Friday Night Family Fun NIght

We didn't let the snow stop us from having a Friday Night Family Fun Night! After the kids woke up from afternoon naps, we headed to Wal-Mart by our house to check out the slope behind it. There were so many people there with sleds, intertubes, laundry basket, etc. Of course we didn't have anything but Brent wanted me to try something he had found in his tool box. It didn't work all that well...

So, I found a lid to a big container and it didn't really work all that well either but at least I was able to talk Beck into going down the hill with me.

However, he was more interested in playing in the snow instead of sliding down it.

The parking lot was filled with snow...

The streets were covered with snow and ice now...

We headed to Toys R Us in Frisco to look at GeoTrax stuff. We ended up getting Beck another train then we stopped by Taco Cabana for dinner. It was time to head home to play with Beck's new toy.

Snow Storm - Day Four

We watched the news Thursday night to see what would happen on Friday and all of the weather people forecasted 1-2" of snow. Brent said that the storm could very easily sway one direction and we could end up getting a lot more snow than what they are predicting. I woke up at 1:30am because I heard a noise so I got up and walked thru the house to try and figure out what the noise was and peeked out the back door window and saw snow falling. They were tiny flakes. The noise woke me up again at 2:30 so this time I put Brent's boots and coat on and checked out the pool equipment to make sure everything was ok and it was still snowing. I could not figure out what the noise was so I went back to bed. Kinsey woke up at 6am so I changed her diaper and put her in bed with me and luckily she went back to sleep. The next thing I hear at 7am is Beck shouting, "Sheri Sheri, get up and see the snow!" [I have no idea why Beck called me by my name instead of Mommy.] Kinsey and I were snuggled up together and I didn't want to get up since I had already seen the snow. Brent informed me that it was a winter wonderland outside so I had to see what he was talking about. Everything was covered with powdery snow!!! So much snow had fallen that we could not tell where the curb was and it was still snowing.

It was beautiful! All of the schools closed again and Brent's office closed so this was the fourth day for Bishop Playhouse to be closed as well. This is our back yard...the pool is frozen and you can't tell where the spa is located because it is covered with snow.

Just like Brent predicted, the storm shifted by about 60 miles and we ended up getting over 6" of snow. This was the first time for the Plano school district to close four days in a row. This is our side yard and you can see the snow built up on the fence (ground and top).

We couldn't wait to get dressed and play in the snow. We put three layers on Kinsey but she didn't last long...she went down for her morning nap. I put the monitor outside and we continued to play.

The snow was too powdery to build a snowman but Beck still had fun running around in the snow.

Beck was ready to go in but I had to get one more picture and he was so upset.

This has been a very eventful week and it was especially nice to have Brent home three days!

Ice Storm - Day Three

I've seen the schools close for a day or two because of bad weather but we are now on day three of no school! Wow! This is crazy! The temperature has been so low that the ice covering the roads has not been able to melt. There are ruts on the major streets but the neighborhoods are what's bad since there is so little traffic to create ruts. Brent had to go to work today so the kids and I stayed in all day. I'm too scared to get out and drive on the ice.

A few months ago, Brent got a ticket in the mail for running a red light so he contacted the appropriate people to fight it and got an appeal date which happened to be yesterday. That's the one day that just about everything was closed because the roads were so bad and I had to drive to the police sub station! Luckily, it was very close to our house but my heart raced the entire way there and I was scared to death of wrecking!!! Brent was convinced that he had come to a complete stop before turning right at the red light. I met with an older gentleman and he asked if I had seen the video. Of course I had not seen the video and I was hoping that Brent really did stop before turning at the light. The man told me that I would not have received a ticket if I had stopped at the light. He thought I was driving the truck because the person that is registered to that vehicle must appear to fight the ticket. I was so embarrassed after watching the video because Brent did not come to a complete stop which means we have to pay the ticket. The man was very nice about it and said the same thing happened to him...he got a ticket, thought he had stopped but he watched the video and saw that he did not stop. I think sometimes we are in such a rush that we think we did the right thing until we see it from a different perspective. I told Brent he owes me big time since I risked my life driving on such trecherous conditions!

