It started off fairly innocently. With our big entertainment being the delivery of our wall oven. (FINALLY!) The oven that we bought for our kitchen (WAY back in September) was on backorder. We have had a loner oven this whole time. But when the guys came to deliver our new oven, we discovered that the hole in the cabinet was not cut big enough! Arg!!! AND when I called our builder's agent about it, she said that the cabinet guy wouldn't be able to make it out to our house for another week... SO, when Keith got home, he tackled it with a hand saw. A lot of work, but it looked great! AND we weren't worried about an oven falling onto one of our kids.
Then, late in the afternoon on February 5th, my Dad and Chris arrived for a nearly two-week long visit! The kids were REALLY excited to see them!
A couple of action shots:
The next day was Etta's 100th Day of School and her whole class dressed as if they were 100 years old.
She didn't really want to pose for a picture that morning.
The Kindergarten teachers dressed up too! :) (Etta's teacher, Mrs. Myers, is on the left)
On Saturday we went up to GiGi's Playhouse for Open Play that morning and lunch at Cinco de Mayo next door.
You can't really tell from this picture, but my kids LOVE salsa... even when it's SPICY (They always go back for more) LOL!
That evening, after playing in the backyard for a while, we went for a sunset stroll through the field.
Saturday had been a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the temperature was fairly mild. Sunday, on the other hand, was a different story. I believe the actual temperature was in the 50's, but it was overcast and the wind was chilly, which made it an IDEAL day for a cookout at the park. :) (It really wasn't awful, just not truly ideal). Keith's parents met us out at Henry Horton around 10:00 and the kids played on the playground and Keith grilled some hamburgers/hot dogs.
After lunch, we went home to put the kids down for a nap. I think Keith took a nap too. Dad and Chris and I went up to Cool Springs for a few hours.
Monday brought work for Keith and school for Etta. We filled our mornings with trips to the bank and Walmart and Target and that awesome (and overwhelming) new At Home store in Franklin. We also ate out a lot.
We had some "exciting" entertainment when the guys came to install our fence (over a two day period).
After the fence was installed, I think the most excited member of our household was Whiskey! Poor guy has been stuck on a leash since May... 9 Months!
(VIDEO)
We spent several evenings working with Etta on making the valentines for her class. Of course, Daniel and Alice wanted in on the crafting.
Using muscles to squeeze that glue bottle after a long day of school is exhausting!
Friday was a busy day! First of all, it was Chris' Birthday! Yay!! AND it was the day of Etta's class Valentine's Party at school! Yay! AND February 13th is also the day that Keith and I had our first date- in 2003, 12 years ago, at Baskin Robins in Downtown Franklin! Yay, again!
So, we went to lunch at Applebee's to celebrate Chris' birthday. Chris made sure to get the party started with a margarita! :)
Etta's Valentine's Day party was an ice cream party! It was a fun idea to have a sort of "ice cream bar" where the kids got to choose all of their toppings. After she ate her ice cream, she spent a few minutes going through her big bag 'o valentines.
After Etta's party, the two of us went back to the house to pick up the other kids and Dad and Chris so we could go meet Keith for our annual trip to Baskin Robins in Franklin. Etta was pretty excited about getting to have ice cream twice in one day (and Daniel and Alice were just plain excited about ice cream!). Except, when we got to the Baskin Robins it was CLOSED! *gasp* So, we took a quick picture and then I played Frogger to get back across the street to my car, I called Keith (who had gone back to his truck) and we decided to just go for an early dinner at Puckett's Boat House just up the street. We had our fingers crossed that they would have ice cream!
I am not naming any names, but *someone* got a *little* upset when *they* didn't get to blow out the birthday candles....
Okay, I'll give you a *hint*
So, of course, we relit the candles and they all got to help blow out the candles on Lita's cake.
Keith was REALLY excited about Toot's... Like, maybe a little too excited...
And guess what.... They got MORE ice cream!
