Another Snow Day!

Wednesday afternoon we were over at our friends' house and walked out to our car which was covered in ice. The weather had turned again on us. Thursday morning we woke up to around 3 inches of snow. It was fun snow.




We opened up the door and saw how deep the snow really was.





I cleared off the tramp and the kids went jumping and had a blast. Dylan's gloves were totally wet by this point so he has mine on.  





The snow was basically all melted by the late afternoon so Friday was back to school for both kids.

Blake's Open House

Last night was Blake's open house at his school. It started at 6:30 and Blake was super excited for it to start. We ate dinner and then about every 5 minutes he would ask if it was time to leave. We first went to Blake's classroom where he showed us his table and his recent assignments. They have recently been studying the state of Texas, so there was a book about Texas that they had been working on. We talked with his teacher, Mrs. Robinson for a little bit and talked with some of his classmates and their parents.

Then we were off to the gym where they had some of their art on display.

Blake's work of art. You could take home this framed piece of art for $25, but we passed. He then took us to his music room and then the art room. We ran into lots of friends from church. Blake was hopping up and down while we were in his classroom because he was so excited to show us his room and projects. I love that he loves his school.

Real Snow

Wednesday morning I dropped off Blake at school and about an hour later it started to snow. But we didn't get a ton of snow that day. Dylan went to his friend's house and played while I went to some appointments. Thursday was a little nicer and Dylan had preschool. We actually walked to pick up Blake from school. It wasn't super warm, but since it had been so cold it felt nice. Friday morning shortly after taking Blake to school it started to snow and it didn't stop until Saturday morning. Right before lunch, Dylan and I headed out to play in the snow. He had so much fun. I got an email from the principal saying that the school district was not going to call it an early dismissal day. I felt a little bad that Blake was in school and we were playing in the snow because well, we usually get ice with a little snow, but Friday was only snow and a decent amount (for here). Aaron worked from home that day, which ended up being great because the roads were terrible. Remember we don't have snow plows (okay, I think there is one that 4 cities share)....they just sand some intersections. I left Dylan at home with Aaron and I went to pick up Blake. I pulled into the parking lot, which has a decent hill next to it and I see all these people sledding. I get Blake and he tells me that there were 8 kids left in his class...all the other parents came and got their kids. Apparently that is completely normal.


Here is our trampoline.


Making snow angels.

He loved walking through the snow and leaving his footprints.


As soon as Blake walked in the door, we put on his snow gear and went outside to play in the snow.

Blake's snow angel.


The boys really wanted Aaron to come out and play and I let them go get him...hey, don't get to enjoy this very often so take advantage and take a little break from work right?

The boys also thought it would be fun to shovel our driveway. Proof that we don't ever do it because otherwise they wouldn't be excited to do it. But we had friends coming over for dinner, so we thought it would be easier for them if our driveway was clear.

We had a fun dinner with our friends, the Neumanns. This is Beckett and Kelsey's family. The kids get a long great. All the kids were playing upstairs after dinner except Beckett who was finishing eating. Then he said he wanted to go upstairs to play with his friends. I asked Beckett if he liked us and wanted to stay and play with us adults and he said, "No, I just like your kids. They are silly." Got to love what 2 year olds say.

Saturday morning was super bad, so another day of no running. I only was able to run outside 3 days last week because of the ice. But Aaron and I started Insanity Max 30 last Monday. It is a great workout and you can do it even when it is too icy outside.

Sunday we had our RS Visiting Teaching Conference, which meant finding subs for all the sisters in Primary. I had all the subs lined up and then the emails started coming in about how they were traveling for work, but their flights were canceled coming back home. We got it all taken care of though and the men stepped up in our ward. We had our High Priest group leader do sharing time and the 2nd counselor in Bishopric do singing time. The counselor who is over Primary did report back to me that it wasn't nearly as quiet and reverent with the brethren, to which I responded..I don't care. :) I appreciated the help.

Yesterday was still cold and today is raining and a little warmer. I am ready for spring, but I know this weather is nothing like other parts of the country are experiencing. I spoke with my friend who just moved to MN and she just laughed at our snow days and how "cold" it is. She also told me that their schools there have huge classrooms. Blake has 18 in his class, and Cohen now has 25 in his Kindergarten class and Isaac has 33 kids in his 5th grade class. At our elementary, they max out at 20. I'm glad our school is able to keep the class room sizes small. Speaking of classes, tonight is Blake's open house. He is really excited to show Aaron his room and meet his teacher. I guess that is the downfall of me helping out in the class room and eating lunch with your kids and knowing their teacher pretty well...they don't have much to show you at open house.

Another Snow Day

Last Tuesday was another snow day. As you can see, most of snow was melted, but there was still ice, which made it not safe to drive to school. By later in the day, it was fine, but school was still out and it messed up a lot of people's schedules....like our neighbors, so we watched Carter while she went to her appointment. We took him with us to the library and to the grocery store. Everyone was at the grocery store. You'd think it was a serious storm and long storm that we had.

Snow Day

Sunday we came out of Stake Conference and it was pouring rain. It wasn't yet ice, but we knew that during the night it would freeze. As we were getting ready for bed, we got a phone call from the school saying school would be closed on Monday. Then we got a text from his teacher saying the same thing. Blake was excited. When I woke up, it really wasn't too bad, but then the ice started to come down...hard. The rule here is if it isn't safe enough for the buses to leave the district bus yard by 5:30, then  they either cancel school or have it start later, depending on the weather forecast. We get a couple storms a year so they only sand the bridges and hospital entrances...and some intersections if there is time. But our ice is bad news..snow is one thing, but ice is super crazy. So, we got a lot of ice, then we got a little bit of snow. This made it a little fun because you can at least play a little bit in the snow, even if it is only a little. We just had to be careful because not everywhere was the ice covered in snow. Before lunch we headed out to have fun.

