Dressing up with Sister!

Nolan played dress-up with Lettie! Not the most flattering thing for a boy to play, but he seemed to try to make the best of it. He picked out the Jasmine outfit and then came downstairs and asked me if I thought he still looked like a boy. I think he was trying his best to choose something out of Lettie's dress-up clothes that would be boyish while still playing dress-up with her. Since it has pants I suppose it looks more "boyish" than Cinderella, so I suppose that is a step in the right direction! He is so good to his sister!

Snow Day... HOORAY!

Levi already knew it was a snow day, he woke up and 5:30 and checked the school system web site and found out he did not have to be at school until 9, so he got to sleep in! The cutest thing though was waking up to little Lettie's voice saying, "Look! Snow! Mom! Dad! It's snowing! Look! Dad! Look! Snow! Snow! Snow!"
So, Levi dressed them in 3 layers each and I topped them off with hats and gloves and out into the snow they went! The older 2, of course! Jovie was asleep and Callie stayed inside, though she kept trying to crawl outside through the screen door that has no screen, even if it was bitterly cold! I would keep bringing her back in and everytime I turned my back, there she was crawling out the door again! She is so crazy! She has the biggest "rascal" look on her face!

It was basically raining on top of the snow, so they got wet & cold really quickly! I could only stay out a little while to take pictures because the camera was getting wet. Lettie did not have water-proof gloves so I changed her gloves 3 times in the 30 min they were outside! They sled down the hill a few times, had a snow ball fight, and made a snow man! I managed to stay inside and get out of freezing my bum off... I left that up to Levi! Lettie enjoyed eating the snow the most and Nolan enjoyed making snowballs and throwing them! I made the hot cocoa and took the pictures! Our snowman is still outside... he is thin and kinda funny looking now! I like getting a taste of snow now and then, but I am happy I do not live somewhere where it snows all the time!

The Perfect "Nosey" Nose!

Callie has the perfect nose for giving what I call "Noseys"! I love to rub noses with her! Daddy does too! We have seen Granny do it as well! We have even seen people who are not related to us "nosey" her nose! You can not help it! It is the perfect nose for "Noseying"! And she loves it! She will arch her head back, close her eyes, and smile to the sky (that is a signature happy Callie move)!

Who Said a Gingerbread House Had to Be a "Christmas Thing"?

We found a Gingerbread House kit on Clearence after Christmas at Sam's Club. We thought it would be a good "Granny" thing to do with the kids when she was here. So, when she was here the kids and some cousins were able to make a Gingerbread house with Granny! They were too excited to eat it though, so it did not last long! That night they started devouring it! I love how "into" eating it Jovie was! She was so funny... she wanted to be apart of the big kids the whole time! Jovie wants to be a big kid and Callie is very happy being the baby!

My Non-Diaper Butt!

Callie just came crawling in with no diaper on! She is learning to take them off and has been working on getting this one off for a half an hour... what a trick to pick up, eh? Let the fun begin... time to break out the duct tape!

Who says you need snow?!

Granny & Grandpa were visiting from California (Granny is still here, Grandpa went home yesterday)! All the cousins came to our house on Saturday to eat and hang out and it was a blast! The weather was just warm enough for the kids to go out and play! We had a sled in the back yard! Why it was back there, I do not know. We have not had any snow. I think Nolan was playing with it one day. The kids quickly discovered that on our hill, if you put enough kids on the sled, you do not need snow! Uncle Chad helped out too! That helped them go faster! When we bought the house, the hill was covered with tiny pine trees and seemed more of a mowing nuisance than anything, but now that we cleared it off, it has been a wonderful asset to our yard! It is perfect for sledding in the winter and homemade slip n' slides in the summer!

Granny soaking in some grandkid sliding action while holding spaghetti-face Callie... who loves her Granny! She loved to rub noses with her!

Lettie got in trouble! The little stinker would slide down the hill by herself, go half way back up the hill, and then slide down again before the line of kids at the top could get a chance to get on the sled! She was being silly and it was funny the first 2 times or so... but after she got a warning not to do it again, she of course, did it again! She is a stinker! So, she got a time out... it broke her heart! Heaven forbid you punish a PRINCESS! She is very beautiful even when her heart is broken! Look at the expression of TRAGETY on her face! Seriouslt, who is mean enough to punish such a pitiful little girl?

Oh! And check out her shirt! It is a Halloween shirt! She actually was wearing the shirt she has on underneath first, the dark grey one. It is a Halloween shirt as well that says, "Don't make me scare you!" She said Nolan always scared her and she wanted to be more scary than him so she put ANOTHER Halloween shirt over the first Halloween to make her "even more scary!" See, 2 Halloween shirts are better than one, even if you can't see the first one! (The cute thing is the one on top actually just says "sweet"). I love the rationality of a 3 year old! If only life were that simple! She makes me smile!

How cute is this!

Levi went to wake Jovie up and immediately came out to get the camera! This is her penguin she got for Christmas and this is how he found her! On bright days she goes to sleep with the penguin over her eyes! She loves to cuddle with her penguin!

Mountain Memories!

We visited the mountains for New Years! Nolan made a list of all the things he wanted to do... go to the shoe store, go to Nesters, look at the clouds!

We went to my Great Aunt Avenelle's shoe store (I really need to take some pictures so I can blog about that place) and bought the kids some shoes. We bough Nolan some 1993 Air Jordans and Jovie some old-school baby shoes! I should take a picture sometime! They are cool! Then we went to the Hillsville Diner! the main diner area is made out of an old train car! Nolan likes sitting on the stools! And of course the hotdogs there are all red! Up in the mountains it is hard to find a hot dog that is not red!

Then we went to Nesters! This is a typical scene of what you might see at this general store/gagrage... What do the old men do on days where the business is slow and they just ain't nothin' to do? They look out the windows of the automotive garage and just talk about whatever is on their mind! Here are 2 of the local men chatting it up, looking out the window, watching the world go by!

Then New Years Night we had our traditional "pay Rook until the New Year" night! My sister invited my Great Aunt Avenelle over and my great great Aunt Christine and we played cards until after midnight! I had a bad night! Out of 5 full games I only won 1... oh well! Better luck next year I suppose!

Whimsical Mommy & Jovie Pics!

We were at the park and the sun was right behind us! Poor Jovie had a cold, which you can kind of tell in her sleepy eyes, but I thought the pictures turned out really cute, so I thought I would share: