Snow Day

Avery and Silas both had school cancelled today because of the snow that we had on Sunday.  I wasn't too upset about them being home because it meant that we didn't have to get out on the roads. In addition... we have had a GREAT time together lately, so I was excited to spend the day with my children!  Unfortunately, Avery has come down with a cold that eventually resulted in a low grade fever this evening. :O(  But we still enjoyed a day together that included pajamas, playdoh, video games, movies, building blocks, wrapping presents, naps, playing out in the snow and lots more.  Here are the two "big boys" on their days off:

Silas helped make Parmesan noodles for lunch.

Avery was feeling pretty good at this point.  He's been coughing so much!  But he sure is handsome, even not feeling the best and in his pajamas!

I had to share this last picture... Chaille got in my utensil drawer and found this beater.  It just so happened to fit in the skeleton key slot on our door to the back room.  She was so proud of the fact that she fit this into the hole.  She kept telling me "TA-DA!"

Snowy Sunday

Our Sunday didn't go "as planned," but it was a GREAT day.  This is family life at it's very best.  We spent the day having fun together ALL day.  We started with a trek to McDonald's for breakfast because we were almost out of milk. We quickly realized on our way that the roads had frozen from yesterday's rain and were SLICK!  So, our plans to attend Hannah's 4th birthday party were brought to a screeching (or sliding in this case) halt.  At first I was bummed, but this day turned out to be perfect.  I wouldn't change a single detail!  We played video games, watched movies, cuddled, played in the snow, built with blocks, napped (well, only the younger two), and just enjoyed one another's company.  We had 3 meals together at our table, which is always a blessing!  I took some pictures from our day:

We had frosted cookies after lunch since we missed out on birthday cake.  Chaille ate hers without her hands which was both hilarious and MESSY!!!

Nolan cuddled with daddy and watched football with him.

Nolan "pushing" snow with his Chevy.

Silas was loving this!

Avery pushed snow with his Ford!

Chaille had trouble staying on her feet in the snow.  But she enjoyed it for ten minutes or so!

Nolan had his mouth open the whole time he was outside.  It was snowing quite hard and he was trying to catch flakes on his tongue!

Avery was having so much fun!!

Silas had fun too!  And he was very handsome in his apparel!

I loved the way that the snow stuck to Chaille's lashes.  So beautiful and serene.

We took a quick "photo break" as Avery called it.  I'm always impressed when I get them all four even just looking at the camera at the same time!  They did so well for our quick shot!

Nolan came straight in to warm up by the fire.  Lately he wants just 4 things in life... a movie, hot chocolate, marshmallows, and a fire!!  Is this kid a winter kid or what!?!

They came in rosy cheeked, wet, and HAPPY!

Silas smiles with his whole face when he is SO happy!  What a FUN day!!!

Friday Night Lights and Saturday Fun

Friday night we decided to go for a drive to look at Christmas lights.  We put the children in their pajamas and robes and slippers and headed out the door with our hot chocolate and marshmallows.  Before we left, this blogging momma HAD to get pictures.  (Plus, I just made our yearly calendar, so it was fresh in my mind that we might need material for NEXT year!) They were so cute:

Nolan and Chey were enjoying their slippers.  Nolan doesn't seem to have any that fit, so he wore mine, which looked like bear feet on him.

Happy Children!  I love this picture.  It almost looks like Christmas morning.

I found it ironic that we found our favorite house of the night on this street!

This was our favorite house of the trip.  The picture doesn't do the place justice.  It was beautifully lit!

Saturday morning, the children woke later than usual and went straight to the kitchen to color.  Silas made this picture for Santa.  If you click on it and enlarge the picture, he put a lot of details in it.  Santa on his sleigh, a house, gifts, and reindeer (Rudolph with his read nose) and cookies too.

Avery made this letter for Santa with holly decorating it.  He did an awesome job!  What I love is that in the letter he "assumes" that we will be making cookies for Santa this year and that they will enjoy making them.  It's tradition!  Of course we will enjoy making them, we always do!

In the afternoon, we went over to my mom and dad's.  My cousin and his family were down from Ft. Wayne visiting, since my Grandma is here.  Nolan was telling Grandma Darlene something really exciting.  I wish my flash would have worked, this picture is cute but dark.

