Finally Some Nicer Weather

I think we're finally past the worst part of this winter.  I really hope so anyways.  We have had some really nice days lately and I know it won't stay like that but we've enjoyed them while we could. 

 

I'm a little behind on my blogging so I'm having to go back a few weeks.  During the middle of February, we went to the circus in Atlanta.  Michael had taken Rachel once a few years ago so this was her 2nd time and Jackson's first time being there.  They enjoyed it - but wow - was it long!  They could have shortened it by an hour or so and been fine. 

 

Here are a few pictures of us down on the floor before it started.

 

 

Jackson walking the tight rope.

 

 

Sitting with a clown with big feet... size 18 and a half to be exact! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we're ready to watch.  We had really good seats.

 

 

The orange spinney thing that Jackson is holding was the toy he picked out...and thankfully it kept him still during the second half of the show when he was ready for it to be finished. 

 

 

Next, we move on to the week Rachel had off during February...no, this wasn't from the weather, she had another whole week off - planned...mid-winter break.  She did something different during this break and went and spent a few days with her Grandmama and Granddaddy at their house.  She's been wanting to learn how to sew (and I sure don't know how to teach her!) so that's what they did most of the time. 

 

They (together) made an apron for both Rachel and her doll...

 

 

 

And Rachel made a pillow case for her pillow.  She loves it! 

 

 

Many of you know I've gotten in to doing the painting classes...I did another one a couple of weeks ago and this was my peacock. 

 

 

Random picture of Jackson at the doctor's office one morning (he woke up early with his throat hurting and I wanted to have him checked)... He's tiny and those pants made him look so skinny so I took his picture...

 

 

Playing on the Marietta square one Saturday when we went to visit Michael since he had to work.  They love getting up on that train.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this past weekend, we went down to the river for a walk and played on the playground.  This was something different for us and they liked seeing the water.

 

 

 

 

Rachel took this picture of us. 

 

 

Standing under the big bridge.

 

 

And Jackson climbing up the big play thing... He has no fear. 

 

 

 

More Snow...Less School

The powers-that-be told us we'd be having the snow/ice storm of the century this week - basically.  We were prepared for lots of ice and 3-6 inches of snow at our house.  School has been closed since Tuesday (it's now Thursday) and we've all four been home since Monday evening.  Thankfully - I'm not complaining...I wasn't going to get stuck out in this stuff again!  

Tuesday morning it started snowing at our house and snowed for about 5 hours or so.  It looked like this.

Unfortunately, it got warm enough Tuesday afternoon to melt it all.  Wednesday was supposed to be all of the ice.  We woke up to freezing rain hitting the house.  It did that on and off throughout the day - but was a lot of nothing as well.  Our roads were frozen though, so we couldn't go anywhere.  We did go out and tried sledding on the roads before lunch.  That was fast sledding...We made it about 45 minutes before Jackson hit an electrical box and got a knot on his forehead... That was it for that session.

This morning, we woke up to about two more inches of snow on the ground.  Everything was beautiful!  We went out around 9:30 and went down to play with some friends.  The sun was already starting to come out and melt the ice in the trees...so we were getting "rained" on just standing in the yard.  The road wasn't great for sledding because of the extra snow on top - they hardly went anywhere.  So that didn't last long.  But the kids played for a while in their backyard with the other kids.  We were only out there for about an hour when Rachel was ready to come in... she was soaked.  Michael and Jackson stayed on the deck and made a snowman before coming in.  Then they had hot chocolate and we made some snow cream - my favorite part!  And if you make it with sweetened condensed milk, it really tastes like vanilla ice cream...!

If we're going to keep getting snow like we have this year, I'm going to need to invest in some water-proof gloves and other kinds of snow-clothes... It'll probably be another three years before this happens again though.

We haven't heard whether or not school will be back in tomorrow or not yet.  I really hope it will but I'm not holding my breath.  The roads are melting but they will re-freeze tonight and I know the buses are the issue.  She was in school Monday and that's it - and she's out all week next week because of winter break.  So if they don't go tomorrow then she'll be out for almost two weeks... and tomorrow is Valentine's Day so they will miss their V-Day celebrations...

And Rachel is getting bored being here...And I know Michael and I need to go back to work... So, we'll see!

This Saturday, we're going to the circus... The kids are excited about that.  Should have more pictures then!

Crazy Snow Days

This has been a crazy week.  Tuesday morning, we all went to school and work as normal... (Except for Michael who took his truck to the shop to be worked on...he wasn't going to work that day.)  We knew there was a chance we'd get some snow that afternoon, but the chance for our area wasn't that great - or at least not that much snow...  The car place didn't have the parts to finish what the needed to do, so Michael left his truck there and they gave him a ride home...thinking we'd get it back that  night.  Around 11:00 all of the local schools decided to close early - at noon.  I wasn't in a rush to leave work at that point because I knew Michael would be here to get her off the bus.  Then our daycare decides to close at 4:00... okay, so I am going to have to leave by 3:00...that's fine.   Then things start changing...the weather is getting heavier and heavier and traffic all over is starting to get bad.  Then my daycare changes their closing time to 2:00 instead of 4:00.  I was trying to get out of my office but was trying to finish something there at the same time.  I was freaking out.  I finally left my office at 12:45 - an hour and 15 minutes before they closed.  Normally it takes me about 40-45 minutes in the evening traffic to get there...

