Pool Sharks & Snow Bunnies

Whew, what a weekend! Several times this year they have predicted snow, but I was not expecting the amount that we actually got...between 6 and 7 inches! That is almost blizzard proportions for us southerners! Annah had gone home from school with Gramme Friday and since it was starting to flurry, Liam and I had to boogie to get to Gramme and Granddaddy's house and pick up Annah. Annah and Granddaddy have had a long time tradition of playing pool (by playing pool, I mean Annah sits on the table and rolls the balls into the pockets) and they have introduced Liam to the game as well. I guess they are old enough to start learning how to really play. They will be hustling people out of their money any day now!

Liam got to go first

She lines up...

She shoots...

She did it!!!!

And then the snow really started falling. By the time we got home Friday, it was getting dark but we get snow so rarely that I let the kids go play for a bit. When they woke up this morning it was a winter wonderland! I had to run out and take a picture before we messed up the yard. I love the way our house looks all covered in snow!

The snow was so powdery, it was had to make snowballs

Mason and Jackson found the whole thing very confusing! I don't have any pictures of Belle in the snow because she never stood still long enough. She spent a LOT of time trying to catch snowballs :)

I just love this picture

I call them angels all the time, but now they are snow angels!

Mommy: "Liam, it's time to go inside and warm up for a bit."

Liam: "Noooooooooo"

Where Are We Going? To the Park!

A little background information: before Laura and I were even pregnant with Liam and Jac, we took the girls to the beach. At the time, they were both really into Dora so on our way to the beach every day in the golf cart, we would sing "where are we going? to the beach!" (in Dora style, of course). It was a too cold to go to the beach this week, so we took the golf cart to the park instead. IOP has an awesome park with lots of "toys" for smaller kids (and big ones too). We had so much fun and it was so nice to spend some time with Daddy too

Man, this is one cute kid!

They have this cup thing that is at an angle and works kind of like a spinning teacup. Something about centripetal motion or inertia (or something I should have learned in high school science). Anyway, it keeps spinning and spinning until you a) jump out at full spin or b) get your mommy to stop you from spinning and then try to run/fall down laughing. Annah laughed and spun, and laughed and spun, and you get the picture...

Monkey-Boy!

Let's Party!

We had a party-filled weekend last week. Saturday, Annah had a party for her friend, Madeline, at The Little Gym. (Angie, if you happen to read this, the teachers were fantastic and Annah had a blast!). The kids had so much fun and since Liam stayed home with Gramme (thanks, Gramme), I got to spend some time with Annah AND enjoy the party some. It has taken me the better part of four and a half years to figure out that Annah does so much better if I just back off and let her be...hmmmm :)

I always knew she was a monkey!

Annah and Madeline (the birthday girl)

Annah and Cade

There are a whole mess of kids who go to Annah's school and who also live right down the street. Madeline and Cade both fall into this category.

After Madeline's party Saturday afternoon, we left Sunday morning for my nephew, Perry's, 2nd birthday party. Perry's brother, Gardner, and Annah are only 8 weeks apart and Liam and Perry are 12 weeks apart. I hope that they all continue to remain close. I never had cousins that I was close to, and I so want this for my kids. Perry had a great party complete with a bounce house. Sadly, I did not get any pictures of the kids bouncing (gasp!) because it was all I could do just to keep up with them.

Perry and Leigh just after blowing (um, or spitting chocolate drool) out his candles!

Happy Birthday, Perry!

A Long Day

We had another long day with Liam in surgery today. You may remember this picture from last year when Liam had his tubes done:

Today was much worse...Liam had to go in to have his adenoids removed. He has had chronic sinus infections since we got rid of the ear infections and has a hard time breathing through his nose. His ENT said on a scale of one to four (four being the biggest) his adenoids were a four. They were, in fact, "quite beefy" (his words, not mine). Liam took a long time waking up from the anesthesia and had to stay in recovery for a couple hours as his stats kept dropping into dangerous zones. He was just miserable most of the day and it broke my heart to see him so uncomfortable and not be able to do anything about it. At one point this afternoon, he was wailing on the couch and Will and I were both in tears. I have said it before, and I will say it again: I don't know how parents manage to send their kids into surgeries on a regular basis. I know that there are parents all over the world who have to do this; their kids lives depend on surgeries and they have no choice but to watch some doctor wheel their baby away to an operating room only to find them hurting and crying after surgery. I guess you do what you have to do, but today was one of the worst things I have experienced (and I am truly grateful that this is the case) and I just don't know how you manage to repeat days like today over and over again. Thankfully, the worst seems to be behind us now. Liam is resting with the help of some narcotics and I hope tomorrow will be full of smiles.

Here is Liam and Bubba before going back. They gave him something to help him relax so he wouldn't freak out when they took him away and he was watching toonies.