Happy Anniversary to Us!

Charlie and I celebrated 8 great years on February 26! Our anniversary was a little different than we had planned, but it the end it was perfect!  Since it happened during a major snowstorm we had kinda figured that our original (and not so grandiose as they were anyway) plans were out.  Sadly Charlie did have to go to work that day even though I was really hoping (not to mention begging and pleading ;) that he stay home.  I mean, it seemed everyone else in the darn city was taking the day off, why can't he! Sigh.  I guess the rest of the county, not covered in snow, still needed their medicine.  Plus, Mom who had been snowed in and suffering in her colder than normal house, was ready for a little adult interaction so Charlie picked her up before work and delivered her to us.  

For dinner I made Chicken Cacciatore, which is the first meal I ever cooked Charlie...so he likes to call it Chicken Catch-a-Charlie.  Tee hee :)  8.5 years ago I slaved in the kitchen all day making it just perfect, this time I modified it and threw it into the crock pot...ha!  Oh the difference a few years makes!  I also made some brownies for dessert, had wine for the grown ups and sparkling cider for the kiddos.  We ate under candlelight, which the kids thought was super awesome!  They were really adorable about it actually!  

Charlie dropped mom back home after dinner and we snuggled on the couch after the kids went to bed.  We have found it kind of fun to do the "traditional" gifts each year and this year the gift was bronze...hmmm.  After struggling with bronze as a theme we decided that since I got "bronzed" in Mexico, that was our anniversary present, so it worked out great!

Even More Snow!

Walter really has to work hard to wade through all the snow!

Our tree did not fair so well. :(  We had to cut off that huge limb

Here, try this, it's good!

Playing in the winter wonderland

snowball fight!

Snowman time!

I got you, Momma!

I know, I know, I've taken a crazy amount of snow pictures, but we have a crazy amount of snow!  I don't remember the last time we've had this much snow all at once!  It's not unusual for us to get a few snowfalls each winter, but we certainly are not accustomed to 18" in just a few days time!  We really  had fun playing in the snow, sledding, exploring, and drinking hot cocoa afterwards!

Sledding!

Look at the pure face of excitement!

hard to see, but an equally smiley face on this one too!

there they go!

and here they come!

Daddy's turn!

Leo usually needed some help back up

Sarah's turn!

taking a mid-hill rest

Jacob considering his next move

whoooosh

This is Leo as he literally slid right under my camera from atop the hill

Mer's turn!

and we're coming back up...again

Silly group shot!

Leo refused any more pictures

family shot...why oh why can't we all look happy at once?!  At least we're all together! :)

Thus far, the kids' sledding experiences have consisted of the very small bunny hill we create in our front yard onto the driveway.  It works for us and enables us to have fun without having to leave the house, which has been perfect lately since I wasn't about to go anywhere on the roads during a snow storm anyway!  But, we decided it was time to take on the big hill!  One of my favorite memories from when Charlie and I were dating was a night during a snow storm that we decided to head out and go sledding about 10:30 at night.  We had such a great time and it's fun to share that joy with the kids.

Charlie managed to find the last two sleds Toys R Us had to offer (we already had 2 saucers though) and the kids were thrilled to have inflatable tubes.  Leo's just happens to be the fastest darn tube I've ever seen.  That combined with the fact that he really is just a little guy (comparatively speaking) he flew, and I mean flew, down those hills.  He only had one major wipe out, that we thought would result in a black eye but luckily didn't.

Sophia is our little daredevil and didn't have one qualm about tackling any of those hills on any sled in any condition!  Once she caught sight of the even bigger hill (hard to believe, I know) she was all over it.  This hill was covered in moguls and she bounced her way down at top speeds.  The video of just her is on that hill...for some reason I couldn't seem to move it so it's floating in the middle of the post.

The other video is the same one I posted on FB but it shows just how fast and exciting sledding can be!  Charlie and I are already talking about which sleds we need to start looking at for next year! :)

Snow Time!

It snowed!  A lot of these I posted on Facebook, so they might be repeats for some of you, but they are too cute to not repeat!  I can't remember the last time we had this much snow and they kids are really having fun in it!  

We finally made it out of the house after a few days and headed over to Meredith's.  The kids enjoyed playing over there too!  Sarah and Jacob worked on building some snow forts while Sophia helped and Leo shoveled.  Plus Mer made some awesome chicken chili for lunch and it was nice to have a little adult interaction since my husband had to go to work every day! :(