stop....drop....angel

One cool thing about being 4 is that one inch of snow can be as much fun as 2 feet! We loved playing last week in the 2 feet that Aunt Lila's house had, but once we got to NY, it didn't snow again. Until this morning!! We managed to get all dressed up and out to play in it before it stopped!

Gretchen loves making snow angels. Pretty much, every time I turned around, she was making another one. Even Carl tried it a few times, but I think he wasn't feeling the joy... he probably thought Gretchen was nuts for laying in the cold snow every 40 seconds. When she wasn't making another angel, she was having a blast making herself slip and fall down on a big patch of ice. Yeah, she's one of those "g.r.i.t.s."... (girl raised in the south). She was truly enjoying slipping and falling on the ice, it was such a novelty.

stop:

drop:

angel:

Do you recognize Grampie's dog hat???

a visit to Stevie's

Today we got a chance to see lots of cousins for a pizza party dinner at Steph's house. Sorry Aunt Phyllis, they were really good at Steph's. Dunno why it was any different. Oh, don't get me wrong - Carl loved all her stairs, too. But, they weren't as wild. Maybe because there were other kids to entertain them. Or tease them.... I guess a couple of the boys were teasing Gretchen with a big stuffed dinosaur. Just remember, 99.44% of the time, it is "more drama than trauma" with her.

The highlight of the evening was when Cassie did a back-walk-over-thingie. (I'm sooo not a gymnast, sorry - I should know the right name for it) Gretchen let out a gasp of delight and Carl then tried to do one, too... by doing a somersault. Or as he calls it, a "duck and roll." Apparently, Carl isn't much better with gymnastic names than his mother is.

And any night that ends with brownie sundaes is a total success in my book! When it came time to leave, as people got their coats on and left, Carl would say to them "Thanks for coming". He is pretty goofy sometimes, but always sweet! Thanks for inviting us!!!

P.S.
On Friday 1/1, when we got all loaded up into the car to head for home - we pulled out of Grammie's driveway and after he got done yelling, "Bye, Uncle Kenny. Merry Christmas, Uncle Kenny. Happy Kwanzaa Chickens!" Carl announced, "Let's go to Stephanie's house!"

a visit to Aunt Phyllis'

Today, we visited for a few hours with my Aunt Phyllis. OK, the kids were pretty wild when we were there. She had a piano keyboard upstairs... that was enticing. Well, of course... she had stairs. Those alone are fun for 2 kids who live in a ranch style home. And she had a basement... another item absent in our own home. That meant she had 2 full staircases, just like Grammie. Up and down and down and up and up and down and up and down and down and up... over and over. Then - she had a neat sun porch with a sliding door. Carl insisted on going in and out. That would have been fine except that it was 40* out there and every time he came back and forth, he let more cold air in. It was something like -94* in NY that day. Also something we don't have here at home, but not as exciting as you might think. Ha!!

They ate all her mini marshmallows in less than 4 seconds!

I hope we didn't terrorize the cats too much! Thanks so much for inviting us over. I honestly mean this... they aren't usually that wild! Honest! (well, unless you take them out in public to try on eye glass frame. Who doggies... y'all should have been with us when we went to get sunglasses. I'll let you ask my mother how insane they were there. Even I can't believe we didn't break anything! I'll get shots of them in their Ray Bans soon!)

the birthday girls

Happy 13th Birthday, Ali!! (Aunt Lila's doggie)

and.... Happy 41st Birthday to ME!

OK, don't panic... this is Cake #2. I did get my traditional white-cake-with-pistachio-pudding-poke-cake. But, Gretchen wanted so badly to decorate a cake for Mommy that Grammie made a second cake just for that! Claire helped her write Happy Birthday on it and it was delicious!

Here's the pudding poke cake. Mmmmmm...cake......

For my birthday, the kids (and Lew) knew what I wanted was a picture with all 3 of us looking right at the camera and smiling. (Sound familiar? "if you take a good picture with Mommy, we can go for ice cream")

not quite....

BINGO! It wasn't easy, but here are the 3 of us looking at the camera and smiling!!!!

Happy Birthday to Mommy!

the children were nestled all snug in their beds

Good night, good night, sleep tight.

Merry Christmas

After opening our gifts from Santa, Uncle Kenny came over and gave the twins each a ride on the four wheeler. Carl loved it! Kenny said he didn't say one word the whole ride. But, after, he was happy to tell you he went for a "ride with Uncle Kenny on the motorcycle."

Then it was Gretchen's turn. She loved it! Kenny said she didn't stop talking the whole time. "Why are we driving in the woods?" "Where are we going now?" "When we get back to Grammie's house can we keep driving?"
Merry Christmas 2009!

Christmas Eve new jammies!

anticipation

oh - let it snow!!

Snowy playtime in Virginia. They got 2 feet of snow a couple days before we arrived!

Carl showing off his new hat I made for him! And the "new" perfect yellow coat Colin had for him! Yellow is his favorite color - he loves his new coat!!!! I think he loves his new hat, too.

Gretchen and Aunt Lila had a ball together! For about a week, I kept telling Gretchen if I had 2 feet of snow, I'd stick her in it and she wouldn't be able to walk away... and she was furious with me for saying that! So, when it became more of a reality as we told her how much snow they had there, she made sure I could stand her in it. (I did with Carl, above pic!) But really - for a girl who was so against being stood up in the snow, she was all over the place. On her belly, making snow angels on her back, jumping up and down, running through it, throwing snow at Daddy.

Now that we are in NY, there is only a covering of snow on the ground and it is glazed over with ice. We're hoping for more soon any minute now.....

Happy Hanukkah