Hooray for snow!!!

This morning when I woke up it felt strangely quiet and I thought to myself, "I wonder if it snowed last night..." . I looked out the window and was pleasantly surprised--it HAD snowed! It was quite warm yesterday so I was not expecting this, and it definitely has made my day. For some reason I have had a hard time getting into the Christmas festivities, but this took care of it for me.  After playing in the snow, we came in and baked and decorated Christmas cookies. And now I feel like having Christmas music on and making more Christmas crafts with Lisa. We probably won't put up our little tree because we're going to California in less than a week, but I'm looking forward to Lisa getting to see the trees at our family's homes. There won't be snow in California, so hopefully it won't melt too fast here and we will make sure and enjoy it for the next few days. Let it snow!

Evidence of how warm it was yesterday...the trikes are still out on the sidewalk and everything. Snow has certainly taken its time getting here this year. 

I haven't really stopped smiling since I saw it was snowing this morning. We were dressed and outside by 9:15am.

Lisa has been asking to bring out her sled for the last month, ever since the last light dusting of snow we had, so I'm glad we could use it this time.

I was so happy that when Tucker saw us from the window Becky brought him and Oakley out to play with us.

Oakley looked so cute in her little snowsuit. She isn't smiling at this second, but when the sled was moving she was laughing her cute little laugh.

Everyone look this way and smile! Oh well...at least the snowman is smiling, right? And looking right at me too! One of our neighbors, Jeff, and his son, Bradley, were outside making the snowman and they let us join in the fun. 

"I need another huuuuuuug!"

In this family, bedtime is always a big drama event every night. We start with letting Lisa know that in five minutes it will be time to brush teeth, the mention of which sends her into a meltdown. After brushing teeth we read books, which can last anywhere from 5 minutes to 20. Then we may or may not lay with her for a few minutes singing songs or just snuggling. Then it's time for mommy or daddy to go out and we give plenty of hugs and kisses. How loud or long she yells, cries, and whines after we go out depends on her particular mood that night. Some nights there is no end to the things she "needs". We've tried to eliminate the constant asking for more things by making sure she has EVERYTHING she could possibly need, such as tissues, sippy cup, wipes (yes, she sleeps with a container of wipes next to her in bed), baby doll, etc. But then she just starts yelling, "I need SOMETHING!" The one that makes me smile the most is when she stands at the door yelling for "another hug". I couldn't resist recording a little snippet of it here. 

Don't you just want to go in there and hug her and then hug her some more?