snow day

So I haven't been posting on my blog. There are several reasons for this, reasons that I don't really know what to do with. First of all, I'm not that interesting. Second, I'm not a great writer. Third, I don't take great pictures. Taking pictures actually kind of stresses me out... Fourthly, I stuggle with how to much to share in this on-line world in which we now live. But anywho, we had a snow day, and those only come around every 3-4 years or so, so this is definitely a blog worthy event.

I was kind of worried about how Elias would like the snow. He hasn't worn socks all winter long... and so far has only worn his spiderman sandals. It's really never been cold enough to be a battle I wanted to fight, but I knew that I couldn't let him in the snow like that. Thankfully, he was so excited about the snow that he wore his socks and boots with very little resistance. 

Seriously, how cute is he? He's wearing Tony's motorcycle glove... so he's calling himself "snow Hulk". And he wore his Bob the Builder goggles and toolbelt. Btw, he calls both the gloves and the goggles "gobbles." 

Leah probably had the most fun during the day. She stayed out there the longest, impervious to the cold. She played with the neighbor boys, had some snowball fights, and made tiny snowmen.

Elana came outside in 5-10 minute increments. She would come out, hang out for a bit, and then say: "I go back inside." The base shut down, so Tony was able to be at home for a couple of days, making it alot easier to have kids coming and going from outside. We would just take turns playing outside, and warming up inside.

We took a very short walk down the street.

 They were really proud of this tiny snowman.

So after nap time I figured Elias was done. He was insisting on staying inside Tony while I played outside with the girls, but when I finally came in, he told me wanted to "go outside with mommy." So even though I was already freezing, I jumped at the chance.

Because I would seriously do just about anything to see this smile. We played outside just the two of us for quite awhile. Very few things bring me joy like seeing my children truly having fun. 

So yeah... this is downside of snowday. Pretty much this, all day. We got dressed, played, came in, made a huge mess, and then went back outside 30 minutes later. x 10. All day. It was awesome.

We had to get in some snow day selfies as well.

 The next morning we went out right after breakfast to get some more playtime in before all the snow melted.

We stayed out there for a while. we even made a bigger snowman. This one is a little more respectable.

It was a great couple of days for us. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be in the 70's this weekend... Georgia is so weird.

stuff

Leah started kindergarten this year. She is only 4 (will be 5 in october), and we are doing a co-op/half school/ half home-school thing called Veritas. She goes to school on tuesday and thursday and we do school at home the other 3 days.

She really really loves going to school. So far this has worked out very well for us. I love having three days where we can learn and explore together, and do things like look at caterpillars.

(just for the record, I don't want people to think that it has all been caterpillars and jubilant learning, there have been a lot of tough moments too.)

Not only that, but it has been really nice to spend time with just the two little ones. I can focus all my attention on them, and really get down on their level. They are truly learning how to play together, and that is delightful.

We still have a little bit of this too, though. This is definitely one of my favorite pictures. Elana is mad that Elias is on the house with her. Elias is crying because Elana is screaming. Classic.

Oh, and for the first time since I began this motherhood journey I have not had a consistently awesome nap time (the kids nap, not me).... This little guy rarely naps anymore. I keep him contained in his room for about 45 minutes to an hour, and then we hang out and take selfies for about an hour or two. It's pretty nice, actually.

And here's a cute picture of Lana for good measure.

recap

So I haven't been blogging much. I'm just a slacker like that. Oh, and I'm instagraming, which is so much quicker and easier. And, I've been taking most of the pictures on my smart phone, and I haven't downloaded them on the computer yet.... anywho... Here is a brief recap of some of what we have been doing this summer.

We spent a lovely family vacation in a cottage at Pine Mountain, Ga. We went rock climbing in the rain.

 We played in the cottage while it rained.

 Hiking in the rain,

Lots of hiking in the rain.

Taking selfies in the rain.

Making fires in the rain.

 Finally, we had a miraculous day of non-rain.

Did I mention that it rained a lot this summer? It was an interesting june/july here in Warner Robins... that's for sure.

