More Snow to Come

It looks as though we're going to be getting slammed with snow tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday. The local forecast is calling for 16-20 inches of snow in Columbia and up to 25 inches in some neighboring towns - which aren't all that far off from our house. We are supposed to get thundersnow which is what happened in December 2006. Mike was giddy this morning getting ready because of all the snow - that is until he realized that we're going to be trapped inside with our two children. He quickly decided that they should be sent to play in the playroom but we still don't trust Brynn down there by herself so I piped up that I think he needs to supervise them!

Pictures of snow to come.

Finally Some Answers, I Think

I'm not sure if I blogged about this or not, but in December I had an upper GI endoscopy done. My doctor was worried that I either had ulcers or celiac disease (which means a gluten free diet). Gluten is in most processed foods so it's a huge life-changing way to eat. I went for a follow up yesterday with my doctor and he said that although my labs came back normal for celiac, I'm on the high end of normal. I'm still having all the classic symptoms of celiac disease so he wants me to go on a gluten free diet for a month and see how I feel. After 1 day of gluten free I feel better than I had all week. It seems that this might be the answer, but I'll give it some time and test it out. I think that in my every day life, eating gluten free will not be that difficult. It will be hard when we travel. So much food that I like to eat when we travel will have gluten in it. Bummer. I guess I'll just have to learn to look for different things on menus.

Wordless Wednesday - Sick Wifey = Hubby Blogs

Libby's thoughts on adulthood

Libby has decided that she wants to grow up so she can live by herself. She said that she and Brynn won't need each other anymore when they are big. I told her that she will always need Brynn. But Libby did tell me that when she is big she will have a baby boy then a baby girl and Brynn will have 2 girls. I guess we'll have to wait and see how that works out!

Wordless Wednesday - Grandpa's Birthday

Snow Day(s)

Yesterday school let out an hour early because of all the snow coming down. I think that today when all was said and done we ended up with 7+ inches by our house. I left school at about 3 and went to pick up the girls. We finally got home around 4:45. I was so nervous the whole time. The roads were terrible. Visibility was horrible. My car slid around a lot and I almost couldn't get to daycare. When I did get to daycare, I pulled into the driveway, put the car in park, turned it off, and got out. My car slid down her driveway which is not even really inclined at all. I had to use the emergency brake to park in the driveway to get my kids. My car ended up getting stuck on our street. I called the roadside assistance through our insurance and got put on the list for a towing company. They told me the truck would be there between now and 90 minutes from now. We were stuck about a quarter of a mile from our house, so I got the girls out and we walked the rest of the way and just left the car on the side of the road (with the emergency brake on). I got a call from the towing company around 5:30 to see if we were still in the car or not. They were trying to prioritize those stuck on the road. Before bed I found out that school was canceled for today so I called the towing company back and told them not to worry about me that night, and that I could wait until morning. Mike ended up walking up to the car this morning and got it unstuck after the plow came down the street! YAY! Then we had both cars stuck in the driveway at one point but now they are unstuck on the street.

Anyway, I wasn't sure when I got home yesterday that we'd have school canceled so we bundled up and went outside to play because I had promised Libby we would if/when it snowed again after it snowed in the beginning of December and it was too cold to play that day. And since we missed the apparently wonderful and beautiful Christmas snow I knew we HAD to this time.


It looks like our hill should be great for sledding but it's not. The sled stops about halfway down because of a bump on the hill. Bummer. Maybe a better sled would work better, but I'm not sure.


Brynn had a great time but could hardly walk with her puffy snow pants on.



It snowed all night last night. When we went to bed there were probably about 4 inches on the ground. It continued to snow some this morning and a touch more this afternoon. Roads are still not great (from what I hear - we haven't left) and school is canceled again tomorrow. They almost never cancel the night before so it must be bad. That and there are supposed to be dangerously cold windchill temperatures tomorrow. Depending on how stircrazy we all get, I may have to bundle everyone up and brave the temperatures just to get out of the house. I'm not sure yet if I'm up for the challenge after my drive home last night or not. We'll see how brave I feel after Mike drives to work and lets me know how the roads are looking.

