Snow Day - Part One!!

The snow started Christmas night and the forecast said it was supposed to last through the early hours of the morning. The weather man predicted 4-6 inches so when I woke up that morning, I felt like a little kid again trying to see how much snow we actually got. I jumped out of bed at about 6:00 a.m. I ran to the breakfast window and everything was covered in a blanket of white. It was hard to tell from the window how deep the snow was. Mom was the only other person that was awake at that point so I told her we should go out and explore before everyone else woke up. She thought that was a great idea so we put on our multiple layers - we don't mess around with about 3 pairs of pants and about 5 shirts - attached our Walmart sacks to our ankles to protect our shoes from the moisture, and headed out to explore.

 

We attempted to leave the house from the backyard because Mom didn't want our footprints to mess up the snow since we were going to be taking pictures. (I come by my obsessive behavior honestly.) The snow in the back almost went up to my knees.

 

 

 

 

I used the word "attempted" earlier because when I got over to the gate, it was iced shut. That's when I made the executive decision we needed to exit the house from the garage. Here is my Honda.

 

 

View from the driveway

 

 

Front of Mom's house

 

Side of Mom's house



Snowy Sunrise



 

Mom told me to pose...

 

 

Park where Kayla always plays

Mom's address



 

Measurement taken off my car...we couldn't find a ruler so we had to use measuring tape and once it hit the 1/2 inch of ice, it wouldn't go down any further.

 

 

Part two of our snow day will contain the rest of the family and our snow expedition.

 

 

Christmas Day

It's a Shirley tradition for all of the girls to wear matching pajamas. And because we know our mother very well, we know she will want to take a multitude of pictures on Christmas day. Knowing this, I wanted to be presentable and asked Rhyan if she would fix my hairsince she has a knack for giving it body that I can never achieve; I wanted to do two braids in Kayla's hair; Kayla thought it would be a good idea to fix Rapunzel's hair. And of course, Mom thought it would be a good idea to take a picture of our beauty shop.

 

To pass the time before dinner, Kayla thought it would be a good idea to bring her princesses into the study and show them the movie "Beauty and the Beast".

 

 

Something she always enjoys doing at Mom's is cleaning her floor with windex and paper towels. No, we are not cruel people who force our child into slavery. She actually enjoys cleaning. I wonder who she gets that from? 

 

Mom always does a beautiful arrangement on our table for special dinners.

 

 

Mom and Dad...married for 25 years, and still in love!

 

Rhyan, Kayla, and Mom

Fatty, Christina, and Josh...oh wait, that's me!

 



 

This picture was taken after she'd already opened about half of her gifts. Is our daughter slightly spoiled, the center of our family's universe, or both? I'll leave that to your discretion.

 

 

God gave us a special gift this Christmas...a winter storm that brought us 9 inches of snow in Sherwood. Brian was so upset he left early because we didn't get anything back home.

 

 



Christmas Eve

Since Christmas was over a month ago now, I decided today might be a good time to catch up on my blogging. MUCH has happened in our family so I'm just going to highlight some special moments.

One of my favorite gift ideas for Kayla to give to family is personalized pottery. There is quaint place in Bentonville called The Crafty Cottage. We've made a few things for NeNe, Papa, and Daddy there. On Friday, December 21st, she made coffee cups for Dad and Brian, and a plate for Mom for their Christmas presents this year.

On Sunday, December 23, Brian, Kayla, and I drove to Paragould, Arkansas to celebrate Christmas with Brian's sister, brother, parents, grandmother, and all of their kids. We stayed in a hotel, and it was the first time Kayla got to have a full size bed all to herself. She thought it was pretty awesome!

 

We left Paragould on Christmas Eve and headed for Mom and Dad's house in Sherwood. It was a team effort between Brian and Dad to get the fire started. Once they had it going, I had to take this picture of Dad and his accomplishment.

 

 

Mom and Kayla climbed under the tree to pick out the perfect first present to open.

 

 

Kayla LOVES Disney Princesses, so this was the perfect gift complete with Belle, Cinderella, Ariel, Merida, Rapunzel, Snow White, and Tiana.

 

 

Another exciting present was her Brave dress and bow and arrow set. She had to get some help from Papa and Daddy to figure out how to shoot her arrows.

 

 

 

Rhyan made everyone in the family vintage coffee cups since we all drink coffee (with the exception of Christina). She wanted to give Brian his gift since he had to leave to go back home on Christmas day due to the bad winter weather we were supposed to receive. Here is a photo of her awesome wrapping job. She dug the bows and paper out of the trash...and that is vintage Rhyan.