This was not a normal day at all.  It was taking me about 25 minutes to get to each exit... I didn't make it to his school until 3:30 - over 2.5 hours since I left work.  The whole city left work at about the same time and the roads were getting really bad all over.  It was ridiculous.  I'm sure you've seen stuff on it on the news...so I won't go into that many details here.  I left his school and started heading home.  That wasn't happening either.  We live about 12-15 minutes from the school and at 5:00 I was still 5 miles from home and couldn't get there.  Jackson was getting very upset about being in the car for so long... We finally stopped at Publix for me to grab a sandwich and a bottle of water (I never ate lunch since I left work early)... we get back in the car and I was going to try a different way (because the road I was on was shut down) and Michael called and said for me to go to a friend's house that lived right by the Publix.  This is the family of a little girl that Rachel went to Kids R Kids with - I know them but we're not all that close or anything... But I couldn't get home - I might could have sat there with all the other people in the area trying to get up the hills on these roads and have my van spin out or roll back down and have other people try to push me... or I could have abandoned the van and walked the rest of the miles home - which thousands of people around the city did that night... But I couldn't do those things because I had Jackson with me... So, we stopped at their house... Oh, I did go back into that Publix and buy pull-ups and a toothbrush for us... We had nothing with us to spend the night away from home.  Only the clothes on our backs.  

They were very welcoming and I was so grateful.  It was a little odd but Jackson handled it like a champ.  He played with the little girl and did so much better than I could have imagined.  We kept reading other people's stories on Facebook all night... So many people didn't make it home or slept in their cars or in restaurants or hotels, etc.  It was all so crazy.  Also, I'm SO thankful that Michael didn't go to work that day.  Had he gone to work, he would have been behind me on the roads, and neither of us would have made it home to be there for Rachel.  We probably wouldn't have made it home at all that night.   (Oh, many kids didn't even make it home that night...there were quite a few that spent the night at their schools and got home the next day... Even four kids at our daycare were never picked up until the next morning - it was that bad.)

I won't go into all of the details, I know this is long enough, but around 1:30 on Wednesday, we attempted to leave.  We had to wait on the sun to be out long enough to melt a little bit of the ice... I was close by James, our friend, who was stuck at his brother's house... so we went that direction and picked him up.  He had walked two miles from their house to the main road where I was... He hopped in and we headed towards our house.  It took about 55 minutes to go maybe 5 miles or so... But we made it!   I was so excited to see Rachel and Michael.  The first of our snow days was spent apart and I didn't like it.  But we were finally there.  It could have been worse and I'm very grateful to the Peel's for opening their house to us that night!  

Jackson and I played outside at their house for a little bit yesterday morning...this was Jackson's first real experience with snow...the last time it snowed here was three years ago and he was only six months old.  

I had his hat, coat and gloves with me...but we borrowed some of their clothes for the rest of his outside outfit... 

He really enjoyed it for awhile!

Then when we got home, we all went back outside and played together... finally!

He really liked it when daddy pulled him back up the hill!

And today they went back out for an hour or so this morning... couldn't really do any sledding today b/c the ice on the road had mostly melted... but they did build this little snowman.  Jackson wouldn't take a picture with it though...

And schools are closed again tomorrow... But Jackson's school is open so he's going there and Rachel's after-school people are opening at 10:00... So, I'll take her over at that time and then head into work.  

Like I said, it's been a very crazy week.

Some Old and Random Pictures From My Phone

After going through the pictures on my phone recently, I discovered there were a few that never made it off of my phone... So, I thought I'd post them here.  You're welcome. 

 

Last year around Rachel's birthday we went to dinner at the Mexican place and they sang happy birthday to her...

 

Also last summer, we discovered a water park at the county aquatic center.  Two big slides, a lazy river, and lots of pool and climbing fun.  The kids loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

After we got the van last year, the back-up camera became a new thing for us... This is a picture of Rachel looking into the camera behind the van... too funny!

 

 

Being silly...

 

 

Jackson and his buddy Logan on the day of their Thanksgiving lunch at school.

 

 

Barbara kept the kids for us for a day after New Year's and she got this sweet picture of Jackson at lunch.  I love it!

 

 

Playing at a nearby park...

 

 

Rachel climbing the rock wall at the gym we go to.   She gets a little better each time. 

 

 

We went to the skating rink last weekend (all 4 of us) to try it again (only time prior to that was about 2 years ago and it was a train wreck...).  We actually got Jackson out there this time as well - for about 10 minutes total and he was done.  Rachel still didn't like it.  Until yesterday when she had a birthday party there.  She finally turned a corner and did so much better and gained a lot of confidence as well.  At the end, she even went around a couple of times without me - which was huge!  She's excited and wants to go back! 

 

 

Jackson is taking his first swim lessons right now at the gym as well... he goes on Saturday mornings until the end of February.  He's enjoying it so far. 

 

Maybe I'm caught up now... Until next time!