Snow Jinx!

I believe my parting words to the month of January were as follows: "Hopefully February brings us better weather, and no more snow days!"

Well if I didn't just set myself up for disappointment, you can call me Uncle Sam! How does that old saying go? "Red sky in morning, Sailors take warning!" This was out my kitchen window Monday morning.

 I'm not Uncle Sam, and I'm certainly not a sailor, but February DID decide to bring with it some more snow. Another monster storm (at least according to these parts) moved in Tuesday morning and dumped about 3 inches over the course of the day. It was lovely, beautiful, fluffy stuff, and the kids had an early release from school and Jon got off work-- so no biggie. Hooray!

Wednesday morning they'd canceled work and school, and actually, the snow hadn't even stuck to the pavement, so the roads were clear and we headed to the gym like usual. Myself and Jon (and the two other people there) were unfazed by the modest amount of snow, but the news alerts on TV were going crazy warning everyone to buckle down because the worst was yet to come. They were predicting more snow, followed by freezing rain, followed by more snow-- which would result in mass power outages. The rain makes the snow so wet and heavy that it breaks the branches off the trees and falls onto the power lines, creating havoc.

We decided to head straight to WalMart to pick up some milk and other necessities just in case it got as bad as everyone seemed to think it would. This is about an hour into the storm, driving home from the store. For seasoned veterans like ourselves, who have driven the Snowville-to-Burley-run a million times in the dark of winter, it was nothing. We got stuck behind a big truck going about 10 mph though, and what should have been a 20 minute drive home ended up taking about 45 minutes. Honestly!

We spent the day enjoying the snow, making treats, and watching movies, and then that night the freezing rain hit. Holy cow! I've never been in an ice storm, but it sounded like hail hitting the windows and roof all. night. long! We kept hearing big cracks outside as the ice fell off the power lines and branches broke with too much weight. I was SO afraid our power would go out and we would have to wake the kids up and put them in bed with us so they didn't freeze to death in our drafty house! Thankfully it didn't and we were able to enjoy a yummy pre-Valentine's Day breakfast of red velvet pancakes and hot cocoa in our warm and cozy kitchen!   

We decided we'd all head out to observe the arctic wasteland that had become North Carolina overnight, so we bundled everyone up starting with the baby.

 Yup. Even Leah got the grocery bag treatment despite pulling out Lucy's old snow pants from storage. She was not thrilled with the bundling job, as she could barely walk.

 I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but there was about 7 inches of snow--more where there were drifts, which is a LOT of snow for around these parts. The snow was rock hard with about an inch crust of solid ice. Not that much fun to play in! 

 You had to stomp through the ice crust in order to walk on it, so building a snowman was out of the question. Our neighbor friends brought out their sleds so we could try sledding down our hill, but we didn't have much luck with that either.

 All the pine needles on the trees were encapsulated in a layer of ice. The branches became so heavy there were downed trees everywhere! We knew it would take poor North Carolina a loooong time to dig out of this one, so we bid our time patiently at home. Luckily Lucy and Zach played with their neighbor friends almost the entire day-- bouncing from one house to the next when they got bored. That was a life saver for our cabin fever!

But by Thursday evening I had absolutely had it!! I was beyond ready to get out of the house after 3 days stuck inside, so we figured the main roads were probably plowed and decided to head out to assess the damage. There were a few other brave souls out on the road, and one or two fast food joints open, but otherwise the entire city was SHUT DOWN. I've never seen anything like it! That just doesn't happen in the west, unless of course it's the end of the world. 

So, Lesson #1: The South really does shut down for snow. Apparently the freeways in Raleigh became a parking lot for abandoned cars-- people just got out and walked rather than drive in snowy conditions. They said on the news that Durham reported over 141 accidents in a 3 hour period. Seriously?!? Seriously. Lesson #2: You know there's no hope when even the police officers don't know to scrape their own windows and drive by with snow piled up 6 inches on their back windshield. Obviously there was no school the rest of the week, and Lucy will have to go to Saturday school for the next month, but these are just all things to remember from our time here in North Carolina! 

Funny February

I like February. You blink and you're already halfway through the month, and each day creeps closer and closer to spring! We've been having fun so far this February. Here's a glimpse of what we've been up to:

 Miss Lucy reached 100 days at school and is officially 100 days smarter for it. Their count was kind of messed up considering the 4-day-snow-day back in January, thus it came four days later than planned, but she still got to wear the shirt she'd made with 100 pipe cleaners hot glued on. I like Leah's photo-bomb in the background.:) 

 Lucy also has lost two teeth this month, one week apart from each other exactly. She looks like a little jack o' lantern. 

