And Take Three.

We needed to get out today.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being home with the kiddos, but this not leaving home thing isn't really for me.

So...Kim and I packed up, suited up, and headed to the mall.  And forty-five minutes later, we arrived.

You would have thought the kids had never been to the mall before.

They had a blast running and jumping and climbing and playing, and we had a blast being out of the house.

Auntie even made a surprise visit!

Once we were "played" out, we headed to the food court for lunch...

...and then to Old Navy to look for some Falcons gear.  The only shirt they had left was too small for everybody, so the kiddos got to pick something else instead.

Which they then had to put on before we even left the store.

Oh, civilization.  I've missed you.

Snow Day, Take Two...

...started off with a little Harris vs. Hadley championship wrestling.  Along with reading books, this has been the kids' favorite pasttime since we've been cooped up at home.

Well, wrestling and watching the new "Strawberry Shortcake" movie we found on Netflix.  They've both been really into that as well.

Because Ben was able to be home from work, we suited up after breakfast and headed out for a second day in the snow.  Babe was still not a fan.

Harris, however, was stoked to try out sledding down the street in the laundry basket.

Thankfully our neighbor took pity on our redneck souls and brought out his real deal sled.  Ben, Harris, and I (and another family on our street) rocked it out for about an hour.

Harris loved it!  And Haddie even warmed up to watching from the porch.

She and I spent some time playing with her bubbles from DoDo, and she even got brave enough to touch the snow with her mittens and her boots.  She quickly discovered how much she, too, likes to eat the white stuff.  She also talked about the North Pole all day long...

Toward the end of our time outside, we took a few family pictures.  We gave the camera to Harris so he could snap a shot of Ben and me.  Harry then proceeded to capture the snow fight Ben tried to start with me.  These shots make me laugh out loud...

Contrary to what it looks like, I kicked his butt.

Happy Snow Day!

SNOW DAY 2011.

I wish I'd thought to have my video camera up and running when I told Harris to look out the window this morning.  He had no idea we were even expecting snow, so it was such a surprise to him to see the ground covered in white.  He immediately burst into song ("Frosty the Snowman") and ran to get the view from every window in the house.

We tiptoed downstairs without waking The Babe.  My goal was to get a few pictures of the house and yard.



Harris' goal was to eat snow.

Unfortunately, Ben had to work the Inaugaration today, so he ended up having to report downtown last night in order to avoid the wintry weather this morning.  The three of us had to suit up to play without him.

Harris, as expected, loved the snow.  He ran around the yard, made snow angels, and slid down the snow-covered slides.

And Babe, as expected, completely freaked.

Especially when she realized her beloved froggy boots had snow on them.

We made it about twenty minutes before calling it quits.  Harris decided he would wait for Daddy to help him build a snowman, which is fine with me...I made an attempt today before realizing that I don't actually know how to build one.  I'm a little ashamed to admit that.

We came inside, took a bubble bath to warm up, and have played non-stop:  beauty parlor, trains, wrestling, coloring, puzzles, and reading.  Harris and I even made some Jell-O for him to enjoy after "little nap!" 

Speaking of nap, we're all about to head there now. 

Snow days aren't so bad after all, even if they do have to be made up.

Snow Day in Trenton.

 

Highlights include:  Harris eating snow CONTINUOUSLY, running into Maci from Teen Mom at DSW in Chattanooga (and telling her she's my hero!!), finally making it to the Chinese buffet, and sharing The Sound of Music with Ben and DoDo for the first time in their lives.

The hills are alive.