Adventures in: January 2016

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Snowmageddon 2016

We knew this storm was coming - it had been predicted for over a week. I shopped for groceries and the kids hoped they wouldn't have school on Friday, as it was supposed to start snowing around 5pm. Then they moved the storm up to start at 12noon and cancelled school on Friday. And I finally realized that they were talking about not being able to leave our house for 3 days. So, we cleaned and grocery shopped some more on Friday morning so we would have lots of yummy food and a clean house before all the wet snow gear got dropped in our front hallway! Oh, and Friday was our 16th Anniversary, so the marriage conference we were going to attend and our dinner out got cancelled!

It began snowing around 12noon and it stuck to the ground and streets immediately! The kids got to sled Friday afternoon and the snow kept coming down all through the night and all day Saturday! It was crazy and a crazy amount of snow! We officially got 34 inches of snow! The kids have been off all this following week. Dan was off of work Monday and Tuesday. He had a delayed opening Wednesday and Thursday :) There are still not sidewalks plowed, but we have had the electricity and heat and yummy food! It was such a nice break to spend together as a family and not be able to go anywhere!

Dan and I on our Anniversary!

Trying to keep our sidewalk a little bit cleared

Beau in his sweater to keep him warm

Our measuring stick on our deck!

The snow drifts on our deck out the french doors

Dan's crazy beard after shoveling in the snow!

Lots of sledding!

Bundled up and ready to go

Dan, Kylie and Jack

Me and Jack

Our pretty trees outside our house

Sunday morning shoveling

Snow drifts on our neighbors cars

Ice on our neighbors house

Sweet little snowwoman that Kylie and her friend made

Megan and Beau watching out the window

The street that starts at the end of the sidewalk

The Great Dig Out of 2016! Clearing off cars and shoveling, only to carry it over to the other side of the street to dump it!

We were excited to finally have a snowplow come through on Monday!

More of the neighborhood

Neighbors

Phew, finally cleared out on Tuesday!

Yummy Citrus chicken, orzo and green beans for dinner on our anniversary

Yummy Meatball and Kale Soup and homemade cheddar beer bread

We also had Chicken and Dumplings and Greek Chicken and Orzo!

Friday, January 22, 2016

Jacks First Band Concert

Jack had his first band concert! He plays the trumpet and is awesome at it! The concert was great - especially compared to most 1st year band concerts! The teacher is wonderful and made the concert a blast, having the kids walk through pieces that they learned from the beginning of the school year until now! It was great!

Jack

Standing

Playing

Percussion section

These two - Michaela and Kylie

And the proud parents!

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Monument City Classic 2016

I get the opportunity to be the Chaperone for Megan's volleyball team this year (as I was last year). This year is a whole different story! The girls all stay in rooms together in the hotel, while their parents stay elsewhere and I stay at the hotel with the girls, being responsible for their meals, making sure they are safe and get sleep and are ready to play volleyball and do their best! It was a great and crazy weekend - long nights and lots of planning leading up to it, but it was great!

Megan's team did a great job and played well! It was a good start to their season!

Dan and I made these bracelets for the girls to have waiting for them in their hotel rooms!

At 10pm, the girls had to turn in their phones to me and put them on airplane mode until the morning! There were still 3 more plugged in at different outlets in the room!