Unfortunately she somehow lost the second tooth in all of the excitement, so when it came time to hide the tooth under her pillow for the Tooth Fairy she was really upset. We told her to write a note explaining what had happened, and when Jon found it, it totally cracked me up! It says (sorry about the sideways picture): "Dear tooth fairy, I lost my tooth. I mean I really lost my tooth. Can you still leave something? I will be more careful next time. Lucy, your friend." 

 Bet you didn't know February 6th was National Frozen Yogurt Day?? Neither did we, until I got an offer on Facebook for some free yogurt at Di'lishi. Once I'd picked up Lucy from school, Zach and his huge sweet tooth satisfied a frozen yogurt craving in honor of such a wonderful "holiday."

We've been working with Zach on his temper and occasional grumpiness by doing "Grump Marks" (Mom? Whitney? Anyone else remember those?). Every time he whines or grumps he gets a tally mark on his chart, and if he's able to get less than 20 in 2 weeks (we're halfway right now), he earns a Star Wars Lego set. So far, he's done impressively well. All we have to do is remind him and he shapes right up. I love bribery! He reeeeally wants that set. 

 This is the lovely sight that greets us each morning-- bed-head to beat the homeless. Leah takes a bath every night, so I guess between the wet hair and tossing and turning, she creates a major rat's nest.

 Here's a frontal view. Good Morning sunshine!

 This little stinker is a total mess maker! Holy smokes! I remember it with Zach too-- it's like all of a sudden right around 15 months they go from 0 to 60, and she's running and climbing and destroying everything that gets in her path. I can't keep up. You can't really tell, but behind her is about a million little rocks from our fireplace that she looooves to pull out and dump all over the floor. They're the worst to clean up too, because they won't vacuum up. This came after she'd already pulled all of the ziploc bags out of the box, and dumped my box of cotton swabs in the toilet. She's always very proud of herself, too.

 The only time she slows down is if she wants to read a book, which thankfully is often. She loves books! She finds one, brings it over to Jon, Lucy, or I, and then backs into our laps and sits down with her hands folded in her lap. She's a funny little thing with her own personality.

 This afternoon we went out for a walk and she creamed her face on the pavement yet again-- in the exact same place on her nose as last time. Not a good picture to see because of the flash, but already her cheek and eye are red and swollen and I'm thinking she'll definitely have a shiner by tomorrow morning.

 My sister in law Sarah took these amazing 12 month portraits while we were there visiting over Christmas. She was NOT cooperating, but Sarah managed to pull out some treasures! 

 Crazy about this one. So sweet!

We sure love our Leah! Even if she is really, really, a handful.

 Look! Look! Do you notice anything different about this guy?!? NO GLASSES!!! He has special eyes now. At the end of January, he underwent PRK surgery to permanently correct his eyes so he no longer needs eye glasses or contacts to see. How very lucky!! His surgery went off without a hitch, his recovery was wonderful (no pain and very little irritation) and he's already seeing better than 20/20 just two weeks later. We are sooo grateful everything went so smoothly and now he can get back to fixing teeth.

 Aaaaand unfortunately I still have my glasses, but this February I've been up to a few new things too. Our gym added another Body Pump class for me to teach on Mondays at 12:15 p.m., so now I'm up to teaching twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), one Saturday a month, and still subbing occasionally. Woot! Woot! Compared to the once a month I was teaching as the "newbie" last year at this time, I'm thrilled.

Finally, in honor of the Olympics in Sochi we went to Mellow Mushroom for pizza before the Opening Ceremony. I've mentioned Mellow Mushrrom before but I gotta document it since time is dwindling and I want to remember the little things like this when we move. It's definitely one of our favorites here and it's one of the few "local" places unique to the South that we really like. It's kind of a hippy-dippy place featuring all organic ingredients and super yummy whole wheat crust. Our favorites are the Caesar (pesto chicken pizza with Caesar salad on top) and the Thai Dai (curry chicken pizza with veggies and Thai chili sauce).

 We've been enjoying the Olympics so far. I hate that we have to wait until 8 p.m. to start watching, because then it  goes on and on until midnight which is much too late for me, but we absolutely love celebrating all the amazing athletes around the world. So fun to see all these countries and cultures come together for something positive for a change! While watching the Opening Ceremonies, Jon and I couldn't help but comment that without their country's name on the clothing, most of the time you couldn't tell where anyone was from. Isn't it amazing that people are just people no matter where they're from? Here's hoping the second half of February is just as good as the first!

MLK and the 4-Day-Long-Snow-Day!

