SNOW!!

When I was little, younger than 8, I remember having a huge snowfall here. So much snow, in fact, that we used 10 gallon buckets to make bricks for the igloo we built. An igloo big enough where we could crawl in it and play. I think once since then our city has had a decent snow perhaps once, but I was away at college. Our pitiful snowfalls have been mostly a dusting since I've graduated college, which has been at least 8 years.

Until this past weekend.

When I heard the forecast, I'll be honest. I scoffed, laughed, rolled my eyes, and maybe even mocked...but inside, secretly hoped. Wow...what would a great snow be like? Waking up to a blanket of white?

It was everything I'd hoped for!

Here's Charis's expression when I opened the blinds for her to look at our overnight blessing.

Though the snow wasn't really wet enough to manage a good snowman, I couldn't complain.

We scraped one together, made snow angels, we all tasted snow cream for the first time, and Charis...she happily sat and ate snow.

And ate, and ate, and ate. She loved it so much that in the evening, I put out a blanket, filled some bowls, and brought some snow inside for the girls to play with (and eat).

Atalie, sadly, did not care for the snow.

Perhaps it was the way I bundled her with stockings, socks, pants, legwarmers, plastic bags, onesies, turtlenecks, gloves, a hat, and her snowsuit. :) I'm not exaggerating. Or maybe it was that every time she finally managed to stand, she'd walk a step or two and do a face plant in the freshly fallen fluff. She's only been walking for a few weeks now, so her skills are in the fine tuning stage still. As soon as she got out of the wind and sat on the front steps, she was happy again.

That is, until decided to try to mosey her way over to Charis, anxious to join in her fun. That resulted in another face plant. And tears. Her second trip out in the snow was a little more successful. Take off a few layers, add in a laundry basket for good measure (and balance).

Okay, so she doesn't look like she was having a great time. But it was an improvement!

Even Major had a good time. He caught snowballs, and he and Charis enjoyed a nice little snow feast together.

Mmm. Snow pizza!

After 3 days of snow on the ground, I'm still a little sad to see it melting. I'm still hoping...winter's not over yet!

Atalie is 1!!!

Atalie turned one last week and we had a little celebration for her at the house. She's 23.5 pounds now! She's now walking all over the place. She always has a bruise on her face from falling...mostly in her crib. She's not afraid to fall or take some chances. When she was learning to walk she would just let go and free fall. If she was my first I probably would have freaked. She officially has 4 teeth that all came in this month. She's a big eater and pretty adventurous in her eating. She's eaten (and liked) salmon, tilapia, lasagna, southwest beef stew, tomato basil soup, and more. She pretty much will eat whatever we are having for dinner. She loves kid food, too, like macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, and squeals in excitement when she sees a hot dog. Her favorite person in the world is her Bean right now. She prefers her over me!

We had a great time...the kids played, we ate subs and cupcakes, and then Atalie got to open presents. Actually, I think I opened them. She had no idea what to do. :)

This was her first (and maybe only) bite of the cupcake. She was not a fan. Most of it ended up in her ear and on her hands.

The kiddos played in Charis's room.

Later she opened up the gift from the family. She'd figured out what to do. That is, if "what to do" is pull off some paper and try to eat it. Close enough.