The growly face I captured instead of the sweet smiley face I asked him to give me.
(Just because I cringe every time I see these shots, I would like to note that I was not responsible for getting them buckled in after lunch.... But the photos were just too sweet not to share.)
That afternoon, after nap, we exchanged valentines.
"Let it Go, Let it GoooOOoooo!"
(VALENTINE'S VIDEO)
Cracker Barrel on Sunday
Oh, hey! Look! We're eating out again! (Pretty sure I gained 5 pounds while they were here)
The weather guys started calling for winter weather to arrive on Sunday night, into Monday morning. Up until this date, we had not had any winter weather to speak of yet this season. Sure, we had a dusting here and a dusting there, but never enough to close the schools or make traveling on the roads dicey. Snowmageddon turned out to be more of an Icemageddon. We didn't get any snow, but we ended up with a couple of inches of sleet. Etta was already out of school on Monday for the President's Day holiday, but she ended up being out of school for the week.
We spent a few lazy days around the house being iced in. The roads were terrible, so we couldn't go anywhere. Also, Dad came down with a cold and spent some time resting. (He also spent some time installing our towel bars in the bathrooms! Thanks again!) Tuesday night, Lito and Lita gave the kids the valentine's day treats we had decided to hold off on a few nights before...
Daniel ate 3 suckers in about a 10 minute space of time.
This is what you get after about 3 suckers, some skittles, and a cookie or two (This really isn't much different than most nights between dinner and bedtime. Ha!)
Saying goodbye on Wednesday morning
After Lito and Lita left, we suited up to play in the yard again. (there was about an inch of fresh snow from the night before)
(VIDEO)
After we got the kids down for a nap that day, I decided to venture out to Kroger. We had run out of milk and bread and I needed some fresh supplies before being stuck at home with the kids for the rest of the week. The most difficult part of my trip was getting the car out of the driveway. There was about 3/4 inch layer of ice on my windshield. It took me an hour just to get it chipped off...
The grocery store was still mostly out of bread.
There was a pretty thick layer of ice on top of the car that I couldn't chip off before I left. I was a little concerned about it because I had been seeing stories on the news of ice flying off the tops of cars and hitting the windshields of the cars behind them. But my ice was just SO big and SO stuck and I would be driving fairly slowly to and from Kroger that I just crossed my fingers and went for it. When I got back to the car with my groceries and I opened the hatch, it made the back half of the ice lift off and I was able to grab it and toss it onto the ground. I took a picture to try and show how thick it was, but I don't think you can really tell...
I bought a King Cake at Kroger because it was on clearance. Then, I forgot to give it to the kids that night. So, we had Mardi Gras on Jeudi Gras.
Alice LOVES this teeny tiny plate from a little play tea set. She likes to eat off of it whenever she can.
Alice was in love with the tiny, plastic baby. She fed him some cake and gave him some of her juice
On Sunday, I made a run to Franklin to drop some stuff off at a consignment sale and on the way back home, I made a detour for a pedicure with Jillian. :)
So, the first winter weather event came through on February 15th. We still had a thick layer of ice on our driveway (shady spot by the garage) for a couple of weeks. The snow/sleet/ice would melt a little and then refreeze each night. Just a solid, thick sheet of ice. I took these pictures on February 25th after I tried breaking up the ice with a shovel.
Etta was out of school from Feb 14th- Feb 23rd (I know some of those are weekend days, just want to give an idea of how many days in a row Etta was out of school). She went back to school on the 24th and 25th. THEN, we had ANOTHER round of winter weather on February 26th. So, Etta was out of school AGAIN for two more days! This time, it was actually SNOW on the ground (on top of the ice that was already there). The snow was too powdery to make a snowman, but it was still fun to play in a bit.
I know, Daniel. We're ALL ready for SPRING to arrive!
(Turns out, he doesn't like having snow thrown at him. Go figure.)
That about wraps up our February. We are ready to THAW out!
No comments:
Post a Comment