Happy Birthday Grandma!
Here are Me, Gabe and Maggie singing happy birthday to our beloved Grandmother. By the way, there's a reason why I covered Gabe's Mouth. But I ain't sayin' nothin'.
O.k. so I wanted to wish my Grandma A happy birthday, so I picked a song from my book, and played it. I love my Grandma! Love you Grandma,
Sage
Blizzard of 2010
We, along with many of our neighbors in the northeast, have been snowed in for the past few days during the snow event of February 2010. As you can see from the pictures, we have had snow up to the windows with blustery winds, and extremely low temperatures.
This storm has come at the most opportune moment as it allows us to take some time out from our school, work, and house cleaning schedules, (those who know me well can feel free to chuckle here), to gear up and prepare for the winter Olympics. With all of the skating, skiing, and sledding, I think I like watching the Olympics in winter more than I do in the summer. It is in this spirit that Benji constructed the Souza luge II in the front yard.
We really enjoyed the Souza luge I over Christmas break, but during some freezing rain and warmer temperatures in January, that great track went the way of all good snowmen--to slush. Now we have our new track, and it really is something to experience. When I went on it my kids said that everyone within two miles could have heard me screaming. (I'm not sure if you can see the drop on the video, but it is a doosy.) Benji has done a great job adding dips and swerving around Ruby, our car. Even as I type this I can hear the kids screaming outside as they sled down the track.
Sometimes I get the winter blues and I can't wait for spring to come, but when we have days like today, when we are all home together, I am so grateful for the moment that we have to be as we are and enjoy it.
Skiing
You may have heard that we've had a little bit of bad weather this winter. You've heard right. Ice storms. Snow Storms. Wind. Freezing Rain. We've had a little bit of everything, even the occasional sunny day. On one of our bad weather days, Benji took the bigger kids and hit the slopes. My kids love to be with their Dad, and aside from long car rides, he likes to be with them too. You can really see this in these photos, so I had to post them. They all look like they are having such a fun time.
As a side note, Gabe's front tooth has been loose for such a long time now, we think he is starting to look like Sloth from Goonies.
Somebody loves lipstick....
I rarely wear lipstick. I don't know why. I think it is because I feel like I have kind of an over sized clownish mouth and if I put lipstick on, I think it looks weird. If it is too dark I look like a circus performer and the lighter shades make me feel as if I am impersonating a corpse. Since I have such strong feelings about lip wear, you'd think I wouldn't own any. You would be wrong.
I have several. I think they have accumulated over many Halloweens, costume parties, dance recitals. Buying one here, another there, and before you know it, I have a whole drawer full. A whole drawer that I never really open. Ever. Except sometimes on Sundays because that's where I keep my other makeup, which I only wear on Sundays. (I'm such a sophisticated lady.)
Unlike me, I have two daughters who are fascinated with the face paint. Sage really longs to wear mascara and Maggie, loves the lipstick. So I suppose I should not have been surprised that when I turned my back one day, my little glamour girl got a hold on my makeup drawer and ran wild with the lipstick. The results left me speechless. So I took a photo. Enjoy!!
Twelve Years....but who's counting?
Twelve years ago we got hitched. Twelve years. I can't believe it. Can you?
Slip Sliding Away
We are indeed in the throes of a very cold winter here, which means that my children never have to go to school. Today is the 9th of January and they have already missed eight snow days. It really has been very cold, somedays remaining below zero, or hovering just above it for the majority of the day. While we have been busy getting things done inside, (like playing lots of Wii games, watching movies and reading books), it is nice every once in a while to get out and experience the fresh arctic air. So we talked our dad into skipping work; Those college kids never really read the syllabus anyway---why put so much effort into writing it? He was kind to oblige and we headed out to Blowing Rock to a sledding area. Due to the extreme cold, all of the snow had mostly turned to ice which led to many fun, swift, and sometimes treacherous runs down the hill. (I think walking back up proved even more dangerous.)
While I am not such a fan of cold weather, this winter really has been full of fun adventures. It is great to go out and play, and oh so wonderful to come back into our nice cozy house.
Our First Big Snow
Gabe is never going to hit his target with his eyes closed.
Maggie got stuck in the opening of our snow fort and was not happy.
Sage was all smiles, even though her sister got stuck trying to slide her way into the photo.
We were enjoying our visit in State College when we received a message warning of a huge snow storm heading East. Despite our personal preferences, we cut our visit short and made the long trip back to North Carolina in an effort to beat the storm. This turned out to be one of our better decisions. We arrived at 2:30 and it was snowing when we woke up at 8:00. It continued to snow for the next several hours and before we knew it, we were covered in snow and the entire area had shut down: No school, no church, even our mail was not delivered.
Benji made the greatest luge/bobsled track in our front yard. Is he the most awesome Dad or what?!
Christmas Morning
This was one of our best Christmases ever, which is saying something, considering we had no power. Or water. Or heat. Still, Benji plugged in his supersonic biking light which illuminated our entire front room so that we could see what we were opening. Here are a few snapshots of the morning's events:
Maggie and her new Sleeping Beauty Dress-ups
Sage is going to see Taylor Swift in Concert!
Gabe and his loot
While we did not have the regular creature comforts that are usually standard fare at Christmastime, we were so blessed with what we did have that day. We felt and continue to feel so lucky to be a family. We are grateful to Grandma and Grandpa Wallace who sent us a Connect Four game which kept us occupied for a good portion of the day. We are especially so grateful for our dad, Benji, and all of his efforts to keep us warm and safe. Ultimately, the lesson for me is this: while it is nice to have all the extras, we cannot overstate how great it is to have power, flushing toilets, and heat again. Merry Christmas!!
Ice, Ice, Baby...
Just a couple of videos and pictures showing the beauty and destruction of the Christmas day ice storm. We had no power all day Christmas. Which means we had no water. Or heat. There is something eerie about the constant cracking and falling of trees due to ice. We were so grateful that none fell on our car or on the house. (They seemed to be falling everywhere else.) You can see in the picture above that a big tree just missed our propane tank which was another huge blessing.
Benji spent a large portion of the day with our neighbor, Mike, using a chainsaw to help remove big trees from the road.
The rest of us stayed inside and played countless rounds of connect four and uno.
This first video is from our house to the secondary road. Some of the trees were completely uprooted due to the weight of the ice.
One more from the secondary to the main road and then into Boone.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