The boys were excited. We haven't yet had a snow day...well, we don't call them snow days because we get ice, we saw inclement weather days. We have had a little ice, but not enough to close schools or stop me from running. I was talking with some moms last week saying how sad the kids were that they hadn't seen snow yet this year and how we might not get any this year because we were already at the end of February. Well, some wishes came true.




Unless you have to go into work, then they tell everyone to stay home. Aaron stayed home to work, but that didn't stop the boys from throwing snowballs at his office window.




Of course they had to taste the snow.



Our neighbor was one of the unlucky souls that had to go into work, so we decided to go on an adventure and see where the path took us. Since very few people are out in their cars, it is really peaceful outside. As much as I don't like being inside, it is nice to have to slow down...but good thing this only lasts for a couple days because that's about as much as I can take of it.

We ended up at the park and found our neighbor friends, Ashley and Carter. They were trying to break the ice. At this point, some ice was starting to melt.

Blake, Ashley and Carter having fun in the snow. We then headed home for lunch and some hot chocolate. The ice melted a tiny bit in places and Monday night was going to be freezing, so we got a call once again from the school that the schools would be closed Tuesday..all day. The bummer is that it is all ice now, no snow, so not much fun outside. Tonight it is forecasted to snow, but fingers crossed that it won't.

Lunch With Blake

Blake has been begging me to come eat lunch with him at school, so Friday things finally worked out and we were able to go. He was so excited. There is a designated table for parents to eat with their kids, so we all sat down. Then Blake's classmate Cooper came over and asked if he could sit with us..and then he wanted to be in the picture too.

Later that night we had a new babysitter come over because our regulars were all busy. The boys loved her although Blake didn't like that she forgot to lock the backdoor after they jumped on the tramp. He has such a thing about locking all the doors...he may get that from me.  Aaron and I went out to dinner and then played games at a place nearby that has laser tag, mini golf, bowling, and arcade games. It was fun.

We also got all our paperwork submitted to Dylan's preschool, so we are all official. We didn't ever go on an official tour of the place, so Dylan and I did that together before our weekly library trip. I'm excited about this preschool for him. I had lunch with a friend this week who just found out they are moving to AZ. She lives about 30 minutes from me and she said that she hears so many great things about this preschool..that it is the preschool that is so hard to get into, but everyone wants to go to, etc. I thought it was nuts that her neighbors know all about this preschool because it isn't exactly close, but luckily for me, it is. I did tell his current preschool teacher this week that he won't be coming to her school the next 2 years. She is an awesome teacher and Dylan loves her, but he needs a little more.

The last couple of weeks Blake has been learning his Texas history. He has been teaching me what he has learned because I didn't know what our state bird, flower, were. Although some of the stuff we have learned at the museum, so I guess I'm not totally out of it. He was pretty excited to learn about the state capital and tell his class that Austin is his middle name. They also learned about the Alamo, which he was excited to tell them that he had been to. This week they are going to make chili on their last day of Texas history. They are even allowed to dress up as cowboys...oh boy.

Happy Valentine's Day

Friday night I got a call from my secretary in Primary who had a daughter who was scheduled to get baptized on Saturday. My secretary was sick with the flu so she had to postpone the baptism. It was a stake baptism, but we were the hosting ward, which meant that we were responsible for everything. Luckily there was only one other person scheduled  to get baptized so I was able to convince that ward to take over...then I canceled almost everyone from our ward. Everyone from our ward was happy because it meant they could do something for valentine's day now.

But Aaron and I hadn't scheduled a babysitter since I was scheduled to have a baptism, so we took the whole family for lunch at a BBQ place. It was tasty. For my birthday with my folks, we went to a place called Lockhart's. This place is very similar, although I think the meat is slightly better at Lockhart's, but I think the kids would say they like Hutchins better because they have French fries, yummy mashed potatoes, and free dessert--ice cream, peach cobbler and banana pudding (not a favorite).





It was a gorgeous day. The restaurant is right by the Cowboy park, so we decided to enjoy the nice weather at the park. Well, everyone else had the same idea...it was crowded. But we still had fun and went on a nice walk around the pond at the park.

Sunday the primary presidency was asked to speak, well, since my secretary pulled out, I told everyone to add 5 minutes to their talk. Saturday night and Sunday morning I worked on my talk. We get to church and I was excited because our friends who we invited to come came, but not excited because my counselors didn't take the extra 5 minutes, which meant I had a lot of time to talk. I think it went well. I am also glad to check that off the list.

After church we went to dinner at the Drysdale's house. Aaron serves with him in the EQ presidency and then they had the Neumanns over to (this is Beckett...and she is one of my counselors). There were 7 kids there--5 boys, 2 girls, but 1 girl is 7 months old...such a boys world. It was fun to chat with friends, although they are trying to convince Aaron to run a race...we should all do it as a group. One of the guys really wants to do a race where you have to sign a death waiver because the obstacles are insane. Um, no.

Earlier in the week...Wednesday to be exact, Dylan and I made our weekly trip to the library for story time. Dylan (and I) were in a picture that was in the newspaper. We were in the background, but we are still in there. It was fun for Blake and Dylan to see it.