The Snow Survives!!

Saturday Morning (December 19): Lauren decided she would allow us to try out the snow again since Logan and Josh came to visit and play with us!  Check out Lauren's polka-dot boots--these were from last year from Grandma Wade and they still fit!!

The snow was more tolerable for Lauren with the boots on her feet.  Logan was ALL about having a blast!  We were attempting to build a snowman.  There was a layer of ice about an inch thick above the good packing snow.

We  borrowed a sled from the neighbors and Logan was ready for his first sled ride!  EVER!

Josh had to give Logan pointers on how to steer the sled with the rope.

WOO-HOO!!!!!

In the meantime, since Lauren refused to sled, she decided to help me build a snowman.  However, it was a tough task since the ice was all on top of the snow, making it hard to roll!

Josh wanted Lauren to have a sled ride, so he took her to the smallest knoll on our lot.  She was NOT impressed and screamed the entire time!

And didn't stop until it was over!

I never got a picture of the snowman I was actually able to construct becasue Lauren took the carrot nose and then began to chisel away the head and body!  (She was onto the body of the snowman at this point.  Note the missing arms!)  Josh helped her with her anger/aggression by kicking the base of the snowman into the yard...Lauren laughed hysterically!  Oh, I am in SO much trouble with her!

Sunday, December 20: Yes, the snow is STILL here!! Being the rednecks we are, because we don't have a four-wheeler or a snowmobile here in NC, we used the lawn mower to sled Logan around the yard!  Logan had a BLAST--I don't think in all of the time I've known Logan that he's laughed or smiled so much or so hard!  He didn't want to stop having fun!

Lauren woke up from her nap.  However, she was NOT pleased to take a mower sled ride with Logan!

She was much happier on Daddy's lap, but that didn't last long either.  She HATES the snow and cold!  (That's my girl!!)

Logan's ride extended into the front yard, the neighbor's yard, and the road!

And it was a LOT of fun to laugh at Logan when he'd fall off the sled, lose a glove or shoe, and scramble to make it back on the sled!

Look closely--the smile on Logan's face is priceless!

While the rides continued, I worked hard to get a family of snowmen together!  Yea!

Then comes Lauren, removing the arms...

And Paul got in here, making his snowman politically correct in an inappropriate manner...

And Lauren continued her distruction of the snowmen.

And she's smiling because I asked if she wanted to go into the house to warm up!

When we got inside, the Steelers were playing Green Bay.  We decided that since the losing streak was 6 games, we'd try to support out guys by donning our Steelers clothing and Terrible Towels.  I think it helped because the Steelers won, 37-36!!  WOO-HOO!!

We unwrapped presents.  Lauren got a "cat" backpack, zipper pull, socks, and a note pad.  She was SO excited about these gifts!

Logan refused to unwrap his presents until we took a picture of him with all of his gifts.

This will be my last posting until after Christmas since I'll only have (gulp) DIAL-UP connection!  Yikes!!  (Yes, we're going to the boone-docks!)  Merry Christmas!!

FYI--It's Monday, December 21, the first day of winter--and we have had snow in NC since FRIDAY, December 18!!!  I had a 2 hour delay on my workday today as well!  The roads are BARE!!

Baking, Acting, and Snow!

12-14-09--Lauren LOVES to snuggle with Paul.  She's recently discovered a love for Mickey Mouse ("MOUSE!!"), so she likes to cover up with my old Mickey blanket.  This night, Paul and Lauren were watching fishing.  What was even more fun was that I asked Lauren how big the fish she caught was, and she showed me a span of about 12 inches!  Already learning how to tell a fish story!

12-7-09: Monkey See, Monkey Do, Lauren loves to do what Daddy wants to...eating a bowl of cereal, with milk, together.

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YUM!!

12-10-09: I found this adorable sweater at The Children's Place for Lauren.  Purple is a good color on her!

12-12-09: Shelly and I decided that we would begin an annual tradition of making cookies together and then sending them out as presents.  We made pinwheel cookies, sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, kiss cookies, and fudge.  The kids helped a little bit.  We spent 9 hours baking!  YIKES!  We decided next year to limit ourselves to two types of cookies and fudge.

Here are Logan and Lauren getting into the spirit of baking!

Stir, stir!

