Birthday Parties and Haircuts

The weather this weekend has been wonderful and I was so glad to be able to get out of the house. We went for a walk on the Greenway on Friday while Eli rode his bike and then played at the playground for a while. The boys got to go again on Saturday with Daddy while I cleaned house to get ready for Canaan's party. 

We had a great birthday party for Canaan yesterday afternoon. It was a beautiful day (especially for the end of January) and we got to have all the festivities outside (which kept my house amazingly clean!).  The first present he opened was a football, after which every present that he was given he said "bootball?" 

Can you figure out who got a major haircut Saturday night?? 

A Birthday Boy and some other things

Wednesday was Canaan's 2nd Birthday. We went to Red Robin Tuesday night to celebrate and Eli put his balloon on Canaan's chair the next morning. (Canaan's had popped on the way home) All day long he was saying "my appy ertday." We got the boys up early so that we could have a special birthday breakfast before Daddy left for work. We had monkey bread and omelets and I was ready to go down for a nap by 8:30! :)

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The rest of the day was spent doing normal boy things like becoming underwear superheros. 

And spending time with this little blue-eyed boy:

I have been working or Canaan's birthday present for a couple of weeks, ever since I made one for my nephew, Jeremiah, a couple weeks ago. I finally finished it yesterday (which is NOT late, because we're not having his party until Sunday:)

Here's a few pictures of the finished product:

The barn has a pocket inside to hold little finger puppet animals 

The shapes have snaps so that you can take them off and match them 

The number flaps all have that many beads sewn on underneath and the mailbox has will have a letter in it you can take out (i ran out of white felt)

It was fun to make...and probably more involved that I originally planned...but maybe one day I can make some more...hopefully with a serger to do the edges of the pages...flipping them is too much work :)

Also, I wanted to make sure I left a picture of the finished igloo that the guys slept in a few weeks ago. It was more like a huge snow cave. Fun for them, but I was more than happy to get out of it once i got in for a few minutes. 

(from the inside)

Snowed In!!

 

Well, we are about to spend our 3rd night here at my parents on "the mountain." We came up on Sunday when we heard that Kevin would be off school on Monday due to incoming weather. Well, sure enough, it did snow...a lot! I hear there are other areas around here that got more than we did here (some places up to 12") But I would say we got about 7" or so...maybe more. We have had blast 4-wheeling, sledding off barn roofs, building igloos, and playing in the snow. Definitely a lot more fun than we could have had if we had been home. The boys are all about to go sleep in the igloo they built this afternoon...a first for all of them! I'm sure they will have a blast, but I am plenty content to sleep in a bed, in the heated house. I mean, after all, the low is only about 18 degrees tonight! :) Hope they have fun!  

The beginnings of the igloo...it look much different and bigger now.

When the sun finally decided to peek out late this afternoon.

At Micah and Julianne's point.

This is Canaan's new love...4-wheeling...no matter how cold it is!

Eli sledding off the barn roof.

 Brothers                                                 Cousins

Our Christmas of White

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents, as always, with all my siblings and spouses, neices and nephews (all 30 of us...not including Ben). The night began with the priveledge of Skyping with Uncle Ben in Iraq. It was fun to get to see him and wish him a Merry Christmas. He even opened his Christmas presents while we were watching. 

We continued with great food (a lot more than normal!) and presents all around. My siblings and I along with our spouses all draw names each year and then we exchange those gifts on Christmas Eve.

Papa made an awesome play kitchen for our family and my sister's along with a refridgerator to go along with the one my brother's kids have.  Marmee gave all the grandkids matching pjs again, very cute to have all the cousins matching. Here's a picture of Marmee and Papa with 14 of their 15 grandkids (to be 18 by next August).

The night then ended with the guys commencing the first (which I'm sure will happen again) Marshmallow and Spaghetti competion. They tried to make the tallest structure they could in 15 minutes with dry spaghetti and marshmallows. It was quite entertaining. :) Of course, Eli had to get in on the action.

The next day we had great plans to have our Christmas at home, go to Marmee and Papa's again, and then to go to Cullman that afternoon to celebrate with Kevin's extended family. Well, those plans were thwarted by a pretty good covering of snow all over the ground the next morning. Yes, here in good, 'ol Alabama we had a White Christmas. It was a very fun surprise and we thoroughly enjoyed just staying home and relaxing with our family the whole day.

After reading the Christmas story, opening presents, and eating breakfast, the boys went outside to play in the SNOW. Kevin (with a little help from the boys and I) made a snowman about 6 feet tall. It was a great snow for packing, so there were many snowballs thrown.

Since we didn't get up to the Mountain on Christmas day, we got to go up there the next day. They had about 6 inches (possibly more) up there. We spent the next 2 days sledding (pulled behind the 4-wheeler of course), 4-wheeling, hiking around, and doing our best to soak up every moment of this very rare occurance in our neck of the woods.

Hope your Christmas was Merry and Bright as well!