So the first snowstorm of 2011 hit almost 2 weeks ago. Snow in Texas is great in my opinion because it comes, if it stays long enough to have some fun in, but is gone before it really hampers your life. THIS snowstorm however was unusual because it stayed cold enough for almost 5 days and so the snow was here to play in, and play in and play in and to be honest, I was starting to get annoyed.
AND this snow storm had an adventure for me. I was up in Bonham (40 min North) for a ward conference, it started snowing on my drive up there and just really came down during the 2 hours I was there. Stephen called and was concerned with me getting home safely so he asked me to leave before church was even over. There was a good 2-3 inches of snow that had already fallen. Now I am a So-CA transplant and I've haven't driven much in the snow, and in this situation, out in the country, when I left I was the one paving the road. I had been slipping some even on the way up so I was really worried about getting home. I was blessed because Brother Doug Pickup for some reason decided to leave when I did and before I got too far, he allowed me to follow him. That was such divine intervention. At one point I really slipped and spun out. Doug circled back and got me back on the road. I sung hymns and prayed the whole 2 hour 10 min it took me to get home, and man was I glad to make it!
But on a positive note, the kids really loved the snow! Sunday evening we hurried to eat dinner and then bundled up to go on a walk. Sam was too cold and not that thrilled with the outing, Lindsey on the other hand was in heaven, tromping through the 4-5 inches of fresh snow and watching her footprints. Then it was home for hot cocoa with marshmallows. It was everything that is magical and special about being a kid.
Then the next day, school started late but after school we built a snowman in the backyard with Grandma, Aunt Pearl and her friend.
There There was a snowball or two thrown. Sam has quite the aim! When I picked him up from school that day the kids were throwing snowballs at each other and Sam was getting quite the thrill out of telling his teachers to turn around so he could throw a snowball at their back and I was amazed at how accurate he was!
Kaitlyn loves making BIG snowballs and snow angels, she LOVES playing in the snow.
and Matthew is not a fan of the cold (his face had borne the brunt of a wayward snowball by a kid at Kaitlyn's school and it was pretty traumatic--he didn't like being outside watching so he didn't stay there long)
But Like I said the snow stuck around and I dried gloves, hats and clothes over and over again and we drank countless mugs of hot chocolate. It was a great week!
We all have New Years Resolutions right? Well one of mine is getting back into keeping the history of my family. I used to be really good about keeping personal histories for each of my kids and scrapbooking but I really let that go in 2010 (having a 4th kid and a busy calling can do that to you!) so in 2011 I'm resigned to do better. So one thing I'm going to try and do is EVERY FAST SUNDAY (it's an LDS thing, we fast the first Sunday of each month and give what we would have spent on food as an offering to care for the poor and needy in our area) take a photo of my kids. Isn't that a great idea? I heard it once at a family history workshop and it's a great way to remember to be taking photos regularly! So enjoy our photo:
And it being the first Sunday of a new year means that our kids get new teachers and classes in Primary (children's Sunday School) and Lindsey (Ta-Dah!) got to graduate from Nursery into being a Sunbeam!! She felt SOOOOOO Big and had been very excited for this day. Other happenings this week is the Long Anticipated Watch 
D.O.G.S Day! (Dads of Great Students) A program at Kaitlyn's school where Dad's agree to spend an entire day on campus. They greet the kids as they arrive at school giving hi 5's, they eat lunch with their kid, play with them at recess, and be in the classroom. Studies have shown that a male role model's mere presence at school boosts performance. So Kaitlyn has been waiting and waiting for this day to come! Never mind it was her first day back at school (which she loves) the fact that Dad was going to spend the day with her had her up and dressed by 6:00AM!! She can't wait for another Watch D.O.G.S day in April near her Birthday! Thanks hon for being a great dad!! (to learn more visit www.fathers.com) 
And finally some news on the "Big Man" Matthew. He is full on crawling, on his hands and knees and is super quick! What's more, just after 3-4 days of crawling, he pulled himself to standing on the couch--WOAH slow down buddy I can only take so many developmental mile stones at a time! And what's more, he's decided he'd like to eat table food he can feed himself so his diet has gone from only pureed veggies and fruits to chicken, cheese, noodles, pureed beans, more crackers and he loves to drink formula! (my supply just isn't keeping up) so we're still nursing but at meal times I fill the sippy cup with formula and he's great! Now if we could only get him to stop loving me so much that he wakes up at night to be with me--because I know he can't possibly be hungry--I mean look at this face!!
The FIRST weekend in December was kind of nuts for us, and let me tell you why:
1: I ran my first ever 5K!! Now this is a BIG DEAL for me, I've never been a "runner" but have always wanted to run a race. We were given a treadmill shortly after moving into this house (and my husband thought we'd never use it and I took that as a challenge to prove him wrong!) and I was out of excuses for not exercising. Every year our city has a 5K Rudolph Run the first weekend in December and so last fall I committed to training for it. I started slowly, only being able to run for 5 minute intervals and then walking for a minute and I gradually built myself up to being able to run a mile without stopping to walk at all!! I completed my 5K in just under 30 minutes, and came in 9th in my age group. I'm pretty proud of myself and am now pondering another 5K (or dare I do a 10K??) in April in Brenham, TX---they bribe you with Blue Bell ice cream before and after the race!!
Also, this Rudolph Run was really fun because there was also a 1 mile fun run for kids and I got Stephen to take all 4 kids (and an amazing helper from our ward,) the younger 2 in the jogging stroller, and do the fun run with the kids. They went first and Stephen was skeptical that our kids could run that far but they surprised him and did great and then waited for me to complete the race!
It was a gorgeous day for running!!
#2 reason of Craziness was the 8th Annual Nativity Display sponsored by our church for our community. I work heading up Public Affairs for our church in our city and so I helped to oversee this event. Over 500 Nativity statues were put on display with Christmas Trees, twinkling Christmas Lights, live music by community performing groups and other churches from our community. We had about 2600 people enter our church building to view the display and about 600 of them were not members of our church!! This effort takes hundreds of man hours in planning and setting up and executing, but it's worth it to be able to spread the message to our community that we ARE indeed Christians who celebrate Christmas to remember the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Our event got print media in local magazine and 2 articles in a local edition of the Dallas Morning News. This article even featured a photo of Kaitlyn (a total surprise!--she was thrilled!!!). Every year we learn things to help improve the event, what's most important is the spirit that is felt by those who participate and attend. We're already thinking of next year's event.
So the first snowstorm of 2011 hit almost 2 weeks ago. Snow in Texas is great in my opinion because it comes, if it stays long enough to have some fun in, but is gone before it really hampers your life. THIS snowstorm however was unusual because it stayed cold enough for almost 5 days and so the snow was here to play in, and play in and play in and to be honest, I was starting to get annoyed.
Then the next day, school started late but after school we built a snowman in the backyard with Grandma, Aunt Pearl and her friend.
There There was a snowball or two thrown. Sam has quite the aim! When I picked him up from school that day the kids were throwing snowballs at each other and Sam was getting quite the thrill out of telling his teachers to turn around so he could throw a snowball at their back and I was amazed at how accurate he was!
and Matthew is not a fan of the cold (his face had borne the brunt of a wayward snowball by a kid at Kaitlyn's school and it was pretty traumatic--he didn't like being outside watching so he didn't stay there long) 
But Like I said the snow stuck around and I dried gloves, hats and clothes over and over again and we drank countless mugs of hot chocolate. It was a great week!