On another note, little Miss Kinsey will be 8 months old in a couple of weeks...she is crawling, pulling herself up and has fallen a few times which means we need to be by her side when she wants to stand up, she now has two bottom teeth and will NOT open her mouth to eat food! I've tried many things such as blowing in her face which takes her breath away but she opens her mouth and that's when I stick the spoon-full of food in her mouth. But that gets old so the one thing that works the best is giving her a spoon. She is teething and chewing on the spoon feels so good. When she opens her mouth to stick the spoon in her mouth, I quickly get my spoon in her mouth and leave it there until she sucks the food off of it. Otherwise, she'll spit the food out if I take the spoon out of her mouth. This little girl is a mess!!! If you look closely at the second picture you can see one tooth.
This is how it all started...we watched Kinsey pull herself up using the kitchen shelves. A couple of days later, I went into her room after she woke up from her morning nap to find her standing up in her crib! I guess it's time to lower the crib.

Ice Storm - Day Two

Plano ISD closed again today and Brent didn't go to work because his office closed. I got the camera out and Beck said he wanted to take a picture so he put the strap around his neck, aimed the camera and he got this really good shot of Brent! We are impressed with his skillz!

Then, he asked that we take his picture...let the posing begin! First of all, I was shocked that he wanted me to take pictures of him and secondly, he actually worked it for the camera. I was cracking up!

Since Bishop Playhouse has been closed, we moved the GeoTrax train set into the living room and Beck has had so much fun with his remote control train set. I love that he sits in the middle of it!

After afternoon naps and feeding Kinsey, we loaded up in Brent's truck and headed to Stonebriar Mall. That was the first time I've seen that mall empty! The parking lot was empty and after walking around we discovered that all of the stores either didn't open at all or closed at 4pm. We took the kids to the play area and Kinsey did her thing on the floor.

Beck ran all over the place and jump/crawled up on all of the rubber-coated animals, houses, train and mountain.

Beck insisted that Kinsey go down the slide with him...she loved it!

Brent loves pushing the new stroller!

As you can see, the parking lot is a sheet of ice! Since the parking lot was empty, we did a few donuts and it was so much fun! Beck giggled and Kinsey fell asleep. I wonder if Plano ISD will close tomorrow...

Ice Storm

After coming home from Jeff and Jill's house, we saw on the news that sleet would begin falling in the middle of the night and it was going to be super cold on Tuesday (high - 17 degrees; low - 8 degrees).

We woke up to find everything covered in a sheet of white ice! Brent went to work but was home by 10am because his main office shut down and nobody was at the job site. So, we got the kids dressed, loaded up in the truck and went down the street to check it out. The roads were so bad! We did find a sloped parking lot so we pulled over, put Beck in our laundry basket and pushed him down it. He liked it but it was just TOO cold! We stoped by McDonald's to get Beck a Happy Meal and it looked like only the managers were working.

After nap time, I put two layers of clothes on Beck and let him dig in the ice...he wanted to make snowballs but he quickly realized there was nothing to pick up because it was frozen solid. He couldn't hold on to the tool that Brent gave him so he took his gloves off but that didn't last long. At one point, Beck's feet came out from under him and he landed on his booty...we are surrounded by a sheet of ice.

As you can see, the sidewalks, streets and our side yard are all iced over. I also captured a really pretty sight of sunrays beaming through the clouds.

Brent and Kinsey stayed in our warm house while we were outside freezing. Can you see Beck's rosey red cheeks?

Monday Family Fun Night

Marcus only spent a couple of hours with us and Abraham didn't come today so after the kids woke up from their afternoon nap, I took them to Kristen's house. Beck enjoyed spending time with Madeline and Gabby. Kristen is letting me use her high chair until/if she has another baby.

Later that evening, Jeff asked Brent to look at a water leak so we all loaded up and headed to their house.

It's so much more fun playing with other kids toys and Beck had a blast!

Kinsey had fun too riding Marcus' new ride!

Marcus loves his new school bus that he got for his first birthday!

Painting

Saturday morning, Beck and I met Leigh, Natalie and Anderson at a painting place in McKinney. This place has everything to paint on...plates, cups, bowls, picture frames and animals. I picked a plate so I can display it in the kitchen. Leigh picked a coffee cup for Loren's birthday.

The kids are ready to paint...

Anderson and Natalie getting their hands painted...

Natalie putting her special skills to work...

Painting...

Only one of Beck's giant foot fit on the plate and mine looks no where near the professionals but I can say I did it with my own hands. I had to leave the plate for it to be baked/cured. I can't wait to see it when it's ready! I want to go back and make a plate with Kinsey's feet on it. Afterwards, we ate lunch at McDonald's and the kids had so much fun playing.