I love it!

We bought the Michael Jackson Experience for our Wii. I love it. I really thought that Libby would like it and play with me, but she doesn't want to try. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a fun workout. You get to dance along to Michael's songs. Thriller is supposed to be super hard but for some reason that's the song that I can do the best. I guess it's because I'm most familiar with the dance for it.

Libby has, however, rekindled her love of Wii bowling. She's quite good at it too.

Libby the Driver

Today in the car Libby started talking about when she is big enough to drive a car. She said that she will drive my car but it will need to be painted. I guess a white car is not good enough for her. She wants it to be painted pink and gold with a black front. That sounds a little gaudy but not too bad, right? Then she went on to say that it should also have starts and hearts on it. Hmm.. sounds a little ugly to me but she was excited about it. Then she decided that it also will need horses on it and not just any horses, but 1 pony, 1 unicorn, 1 flying horse, and 1 regular horse. I hope she doesn't get pulled over by the police for causing a public disturbance.

Christmas 2010 and Disney World

We drove to Florida for Christmas this year to visit with Mike's parents and go to Disney World. We are vowing to NEVER make that drive again. At least until the next time when we see how much it will cost to fly 4 people there and how much we can save by driving. Anyway, here are some pictures (almost all from Disney). They are not in any type of chronological order.


Meeting Handy Manny - Brynn stood there and hugged him for the longest time!


Brynn is actually very happy here even though it looks like she might cry.


Brynn and Libby were both very happy to meet so many princesses. Brynn got quite good at taking pictures. She said "cheese!" almost every time.


On the People Mover


on the Tea Cup ride




waiting to meet Handy Manny - She was so excited


Brynn loved meeting Minnie and Mickey too.


on the drive down... it is a VERY long drive...


on the Magic Carpet ride


Dumbo


waiting to get on the Monorail - it was in the 20's that morning when we left the hotel










Meeting Mulan - this was the warmest it got while we were at Disney - all of 60ish degrees


Aladdin and Princess Jasmine




Dumbo - This is Brynn's "Chandler Bing" pose. If you don't know what that means, then it won't be funny to you.






Iridessa - She's one of Tinkerbell's friends



We rode on several rides, including a few that we weren't sure the kids would like. We rode the Tea Cups, Dumbo, The Magic Carpet ride, The Buzz Lightyear ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, the carousel, the Winnie the Pooh ride, the Peter Pan ride, and It's a Small World. Brynn loved them all except for one part of the Buzz ride when I had to cover her eyes. Libby was scared on Pirates. Didn't like the Buzz ride much. Brynn is a little more of a thrill seeker we think. We were able to meet so many characters. I didn't post pictures of them all - some didn't turn out well. It was a great visit to Disney.

We also had a good time in Rockledge with Mike's parents. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures of that - I'm not sure why. The girls got way more gifts for Christmas than we know what to do with! I'm trying to figure out where to put them all now!

We got back from our trip last night and I rang in the new year by going to bed by about 9. I'm such a party girl these days. This year, my big resolution is to pay off much of our debt and get on the right track financially. I started it in about October and have made some decent progress already.

This year will be a big year for Libby. She starts kindergarten in August. I can't believe she'll be going to school this calendar year. I feel like she is ready academically (maybe even a little ahead) but socially she can use a few more months to mature - good thing she still has 8 more months to get ready.

As for Brynn... I'm hoping for good things. Maybe some big, mostly small, I'm sure. Brynn will continue to amaze us as her vocabulary grows exponentially. She is mature beyond her months - we think she's 19 months going on at least 22 months.

We're hoping Mike has some good things going on for work this year. Things have been stable for him and I hope they will continue to be that way.