was that they were both conveniently located in the same place for all the medicine I had to give them in the middle of the night!)
I love this picture of them...they look exactly the same...so cute! So, in case you were wondering, this is what we did the week of Christmas...There was no snow tubing or touring the downtown lights, but we made the best of our situation, and I think the kids still had a good time!

Candy Bar Exchange

On Sunday, we had our small group Christmas party (Ava was not in attendance...still sick). Luckily, my mom was able to watch Ava for me so that we would not contaminate the other kids and the rest of us went...sorry Ava. :( The adults played dirty Santa (Brian's favorite), but we decided that the kids should get to have some fun, too. The plan was for them to have their own little dirty Santa game with candy bars. After further consideration, we made it even easier than that. There was no stealing involved (better for no one to get their feelings hurt)...instead, a Christmas story was read with a lot of "left"/"right" words and the kids passed the candy bars around until the story was over...whatever one they had at the end was theirs to keep. I thought it was a really cute idea and the kids seemed to like it. Here are a couple pics from the party...Chance ended up with a Milky Way which as delicious...(I know this because he shared with me...what a sweetie! He's spreading Christmas cheer!) :)

Christmas with Mema and Papa

We did not do anything Christmasy on Saturday because Ava was (and still is, actually) sick. Lucky for me, Friday was a busy day. On top of the school Christmas parties, we also had our Christmas festivities with my side of the family. The night really began as an anniversary celebration for my parents who have achieved twenty years this year. It's really hard for all of us to get together at the same time, so this also became Christmas night. The kids were so excited about getting to open some presents early! Here are the grand kids (minus Ty and Alex...they weren't there yet.)
My aunt really likes to make animals out of food...here is her Christmas creation. :)

Random pics of the evening...

It was a nice evening with my family, and my sister has finally had the entire family see her new house...I know she's happy! :) Happy 20th anniversary to my parents, and may they have many, many more!!

Christmas Parties!

Chance and Ava both had their Christmas parties on Friday, which meant a fun day for them and a busy one for me. I do love going to Ava's class, though. She has the best teacher. I can honestly say that I have never seen a party for a room full of four year olds go that smoothly...EVER! By the time their party was over, every child had made not one, but TWO, Christmas ornaments, ate a LOT of snacks, played a game, received a present from their teachers, AND the classroom was spotless when they left. Crazy! Here is Ava making one of her ornaments...a gingerbread man.

...and the wreath...I love this picture of her in the ornament.
Here was the rub-Vaseline-on-your-nose-and-make-a-cotton-ball-stick-to-it-game.

She did it! :)

I don't think she wanted to take it off.

Her present from Mrs. Reynolds and Ms. Tanya...a cute little Christmas book.

In the afternoon, it was off to Chance's party with a baby and Ava in tow. I wasn't even sure if he would want me to go this year, but he said he did, so I figured that I had better take him up on it while he still wanted me there. His party was primarily snacks and bingo...he seemed to have a good time.

Ava made herself at home with the kids in Chance's class.

Here he is with his best pal, Rece. (Both conveniently wearing red...Ha!)

He had a crazy green mouth from those cupcakes.

The best thing about school Christmas parties...it means it's officially CHRISTMAS BREAK!! Yay! Bring it on, we're ready!!