Grandma Grinstead was listening to a story Julie was telling, but I liked her smile so I took her picture. :O)

Chaille was in a cuddly mood.  She squeezed Grandma Darlene so tight!

Avery was playing hide and seek.  I found him!

Grandpa Bobby got Chaille hugs too!

Nolan with his Great Grandma. Precious memories.

My cousin, Raymond Chaille (he was also named after Grandpa Grinstead), Chaille, and Emily (Ray's daughter).  I think that Chaille thought he was my brother.  They look very similar, and she went right to him and started playing.

Raymond's family with Grandma. (Emily, Raymond, Grandma, Sidney, and Julie.)

Tuesday Evening Celebrations

We had such a fun Tuesday evening!  Many of you who know us well, know that Nolan has been talking about going to Chuck E Cheese forever.  All he had to do to earn a trip is to do his #2 business on the potty.  This has been a struggle for him.  Well, yesterday, he finally made it happen.  He was so excited for his reward that we could not delay!!  Thankfully, daddy was able to come home early yesterday and we were able to go before Silas' Christmas Program at school. 

What was so sweet about it all is that his brothers kept telling him how awesome he was and that they were proud of him.  They even thanked him for making it possible for them to go along with him to celebrate.  It is at times like this that I'm sure that these children are the best! :O)  No offense to your kids, but I think that all mothers should have the opinion that their very own children are the BEST!

Enjoy the pictures from our SUPER FUN evening:

Our BIG boy!  We are so proud of you, Nolan!!

Daddy LOVED being able to celebrate with him!

Silas knows how this rodeo goes!

Me and my girl.  This is our "sketch" by Chuck E Cheese himself... lol.

What fun!  They were "riding" a roller coaster!

What game to play next???

Basketball with daddy!

During Silas' program, the children enjoyed sitting with Grandma Debbie!  We couldn't talk them into sitting with us!

Silas was kind of hidden behind Leo during the entire program.  Steve tried to time Leo's "sways" to get a better picture, but we didn't have much luck!

The closest shot we could get of him.  They sang 3 or 4 songs, and the Christmas story was read.

A close up of our "kitten!" He did great!

Our first family Christmas party of 2010!

We had a GREAT time at our Moss & Dotson & Grinstead Christmas party last night.  Enjoy the pictures of our time:

The 9 Grandchildren!

Another take.  They did REALLY well for these pictures!

Ryan and his girl, Kate! :O)

The Moss Family

Our family!  I'm so glad that Grandma Grinstead was able to be here for this!!!

Another pose of our BIG family!

Jacob playing photographer like Wes.

After all the food, these guys needed a break!

Nolan had a little snack.  The funny thing is that he is eating a cheerio mix out of what was supposed to be the "scoop" in the container.  He hand picked out all of the white chocolate chips into the cup!

Grandma and Chey.  Chaille was pretty somber for a lot of the evening, but all of the kids were VERY good!

The Dotson Family (we missed Michael this year!)

Nolan sat and talked to his great grandmother!

"SISTERS!"

Our mothers.  We are blessed that these 3 are such great friends, so we became sisters through their friendship!

Papaw helped Silas put together his new Lego set!

And he helped Avery too!

These last pictures will be sure to make you laugh so hard!!! Let me first give you some background... Steve knows that my mom has never had to color her hair (although she chooses to highlight it, she had never colored to cover gray!) He teases her whenever he knows that she has been to get her hair cut and says that they messed up her color.  So, as a joke to him, for his birthday a couple weeks ago, mom bought him a box of Just for Men hair color.  So... I found this hair color bottle that is for "roots only" for him to give her.  She opened the gift and immediately knew it was from Steve.  He said to her, "Well... I had to do something to get you back.  I used the stuff you bought me and look what it did to me..."  Check him out:



I've rarely seen mom laugh so hard.  The place erupted in laughter.  I love how in the first picture of his hair, Mandy looks in shock in the background.  I think she probably found it out of character for Steve to do that.  He surprises us all like that sometimes!  It was hilarious and totally WORTH the shock he gave my mom! :O)  Last night he came home and shaved the rest...

We had a GREAT time.  Our family party is one of the many reasons why I LOVE CHRISTMAS!