Playing in the Snow

I have been sick, with hardly any voice, and trying to take care of the kids and house while Grant has had his long evenings at grad school. So yesterday morning, when Grant’s work had a 2 hour delay due to snowy roads, it was Heaven sent. I let Grant deal with the kids while I tried to get a little extra rest.

Eleanor has been fantasizing about making snow angels, but we haven’t had any snow for her to do it. I knew that it would feel like a chore to bundle them up, send them out in the snow, and possibly have to go out in the cold myself as soon as any drama should arise. But I didn’t want to spend the whole day feeling guilty for not letting my girls play in the snow because I’m sick. So I told Grant the one thing he could do for me before going to work was to let the kids play in the snow—and take pictures for me. And being the wonderful, caring, supportive husband and daddy that he is, he did.

The following are a bunch of pictures of their fun in the snow. Since I wasn’t there, I can’t really explain accurately what was going on, but Eleanor and Phaedra narrated the pictures a bit as I scanned through them on the computer. I’ll let you read about what happened in their own words.

Eleanor: I made a snow angel.Phaedra: I didn’t want to make a snow angel. I cwied.

Eleanor: Phaedra didn’t make a snow angel. She just made a snow person.Eleanor: We made footprints.Eleanor: I made another snow angel. I closed my eyes cause snow might fall into my eyes.(still there)

Explanation from Grant (later): Phaedra wanted to make a snow angel, but then she just laid there in the snow without moving for the longest time. She didn’t really cry, she just peeked out at us from behind her hands. I finally figured out that she wasn’t getting up because she couldn’t get up. She couldn’t bend enough at the waist to get up by herself.

Eleanor: There’s a snowflake on my tongue.

Eleanor: That’s when it turned to water. It melted on my tongue and turned to water.

Eleanor: Phaedra caught a snowflake on her tongue.

Eleanor: That’s after it turned to water.

Catching Snowflakes

We had snow off and on, and off and on yesterday. During Phaedra’s nap, Eleanor really wanted to try to catch a snowflake on her tongue. I can’t say no when it comes to snow because it’s not like she’ll get another chance very soon. So I let her step out on the back porch and see what she could catch. She was so happy that she caught some, and she thought it was so funny that she got snow in her hair.

Girls’ Weekend

My sister and her daughter were in town last weekend, so we got to have plenty of girly fun. We started out with shopping on Friday. I kind of went nuts and got dresses for the girls and quite a few clothes for them, too. When we were all done shopping, we went and got pedicures. This was the first time my mother or I had ever had one!

Mother and Beth

Eleanor was curious about everything going on. She asked tons of questions as they prepped the pedicures. There was an older gentleman helping with the pedicures, and I don’t think he spoke much English. He mostly smiled at Eleanor as she peppered him with all her questions. Later, when I was having my pedicure, a young lady came in to have her fake nails filled. Eleanor pulled up a chair next to her and asked questions every step of the way. Luckily, everyone was very patient with her, and I don’t think she annoyed anyone.

The little girls had their nails and toes painted (except Phaedra, who just got her fingernails painted). They were really quite good while waiting for our pedicures to be done.Eleanor seemed concerned at first when she saw the pointy pin the lady used to paint the flowers. She asked if it would hurt her. But when she saw how it was used, she was fine with it.

She got flowers on both her thumbs and on two fingers.

Phaedra sat on my lap while her nails were painted. She didn’t need comfort; she just needed help holding still. So I didn’t get any pictures of her while they were being painted. This is how her nails turned out. She had flowers on each thumb (her sucking thumb got ruined right away), and dots across the tips of each finger.

After our long day, we went back to my house for some pizza. We turned on a movie for the girls to relax while we got dinner ready. They looked so cute, all snuggled up to Grandpa on the couch.

Our fun weekend didn’t end there. The next day, we all went to see Tangled in the theater. It was Phaedra’s first time in the theater, and she did great. She sat with me or Grandma the whole time, and when she got nervous, she would tell me, “Hold me tight, Mommy!” We’ve been hearing favorite movie quotes from the girls ever since.

On Sunday, we played games with dominoes and cards at Grandma’s. We had so much fun with Beth and Grace in town. We hope they can come back soon!

Babying her Sister

I found this picture on my camera from the night I went to Enrichment last week. I guess Phaedra needed a little extra attention while her mommy was gone.

That's One Cool Chick - a post by guest editor grant

Jocelyn and I decided to take advantage of a beautiful sunny winter day. A friend of mine caught some great shots documenting our afternoon. All I can say is my wife is the best, and here is the proof...

"Bond, Jocelyn Bond."

I must say she looks good with the classic James Bond Walther PPK; and I honestly think she is a better shot than the Brit.

Yes, Jocelyn with a .50 cal Desert Eagle. A hand cannon.

After our sight and hearing returned from the muzzle flash and reverberation she asked, "Is that it? I will have to duel wield next time."