Aaaand we're jumping right back into January! Not too long ago we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with the kids out of school and Jon home from work. After a quick stop at the gym, we decided to brave the arcticly cold winds and head outdoors to Badin Lake, a popular recreation area just northeast of us.

 Naturally we had to get breakfast along the way, so we stopped at our ol' favorite--Waffle House, and warmed up with some hot chocolate and fluffy waffles hot off the griddle.

 Lucy got a strawberry one, Zach and Jon's were plain, and mine was pecan, in honor of the great South. 

 Even Leah liked her waffles as long as they were drenched in butter and syrup. Waffle House is always an adventure. If you've never eaten at one, it's a must. They are definitely a Southern gem-- cheap, friendly, usually packed, and the definition of a dive.

 Anyway, continuing on with our MLK Day, we finally found Badin Lake despite a few wrong turns here and there. Jon had raced in a 6-mile trail run back in October, and mentioned how beautiful it was around the lake-- we must have forgotten there aren't many beautiful colorful fall leaves in the middle of January.

The scenery was a little grim, but that's okay as long as it's all in the name of adventure, right? More importantly however, was again the fact that it. was. FREEZING. I mentioned arcticly cold winds, didn't I? Add that to the fact that I had bare legs and barely dried sweaty workout clothes, and I was ready to head back home to my warm house and put the Apple TV to good use.

 Jon talked me into letting the kids ride their bikes around some of the trails, which was the whole point of heading out this way, so we did. Zach wasn't too happy about it though. I think he wanted to sit in the car and play the iPad. Big surprise.

 Lucy and Leah were good sports and had fun throwing rocks into the lake. They both seem impervious to cold. I can't figure out where they get those thick-skinned genes from!

 Moving on to the 4-Day-Long-Snow-Day-- "Snowmageddon," if you will. As I mentioned before, we've had a couple "delay start" mornings where school starts 2 hours later than normal due to inclement weather. First it was because of the freezing cold, then it was because of a "chance" of snow (the "snow" is pictured above, careful! I blinked and almost missed it!). 

Well, Monday afternoon folks were really starting to panic because the weathermen were predicting a snow storm to top all snow storms-- at LEAST 2 to 3 inches. So they canceled school on Tuesday. All day Tuesday it was blue skies, sunny weather, and basically the kiddos rode bikes outside on their "snow day." Predictions for snow kept getting pushed back further and further, until they finally went to bed without seeing a single flake. They were so sad!

Much to their surprise and TOTAL elation, the snow did come at around 9 p.m. that night and left about 2 inches for them to play in! School was obviously canceled on Wednesday. Snow to the southern child is better than Christmas (and although mine aren't really Southern, they were too little to remember all the snow we got in Philly, so it really had been about 4 years since we'd seen any).

They had a BLAST playing in the snow all morning and recruited our next door neighbors Josh and Luke to go sledding down our driveway and make snow angels.

It was COLD too. The high was like 19 degrees, so they'd play outside for a little while, then come in and dump all their stuff on the ground to warm up, and head back out a few hours later. And yes, those are grocery bags tied around Zach's feet. No need for snow clothes around here so we had to make do!

We gathered some fresh snow and made ice cream with it, not once, but twice. Zach loved it! I knew since it was so cold that school would most likely be canceled the next day as well (Thursday) since it wouldn't melt off the roads anytime soon. To a girl born and raised in Idaho, three days off for 2 inches of snow is kind of mind-blowing since I can literally remember walking to school in a blizzard...but when in Rome... That being said, we just got a message that school has been canceled yet again, for a FOURTH day (Friday) due to the two inches of snow from Tuesday night.  I guess some of the country back roads still have snow on them, leading me to believe that it's not about how much snow you get, but how many snow plows you have. And in Pinehurst, we have 0. Sigh.

This face pretty much sums up how we all feel about it (poor Leah and her stuffy nose). I love me a good snow day, don't get me wrong-- but basically an entire week off from school, plus the threat of Saturday school to make up for the missed days?!? Ugghh. My kids have cabin fever and are totally bored, and everything from school to swimming lessons has been canceled, canceled, canceled. And if you're a stay at home mom, you can totally sympathize; schedules are EVERYTHING! Hopefully February brings us better weather, and no more "snow days!"

Jumpin' Into January!

January always seems like a slow, "bleh" kind of a month-- all thanks to the three months that come before it. After three whirlwind months full of holidays, parties, friends and family, and culminating with Christmas itself, all 31 days of January seem to drag by. Throw in the depressing snowy weather and gray skies most places have, and you have what I like to call the "January doldrums."