As is Lauren's custom, she LOVES to help!  Here she is helping Shelly rolling out the dough and cutting cookies.  Lauren's favorite cutter was the SNOWMAN!  (Funny story--Lauren learned the word SNOWMAN and kept repeating it.  However, it sounds like DAMMIT!  Shelly and I were mortified, trying to redirect Lauren.  She'd smile and say, "Snowman/DAMMIT" anyway.  It wasn't until later that evening when Lauren wanted to play with her Play-doh that I realized she said dammit when she used the snowman cutter!  Ha!  Since then, we've worked on annunciating more.

12-14-09: If you look really, really closely, you will see that Lauren now has her ears pierced!  We went December 13th to church then met the Cadwalladers for brunch.  The kids were all dressed in red, so we thought it would be fun to take them to the mall to see Santa.  Suzy's great idea: "And we can get Lauren's ears pierced, too!" So, we did!  Lauren did a GREAT job!  None of us had our cameras, so Paul took pictures with his phone.  He has yet to email me the pictures though I've asked...

12-15-09: Lauren wanted to play with her baby dolls, so she got into the baby mode.  "Mommy, push please!" was her banter!  So Ipushed her a little.  Isn't this cute?!

12-17-09: Lauren had her annual Christmas program for school.  Her group recited a poem called Little Baby In a Manger and rang bells to Ho, Ho, Hosanna.  Lauren's friend, Tanner, is on the right.

Jack, Harris, and Kate, Lauren's friends from the infant room, were here, ringing their bells!

After the play, Jack and Lauren ran around having fun.

Then Monkey #1 (Lauren) started crawling.  Monkey #2 (Jack) ensued.  Jack's sister, A.B., wanted to join in the fun.

12-18-09: BIG NEWS!  WE RECEIVED SNOW IN NC!!!!  School was called early, starting the Christmas break a few hours early!  I didn't have boots for Lauren, so I wrapped her feet in Walmart bags (I know, really rednecky!) so we could play.

As you can see by the look on her face...she HATES snow!  (That's my girl!!!)

She refused to touch it, even with mittens protecting her hands!

When Daddy got home, he hooked up the plow to his lawn mower and plowed our road.  He even plowed 5 of our neighbor's driveways!

Lauren and I went in to get her dinner.  She was freezing, so she requested her pajamas with her taco.

This was the first crunchy taco she's eaten properly!

When Daddy came in from the cold, I made him hot chocolate from scratch.  Lauren helped me put in the marshmallows!  (Paul said we put too many in!)

Because of the festivities and the mini-blizzard outside, we felt the Christmas spirit creep in to the house!  Since we will be in PA for Christmas itself, we always celebrate early, before we go.  Lauren helped me deliever presents from udner the tree to the carpet.

She had Daddy's new wedding band in her hand here.

Santa brought Lauren a baby doll cradle and changing table.  Lauren LOVED these gifts!  So much so that she tried to get on the changing table herself and to rock in the cradle, too...

Here was Lauren's loot.

She received a new puzzle with magnets and was showing Daddy how to play!

Lauren received a Tag, Jr. to help her with reading skills.  She wasn't as excited about this as me.

In the background, Lauren received one of those Discovery tents!  We all had fun climbing through the tunnel.  Paul looked like he was being birthed.  Lauren had a blast!  In the foreground, she was reorganizing her new diaper bag!

And testing out the disappearing/reappearing milk and juice bottles!

And feeding Alexandra.  TOO PRECIOUS!

Paul picturing me videoing Lauren. (Note the new hanging lights over the bar in the kitchen!)

Gymboree had a new line of Kitty Glamour!  I couldn't go without getting Lauren those clothes and accessories!  She's wearing her new shades to show them off.

And reading her Santa coloring book.

She unwrapped the shirts, jeans, sweater, and socks I also picked up for her!

I think she likes it!

The jeans have a fuzzy kitty that matches the shirt above.

And last but not least, Lauren received a Nerf gun!  (I have some pictures to add sometime to help explain why Lauren received a Nerf gun!)

Overall, we have had a Merry Christmas thus far.  Paul got me a new ring with our birthstones, Peridot, in it.  It's the first and only piece of jewelry with Peridot that I actually like!

I will continue to post as pictures come in.  Merry Christmas!!