2nd snow of 2014

The night before the second big snow storm, we had dinner with the family for Shannon's birthday.  Paw Paw surprised the girls with sleds!  They were very happy to have them.

 Practicing early in the morning before going outside

We all got up early to play in the snow.

 loving the new sled

 playing in the snow

 haha

 carrying around snow

 making a really big snowman

 eating a big chunk of snow

 working on their snow fort

 snowman with skittle smiley face

 girls adding more snow on bryson

 making snow angels

 Alan decided he wanted to be buried

Oh how I love this.  The kids (and adults) had a mass amount of fun.  Alan and I went to bed really late after the first night of snow to make an awesome sledding area!  Our sleds went down the big hill in our driveway extremely fast.  It was so fast that we made it down between the trees in the field.  Overall, the week of snow was awesome fun for all the kids.

1st snow of 2014

A lot has happened over the past six months.  Here is a recap.  We all know how well I do this blogging mess!  Anyway, we had our first snow of the year at the end of January.  It was a super super cold winter, where school was even delayed several days because of temperatures being so incredibly cold.  The girls loved playing in the snow, especially when we got a lot of it.

 The girls were trying to eat snow out of the sky

 Daddy playing in the snow with Daphne and Jocelyn

 Loving snow

 A whole day of playing in the snow

 The kids piled snow at the bottom of the slide to run into

 Eating snow out of a cup

Daphne's first basketball game - January 4th

 Daphne had her very first basketball game on Saturday.  She may be the smallest on her team, but by golly she is trying so hard.  She is precious doing it too.  Here she is warming up with her team.

 Her coach tells her to stand with her hands up, and she does exactly that.

 He also tells her to stand on the corner right there.  She does this the whole game and struggles to really move away from that spot.  She is guarding that corner wonderfully.

 On our tip toes to see the ball coming.

 One of the coaches helping us

 That's Daphne with the ball!  She tried to score twice during the game.  We didn't make it, but not for a lack of trying.

 Jocelyn was showing Jace all about her Jake and the Neverland Pirates game.

 He really wanted to do it himself.

Watch out Mugsy Bogues :)

New Years Eve!

 We had our annual New Years Eve get together, obviously on December 31st.  Every year there are different people (at least a few to come and go), but we always have a good time.  Before I go any further, I want to say that I have amazing friends.  Friends that are there to celebrate with us during our good times, and to help us keep smiles on our faces when we are at our worst.  Friends that we may not get to see as much as we'd like because they don't live next door, but would drop everything and run if we needed them.  These friends love our children as much as we do, and we consider them family. 

 Shannon and Charity relaxing

 Charity, Shannon, and Caitlyn with the kids.  We are all being silly eating tons of food!

 Emilee bringing in the last of her pizza puffs.  By the end of the night, we didn't have many (if any) leftovers at all.

 Someone is enjoying playing her DS while she's on break.  She knows she will be on a schedule very very soon!

 Ok, so remember how I said I have amazing friends right?  Well, a few years ago, Emilee and Mama Hillman made a red cape for Daphne for Christmas.  Daphne loves that thing.  She has gotten to grow into it so it doesn't drag the floor any more.  Jocelyn has been playing with her cape, or using her blanket as a cape when they are playing Super Heroes. 

 Jocelyn opens her first present from Emilee and J...

 What could it be?

 Is that a purple cape???

 Why yes it is!  A cape for me?!?

 We had to hold it out so we could check out the new Super Girl cape.

 In our house, if you wear a cape, you must be really fast.  So...off we go!

 Running down the hall like lightning

 We had to stop long enough to open our second present.  It's always a book.  No complaints here.  The girls love books, even sleeps with them literally every night in the bed. 

 Even Super Heroes have to stop and read every once in awhile.

 Where there is one Super Hero, there is bound to be two...

 Do you see the purple streak?

 Off running around saving the day

 

Even j has a cape!

 We have this tradition where we play board games, at least one during New Years Eve.  This year's chosen game was Monopoly.  By about 2:00, Emilee had fallen asleep.  Clinton, J, Allen and I played until about 3:30.   It was a good game in the end. 

Those Wild and Crazy Kids

 Daphne is a Purple Power Ranger, showing off her slick ninja like moves.

 Jocelyn is Super Girl, running around the house. 

 We only catch a glimpse of her before she's gone again!

 Ariel legos.  Daddy (and mommy too) has a deep love of Legos.  The girls love playing with them.  Daddy loves playing in the Lego Store. We watched Bryson on New Years Day while his mommy went to work.  I was looking to get a new phone, as my phone is dying.  Daddy suggested we get some lunch (since it was our last day before school starts again) and then go prance around Concord Mills Mall for awhile.  He thought it would be fun to go look in Bass Pro and the Lego Store, and give the three kids a small limit at the Lego Store.  Well, this idea went over very well.  We spent about an hour in the store, slowly deciding which lego set or box of random legos we wanted to buy.  The girls first looked all around and at the back wall, there are "free standing" legos, where you can fill a cup full of whichever pieces you want and you take them home.  They both put a full cup full, and then decided to rethink their choice.  Daphne ended up with a small Little Mermaid set of regular Legos, and Jocelyn found a Duplo set of the Little Mermaid which was very similar to her sister's.  Bryson was in awe of the Lego People area where you can make your own people.  He loved picking out each part, and arming them with tons of axes. 

Our three lunch dates at McDonalds. 

 Very intent on building/playing.

 Oh wow at our silly girls!

Last Saturday, we had a sad day in our little family.  Our buddy Bryson's dog died because someone ran over him.  After we buried him and told Bryson, he was very upset.  I decided we would have a Lego Party to celebrate the dog and to make Bryson smile.  Clinton came home from work that evening and Charity and I went to get pizza.  Daddy was in charge of building the Batcave with Bryson and Daphne.  Charity and I dumped all of the Legos out and started to build the other Super Hero sets we have.  About five hours later, Charity and I finally stop for the night.  We got two sets completely built.  The kids had so much fun playing with them, eating pizza, and watching dog/Lego movies all evening.  (and yes, Jocelyn wears her purple cape all night long)

 Mac was not getting down from that couch unless someone moved him

I spy one itty bitty Lego that is oddly shaped and has three holes in it.  Good luck finding it!