First Snow of 2011

Our first snow of the year came the 9th of January. The kids love watching it snow and last year they enjoyed getting out in it. This year, they wanted to get out in it until we actually got out there. I think the difference is, this year we went out while the snow was still falling. Last year, we ventured out after it stopped. They just didn't care for the snow falling on their faces. My friend Emily was in town for a visit and Craig was sick in bed all day, so Emily and I bundled the kids up to go out in the snow. It lasted about 5 minutes and we went back inside.
Whitney is not happy. She didn't want to get off the porch.
Tyler was happy!

Not too bad... yet...
It was quite windy too! Doesn't she look miserable??? :)

I think we got about 6 or 7 inches this time. Not sure what's been going on the past few winters with all this snow we've been getting.

We made snow ice cream this year and the kids loved it!!! So did their Mama!

Again... the hair...

Christmas 2010

There were so many Christmas pictures and celebrations, for the sake of time, I only posted a few from our immediate family Christmas at home.

We had a nice Christmas starting with hosting Craig's extended family Christmas at our house; the next celebration was Craig's family Christmas at my inlaw's house; next was my family Christmas again at our house and lastly was our immediate family Christmas at our house.

My mom stayed with us for a few days thru the holidays and we enjoyed having her. Craig's parents came by for a while on Christmas day and also my good friend Amy and her husband Chris came by on the 26th. It was a nice, low-key Christmas day and weekend and enjoyed visiting with our family and friends.

Taken a week or two before Christmas.

Christmas morning pictures...


LOVE the hair!
Watching a Christmas movie with grandma.
Tyler loves his new train set.


Who doesn't have bed head on Christmas morning???

Double Duty Dog Kennel

While getting ready to put up the Christmas tree, some of the things in my house had to be rearranged. The kennel sat in the middle of the living room floor and the kids had such a ball sitting in it and playing.

Whitney started the fun...
And the other two joined in...

Record breaking snowfall

I know the majority of you that read this blog are full aware of how much snow we've gotten but I have several readers who live out of state and they may not be aware so I just have to share. We have had such a rare winter around North Texas this winter. Not only has it been much colder than usual, we have had several (3 or 4 I think) rounds of snow this winter. Christmas Eve and February 11th were the most significant of all. Yesterday it began snowing around 4 a.m. and continued a little past midnight on Friday (today). North Texas made history breaking several records.
*Yesterday's snow made it the snowiest day in North Texas history with 12.5 inches of snowfall in a 24 hour period.
*Yesterday currently sits at the second most snowiest February and the second snowiest winter in history for the DFW area.
The last time it snowed this much was in February 1978, when I was 6 months old. It was such a fun day for us to watch outside the window as the snow fell in what felt like bucket loads all day and night long. Such a rare occurrence for Texas. We ventured out in the snow, not once but twice yesterday to fully experience this beautiful day.

We first went out in the morning and I wasn't sure how the kids would like the snow because they weren't super fond of it at Christmas. I was pleasantly surprised when they were all excited about putting on their coats and letting me put their hoods on them to venture out in the cold and wet snow.

I tried getting them to look up at the sky and stick out their tongues to catch some snow in their mouths. They did it a few times but not enough for me to get a picture. I did get a pic of Tyler looking up at least.

Whitney did well for a little while but then eventually started getting cold and had had enough.

Hannah was the wettest of all because she actually stepped out into the deep snowy grass a few times. She still had the most fun.

We didn't stay out too long - maybe 15 or 20 minutes because they don't have mittens and were really cold.

Then when Craig got home from work, we went back out in the snow to make a snow man. The kids were a little better dressed as Whitney let me put a toboggan on her and Hannah and Tyler let me put my gloves on them. Whitney was having nothing to do with the gloves. I put jeans on the girls and they both had on tennis shoes this time.

Craig starting the snow man...

Hannah had enough of the gloves and was still having a good time but I feared she would wear down sooner because of it. Notice Whitney is holding a ruler? I measured the snow throughout the day. I measured about 4" yesterday and then this morning after it was all over, I measured again and it was around 7" but I am sure the wind blew some of it off and/or some melted because I think we got more than some of the southern counties like Dallas and the official recorded number counted at DFW was 12.5".

Tyler never once tried to take off his gloves and he didn't cry once.

Hannah's hood is getting a little wet. We were out there for a good while, playing and watching Craig make the snow man.

Whitney was very happy and having a good ole time and then all the sudden she was done.

Craig said he thought Frosty's body weighed about 50 pounds.

By the time we finished, the girls had been fussing and crying for probably 10 minutes. I got the strollers out and put them in it until Craig finished, in hopes it would help keep them happy until then but it didn't really help.

Our snowman's arms blend in with the plant in the back ground so its kinda hard to tell he has arms.

Craig took this shot just before we went inside. It was only about 6 or so... It wasn't as dark as it appears in the pic.

Frosty by himself... Notice the matching plants (in the background) on both sides of the snowman? They are being flattened by the snow. I was surprised they didn't get more covered and squished by the snow.

Whitney was so fussy and upset after we came in so I held her and Craig held Hannah for a while to warm them up.

One street over from ours, there is a treeline backing up to the houses and I just had to take this shot this morning.

Notice my plant this morning after getting probably double the snow dumped on it than the pic above?

I guess Craig must have taken this shot of the house this morning before he headed off to work.

A great end to a fun and memorable day.

Christmas party with ECI

My ECI girl that comes twice a month to work with the kiddo's speech convinced me to bring them to ECI's annual Christmas party they have for their families who have children with developmental delays. She offered to help me and with the event being held at my church, I felt a little more comfortable so I decided to give it a whirl. When I got there, the kids were all too scared to get out of the stroller but eventually all warmed up and got out. Lindsay, my ECI speech therapist, came over to say hi to the kids and help me out some. When she got pulled away to talk to other families at the party, my service coordinator would come help me.

They had all sorts of activities for children younger than three - a cake walk, bounce house, Santa, hat-making table, cookie decorating table, a wagon ride. They had a pretty good time despite how it looks in these pictures. After about an hour or so, they were done and this wagon ride was closer to the end of our visit.
They really enjoyed eating their cookie they decorated. What a mess that was!

Lindsay and I helped them decorate of course. (Out of order again...)

The reindeer hat making table. Tyler didn't want to wear his hat.

Neither did Hannah...

Whitney didn't mind her hat, surprisingly but when we tried to take off the random hat from the table and put on the hat she actually made, she was mad and wouldn't wear it.

It can be quite challenging and intimidating to take the three of them out by myself to places like this but I bet if I did it more often, they would be less scared and more comfortable. I am going to attempt a Valentine's house party with a playgroup from my church in a couple weeks. I know there will be a housefull so I hope the kids don't have a melt down.