Snow Day!

Yippee for a real snow day! The kids got out of school for a day a couple weeks ago, but it was due to the "threat" of bad weather that never really materialized. This is an honest-to-goodness winter weather event, with freezing rain, sleet, snow, and temps expected to do nothing but drop the rest of the day. They even closed my office, which I think is the first time that's happened in the 6 years I've been there (I was working from home anyway, but nice to be able to just relax and have fun with the kids instead of feeling like I should be working!).

Ridiculously late Christmas photos

Well, it's not QUITE been a month since Christmas, right?

We had a really wonderful Christmas. On Christmas Eve, my parents and my grandmother (who just turned 90) came over. When Mallory got home from work, we let the kids each open their "big" gifts from Mamaw, Papaw, and Aunt Helen, so that we could call them and share the excitement (we knew that Christmas morning would be too hectic and overwhelming, especially since the kids were leaving at 11am to go to their dad's). Tyler got his Handy Manny Workbench (see picture of him "reading" the instructions to Grandpa, who was assembling it!), which he loves. And Ashley got a school desk for her American Girl doll, Molly.

They all spent the night with us on Christmas Eve...Ashley slept in Tyler's bed with him since Great-Grandma was in her bed, and they looked so angelic sleeping there together...I would've taken a picture, but was afraid of waking them up. I remember how long it takes to get to sleep on Christmas Eve when you're so excited about Santa coming -- to be honest, I'm surprised they got to sleep as quickly as they did, with both Xmas Eve and the novelty of sleeping in the same bed!

The pic of the kids at the top of the stairs was the next morning...I told them they had to wait until everyone was ready to come down (I was already downstairs getting breakfast in the oven, turning music on, etc). You can see the excitement on their faces!

Santa brought Tyler a Geotrax Lightning McQueen track (combining his two favorite toys), and he brought Ashley a real guitar, and brought both of them new sleeping bags. And of course, they got TONS of stuff from everyone else. Mallory got his long-awaited-for chainsaw, and I got a beautiful ruby ring. We are blessed way beyond what we deserve!