Most of the parks looked like this... so we just played in the mud.

Like Hippos.

We dressed up like cows and got some free chick-fil-a.

We swam in our cheap pool in the backyard.... alot.

We ate popsicles on the porch.

We (and by we I mean me) taught Leah how to swim... but she won't swim in the deep end because she is positive that she will drown.

We hung out a Lake Tobosofkee a couple of times. It was super fun.

We (and by we I mean Tony) taught Leah how to ride a two-wheeler).

I tried to teach Leah how to skate, and it was a complete disaster.

I was also in charge of VBS at my church, and I dressed up like a housekeeper, or something, and made a fool of myself on stage.

And we had a fantastic Lee side family reunion at ridgehaven, where we did crazy stuff like hoist children up walls. And hoist grandfathers up walls as well.

We went on a 3 hour motorcycle ride with the American Patriots.

On the whole, it was a great summer. Like all summers, it kind of got away from me. I had a ton of things planned that we never did. I also have about 400 pictures on my smart phone that I haven't transferred to my computer yet, so there is obviously so much, much more. But anywho, aint nobody got time for that.

Something strange happened this summer though. My babies grew up. I feel like they have aged greatly from May to August. My oldest is in Kindergarten now, my baby boy has grown leaps and bounds, and my baby girl is a full blown toddler now.

It is true. The days are long... so, so, so long at times. But the weeks, and months, and years, are very very short.

These past two years, especially, have been a blur. I want to remember. I want to slow down, and cherish my sweet, sweet children. But it's hard. Because the days are full, and the time is short, and I am so very very selfish at times.

But anyways, that is for a different post.

So there it is... summer in a nutshell.

Matchy matchy

So I don't know if anyone can tell, but I'm not a matchy matchy type mom. I have nothing against matchy moms, actually I greatly admire them, but it's just not me.

So when I accidentally dressed all the kids in yellow this sunday, I just had to get a picture of it.

I'm not gonna lie... sometimes my kids are so freaking cute it kills me.

Norway

Tony and I were able to go to Norway together a couple of weeks ago. Tony has been several times for work, and this time I was able to join him. Our kids stayed with grandparents (and Beka), and we were able to enjoy 8 days of alone time together. It was awesome. And very strange, not having our children with us.

Tony had to work from 8:00 to 4:00 on monday, tuesday, and wednesday, and then half the day thursday, but we still had several full days that we got to spend together. When he was working, I spent the time shopping and visiting some museums that he had already been to. There were a couple of other women who were there with some of Tony's co-workers, and we hung out together during the day.

This is us at the airport outside of Oslo, waiting for the train to take us into the city. It was very cold.

We did a whole lot of walking around the city, visiting various squares, coffee shops, etc. We walked a lot, a lot, a lot. It was awesome. Mainly because we ate a lot too, and so everthing pretty much evened out.

The castle. Pretty cool.

On sunday afternoon we took the train outside the city and went hiking in the woods. It was very foggy, very cold, very wet.

We almost walked into this lake. Seriously.... very foggy.

Still some snow on the ground. Crazy.

I took a ton of selfies of the two of us. Tony hated it, but he was a good sport and halfway smiled for most of them.

The ice bar. Definitely the coolest place I have ever had a drink in.

 I thought this church was from the 1200's . It was actually just a replica. Buzzkill.

It's 11:00 pm right now. This is the view from the hotel balcony.

We finally found some Norwegian ice cream. It was awesome.

We were there during their National day. This is their palace.

I always have a difficult time capturing the moments that I want to remember on camera. I feel like my pictures never quite show what I want them to show. I am definitely not a natural photographer, and picture taking is somewhat of a burden to me. We did a whole lot that I never even thought to photograph. We came, we conquered, we went.

Oslo is a great city. It is definitely not as big as London, New York, Paris, Venice, etc... I really do feel like by the end of the week I had finally found my groove.

Anyways, by wednesday I was really missing my children. Like ache in my heart missing. I was definitely ready to come back, and I was so excited to finally see them again.