More Fun in the Sun

We had some nice, sunny weather this past weekend. The kids rode and rode their bikes. We drew with chalk and even played soccer with our new neighbors.

Marlee and Cooper were racing back. Cooper is winning. Look at that determination!?!?

She is so mad that she lost. She would not look at the camera.

All is right in Marlee's world.

He had to push it across the finish line. (Not really. When his peddle gets stuck he gets off and pushes.)

Oh my the SNOW!

We had the largest snowflakes I have ever seen fall to the ground last Wednesday. (I'll try and post some video I took of the large flakes.) It was cleared out by Friday morning just in time for another round of snow showers to come through late Friday night. I feared it would interfere with Chad's travel to Middle TN and our girls' day, but the roads were safe to travel on. That snow melted away by Sunday morning. Just in time for the biggest snow we've seen in a while. Over night Sunday, we were blanketed with about 4 inches of fluffy white snow. I know it isn't as much as our family got in Middle TN, but plenty to shut down East TN and cancel Chad's work. We had a lot of fun playing outside and eating snow cream.

Monster Jam and Tangled

This past weekend Chad and Cooper headed to Nashville to see Monster Jam live! Cooper has loved playing with monster trucks for some time now. Chad saw that they were coming and asked Coop if he was interested. Of course he said yes. Chad invited his dad along for the fun. Chad said Cooper was so wound up and talked and talked and talked. He didn't go to bed until 12:30 that night! Thankfully he slept in until 9:30 the next morning. Here are a few pictures Chad took.

Marlee loves the new movie Tangled. We went to see it as a family back before Christmas. She pretend plays the main characters. So while Chad and Cooper were gone we had a girls' weekend. We invited her friend Kyndal and her mom April to join us for lunch at Mimi's Cafe and then go to the movies to see Tangled again. We had a great time. Marlee had my undivided attention and took full advantage of it. It was a nice little break for all of us. Chad said Cooper is ready to go the Lion's Club Tractor Pull in July. Another start to a family tradition.

Beep, Beep! Look out for my kids in a jeep!!

Santa's big finale was a powerwheels jeep. It was too big for him to bring in the house, so he left it in the garage! The kids were very excited and have loved driving it around regardless of the weather.

Christmas 2010 Recap

We had a wonderful Christmas! It amazes me each year the amount of stuff we come home with. Last year I said it was the best Christmas ever, but the kids' enthusiasm before the holidays made this one for the books. They could not have been more excited. They randomly broke out in song walking through Target. We crafted until we could craft no more. Cookie baking and decorating was funny. I think the kids ate as much icing as they used to actually decorate the cookies.

We made the decision to go home to visit family before Christmas this year. Last year we left on Christmas Day, and the kids had to wait several days before playing with their gifts from Santa. We were able to visit with all of the grandparents and be showered with lots of great toys and other goodies.

Well Thursday morning I started feeling bad. My body was aching all over. No I didn't get the flu shot but did for the kids. I took some meds and the aches went away. I started to feel worse later in the evening. I was worried I was coming down with the flu, but I did not have a fever. We got home on Christmas Eve around 6. We fed the kids, set out milk and cookies for Santa, read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and tucked the kids in bed. Of course on the most important night of the year, Mommy is sick and the kids WON'T go to bed! It was 11 o'clock before they finally gave in. They were SO excited! I ended up sleeping on the couch Christmas Eve because I couldn't stop coughing.

Chad had to go wake the kids up Christmas morning. Those little sleepy heads. They devoured the wrapping paper and played with everything all morning. We had a yummy breakfast followed by lots of sleeping by me. I told Chad I needed a Christmas do-over because I don't remember very much. I was just going through the motions. To make the day even better, we had snow. Not nearly as much as our friends in GA, but at least we can say it snowed on our first Christmas in TN as a family.

By Monday (my BIG 3-0), I was not feeling any better. So I decided to go to the Take Care Clinic at Walgreens. I was fearful that I had the flu or strep. Both were negative, thank goodness. It was just a terrible sinus infection. I took 5 days worth of a z-pack and now feel better. So I also need a birthday do-over.

By Wednesday I felt well enough to take down all the Christmas decorations. Then we headed back to middle TN for a birthday party for Jacob. The kids had a blast playing at the jump house. Thursday we headed to the Music City Bowl with friends. Despite the outcome of the game, we had a great time. I was sound alseep by 10 on New Year's Eve. I did hear some fireworks but didn't get out of bed to see them.

Now we are back in our regular routine of preschool and work. I'm thinking it is going to be a long winter. We are on our third round of snow with more predicted this weekend and next week.

Here's a bunch of pictures out of order! Enjoy!!