Our story, as it picks up now: February 2014

Friday, February 28, 2014

The tail end of winter. I hope.

February has just about wrapped up so I wanted to post a quick update. I had a lovely time celebrating the third anniversary of my 29th birthday on the 15th. We enjoyed family breakfast and a stage-it concert for the girls with our favorite Slugs and Bugs team. Russell took me out to celebrate that night -- we went to Landry's and had some yummy jambalaya and enjoyed Andy Gullahorn in concert with some friends at a local brewery. Over the course of the day, I learned that I share a birthday with Jill Phillips and Randall Goodgame, which is awesome. It was a sweet day. I don't have any pictures, but I am documenting it here. It did indeed happen. :)

The rest of this month has been pretty quiet. Punctuated by bouts with runny noses, just one trip to the doctor, prepping clothes for consignment, and one night of very loud thunderstorming, February has slipped through our hands, as days seem to do when raising small children.

One of the highlights of the month was hiking last weekend on Rainbow Mountain. I'm the first to admit that we throw the word "mountain" around rather loosely, but it's probably the highest point on this side of our county (what a superlative, huh!) and it has some pretty neat vistas. There are tons of great big rock formations. The girls and the dog enjoyed climbing all over them and pretending they were all sorts of things. Here are a few of our photos.


Apparently, this is Minnie's house.

Mickey's house. This is the kitchen. Obviously.

The man and the only other male in the house

Add caption

See, I'm in a picture!

Daddy pointing out the airport, many miles away

I also dragged the camera out during bath time the other night and snagged a few images that are appropriate for public viewing.

This IS a happy face. In case you weren't sure.

Later, gators! See you in March!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Snow in Alabama?

What fun we've had over the past few days! We have had two decent snowfalls in the last three days, which is really unusual for Alabama. You can imagine that a little bit of snow can throw a major wrench in everything. School was cancelled for three days and most businesses closed down. In fact, Russell was one of the only dads I know who still had to go to work through all this! This morning, it was too icy and he decided it was safer to go in a few hours late. He got in on a little of the snow action!

Peaches was scheduled to leave Wednesday night , but we stole an extra day with her, thanks to her cancelled flight. I was sure glad that she was here, because Caroline didn't really care for the snow and Catherine couldn't get enough. Peaches was able to tend to her and let Catherine play to her heart's content.

One more day with Peaches!

An attempt at artsy

Tried to make snow angels, not sure Catherine understood the concept

Using our beach toys with snow! (Hello, we live in Alabama . . .)

Pogo dog had a blast playing in the snow

Caro is unconvinced

Sand . . . er, I mean, snow castle, anyone?

As the snow fell on our house (around 9:00 pm on Feb 12)

Couldn't have been prettier as it came down

Peaches sticks around

As I mentioned in my last post, Peaches stayed a few more days here in Bama with us after Grandpa went home.

What did we do, you ask? Well . . . I took very long showers. Often not until the middle of the day. It was wonderful. And I took the time to dry my hair all the way. Heaven, seriously.

She helped us out with all manner of household tasks. Cooking, laundry, cleaning up . . . but she spent quite a bit of time sewing. She repaired a small animal hospital that had taken up residence in our master closet. She sewed up holes and reattached appendages. The girls were delighted to see many of their old friends back again. And with all their parts! She also hemmed dress up clothes that were too long and fixed holes in them too. She may never want to see a needle and thread again.

Upon request (like 10,000 of them), she read Fancy Nancy and the Splendiferous Christmas no fewer than 127 times and the Doc McStuffins Look-and-Find book nearly as many. She supported many animals through thorough medical examinations conducted by Dr.Catherine. She made a delicious batch of cookies with a three-year-old sous chef. Upon seeing two little girls who would eat absolutely anything given to them as a Costco sample, she prepared Catherine an entire lunch one bite at a time, pretending she was handing out samples. She got her nicely manicured hands dyed red in the process of helping Catherine make some homemade play dough. And she very bravely helped the girls with the somewhat ambitious Valentine's Day gift for their daddy. (Okay, it shouldn't have been that ambitious . . . but Caroline isn't terribly cooperative.) And we laughed A LOT.

What a gem of a mother-in-law I have. Enjoy some pics.

Grandpa and Peaches pay us a visit

Last weekend, Grandpa and Peaches made the trek eastward to spend a few days with us here. The occasion (who needs one!) was birthdays -- Russell's, mine (next week), and Grandpa's (the day after mine).

Our winter around here has been full of extremely cold days, broken up every so often by a few warmer rainy days. And then repeat with the cold. Needless to say, it hasn't been a very enjoyable winter, climate-wise. So when the high for the day was 43, we decided it was a good day for the park. (Oddly, we had the place to ourselves!) We had to get the kiddos out of the house. Cabin fever has taken hold!

We also enjoyed a double date night out. We hired a sitter and had dinner together at a steakhouse, followed by a movie. Isn't it the coolest thing when your parents (or parents in law) become your friends? We really had a ton of fun on our double date. And I'm not joking.

Thanks for coming for a visit, y'all. It's always lots of fun!

Stay tuned -- Peaches stayed on a few more days with us after Grandpa headed back to Texas. And some wild things happened in Alabama! Next post coming soon!