Snow Days

I had to work both Thursday and Friday, but was able to come home early Friday and play with the family in the snow.  Of course we took lots of pictures...

The backyard...

and the front...

We bundled Charlotte up, and she was so good the entire time we were out there.  She just happily watched as we played...

Hunter was really impressed with the snow.  Look how deep it is!  His shoes, socks and pants got soaked...

I showed him how to make snow balls and encouraged him to throw them away from mommy and daddy...but I couldn't resist throwing one at James, so inevitably we ended up in a snowball fight...which inevitably ended in tears from our little toddler.  He recovered pretty quickly though:)

Hunter and James made this snowman on Thursday, and his head fell off by Friday afternoon.  As you can see, H was a little disturbed by this...

He got over it once he found the carrot nose, though...

Of course he tried to eat it.

Since our snowman was headless, James and H got to work building a new one...

And Char still sat sweetly watching...

Since 1) we live in Texas and 2) my feelings toward skiing can be summed up with the word torturous, we don't have "snow" gloves, so Hunter got annoyed with wearing wet pieces of cloth on his hands pretty quickly.  It was a struggle to keep them on him...

I eventually gave up and figured, since his little hands and feet were already soaked, we might as well let him dive in head first.  So we (and of course by we, I mean James and Hunter) tried snow angels...

As you can see, he wasn't feeling it, so James gave him a lesson, and Hunter quickly followed his lead...

The snow was magical.  It made me want to move to a place with a real winter.  Almost. 

Wordless Wednesday

Bounce Town

Cousin Zack had his 8th birthday party at Bounce Town last weekend.  This is where Hunter had his 2nd bday party, so we were excited to go back and see all of the changes and additions they've made since then.  Hunter still took a little bit of time to warm up, but once he did, oh did he have fun...and do a pretty dang good job of keeping us entertained.

The birthday boy had lots of fun running around with all of his friends...

Hunter mostly ran through this middle maze-like section over and over...

While Charlotte posed for pictures in the toddler area...

More maze running...

and posing...

and running...

and posing...

We tried to get Hunter to follow little sister's example and pose for a family picture, but you can see how successful we were with our persuasion...

(James was too focused on holding onto Hunter's flailing body to worry about keeping his eyes open.  Obviously we didn't have the luxury of taking another picture once we realized this.)

Somehow Hunter was happy to stand still next to Daddy long enough to watch Uncle Steve play air hockey, though...

And of course he posed perfectly for a shot with Grandpa and Charlotte...

I have this really awesome video of Hunter dancing to Radio Disney in the middle of Bounce Town, but OneTrueMedia is not working with me today, so I can't share it:(  It was the funniest part of my day.  He kept lifting his arms up (raise the roof style) and bending his knees and turning in circles.  No way that mental picture even compares to the funny-ness of the reality that was H dancing.

We can't wait to go back to Bounce Town this month for Hunter's friend, Jackson's birthday party!

Sibling Love

Lately H and C have been so sweet to each other.  I'm cherishing every moment, because I know it's not likely that this will last forever (although it is my daily prayer that they would have a strong, lifelong relationship rooted in our Savior). 

Here are some special moments I was able to capture one night hanging out in mommy and daddy's room...

He loves it when she grabs onto his hand.

And she loves it when he gives her kisses or hugs.  She will sit and happily coo away. 

Hunter saw me taking pictures so of course he had to go get his camera and join in...

Then the other night, H begged to help give Char her bath.  He ran and got his stool so he could help me with the shampooing.  (He now carries his stool around the house all day so he can reach up high and help us with things.  If he can't find it, he'll yell, "where my stool!?  my stool!!" in the most panicked voice you've ever heard.) As you can see, Charlotte didn't really know what to think about this...

I'm gonna go with...she's not thrilled about it.

I know I write it on here ad nausem, but I really feel completely, overwhelming, underservingly blessed by those two...

They are my joy.

My husband is a genius.

James found the pictures from our half birthday celebration.  He often swoops in to save the day at just the right time...one of the many reasons I married him:)

Char's not so sure about the party hat at this point...

So big brother decided to sing his own little version of Happy (half) Birthday To You...

...which of course made her smile...

(I love how much they already adore each other)...

Then it was time for bananas...and was she ever ready...

Who needs cake anyway?...

I am so blessed.