 Luckily here in North Carolina, we're beating those January doldrums by taking swimming lessons. First Health (the gym I work at) has a very nice indoor pool and offers swim lessons on Monday and Wednesday afternoons-- a perfect way for my two fish to have some fun and get some exercise. Lucy is an incredible swimmer and is already in level 5 (the highest level) with a bunch of kids who are way older than she is, but she manages to keep up despite the age gap.

Zach is still in the learning phases, but has done amazingly well this session! You can see him here in his Thomas the Train swimsuit. He came home after his first lesson and although he'd seemed to have fun, said he didn't want to go back anymore. When I pressed him on why-- if he was scared or didn't like his teacher-- he finally revealed that he was embarrassed of his Thomas suit and told me the kids would make fun of him because Thomas is for "babies and 3 years olds." Ha! Poor little guy. I told him we'd look for a cooler swimming suit at Wal-Mart, but because it's January it was very slim pickings. All they had on the clearance rack was a size 7/8 Star Wars Angry Birds suit that barely stays on, but at least Thomas was honorably retired-- and Zach won't be beat up after class. 

 Here he is swimming to his teacher. He loves to dunk his face, jump in, back float, and is really getting good at swimming with his face and tummy in the water. Yeaaaa! One less child to worry about... As for Leah, I tried to sit and watch with her for the first lesson, but she was dive bombing for that water every time she got a chance. She even unintentionally got the life guard to come sit next to us because I think he was just as paranoid as I was that we'd end up with a baby in the water. Luckily I've been able to stick her in the Kids Center since then, and now I get to just sit and enjoy all 45 minutes of swim lessons in peace. 

 Living so far away from the "big city," one of our monthly excursions has become driving up to Raleigh to shop at Costco, Trader Joe's, and Target. Even though it's a long day and a long drive there and back (75 minutes each way), we all look forward to getting out of town and doing some power shopping. 

Zach and Lucy's incentive to be good in the car is to eat lunch at Costco. They love the cheese pizza and smoothies. They really are good shoppers to take places, and help me with Leah so I can focus on remembering everything we've run out of! If I forget something, I'm toast for at least another month until our next trip up. 

Jon and I discovered a new restaurant nearby (right across from Trader Joe's) called Burgerfi. It's like a Smash Burger, but has the most incredible veggie burger EVER!! I know that sounds weird, but we tried it on a whim, and it's fantastic (I took my mom once, and she didn't think so though). They're famous for their garlic parmesan fries too, which are HUGE, so while the kids eat Costco food, we patiently wait until we're all done with everything and then grab a Veggiefi before we head home. This month when we went there was actually a Tornado Watch in effect, so we risked life and limb for this little sandwich--it's that good.

 Speaking of the weather here recently, it's been a crazy roller coaster! The first week back to school after Christmas, the temperatures dropped super low-- down into the single digits, prompting the schools to delay start school by 2 hours so it could warm up for the bus riders. I think the low that morning was 9 degrees. Fast forward a few days, and the temperatures swung into summer territory-- 60's and 70's!! And that's how you get tornadoes, people, in case you didn't know. We've had TONS of rain and wind as the temperatures level back out to normal.

 Anytime it's sunny and warm we take advantage by heading outside to soak up the fresh air and vitamin D. Leah is definitely an outside baby-- and begs to be let loose in the yard. Zach and Lucy play with the neighbor kids (there are 4 around their age) and they have a ball riding bikes and scooters and playing ninjas and spies on our driveway.

 Jon's been sticking to his New Year's resolution to spend some more one-on-one time with each of the kiddos by taking them on dates. Zach was up first with a "Man's Date" to Dunkin Donuts for donuts and hot chocolate. I guess they talked about buying four-wheelers the whole time, because Zach came home obsessed and has talked of nothing else since then.

 Lucy was a few nights later with a date to Cold Stone for ice cream. She likes to get dressed up all fancy and very eagerly awaits her turn to be taken out on the town. I guess that means Leah is next!

And finally, I couldn't resist-- here is Zach living in a box. Let me explain: Zach tells this joke Lucy taught him to everyone. And although it's very silly (Cub Scout humor), it still cracks me up every time. I need to videotape him saying it because it's really the intonation and how he says it that's funny, but here goes:

Zach (sticks out hand to shake yours): Do you live in a house?

Person: Yes.

Zach: Oh. I live in a box. Do you use the toilet?

Person: Yes.

Zach: Oh. I use a can. Do you use toilet paper?

Person: Yes.

Zach: Oh. I use this hand!

Bwahahaha! He has a very infectious giggle and loves this joke. Now doesn't that just chase away the rest of those January doldrums??