Picturesque Snow

I had to play around with the camera on the gorgeous snow days.  I mean, let's face it...  Dallas doesn't get snow like this very often. "Heavy" snow and wind??

The shimmering, glittery glints of sun on the snow are probably my very favorite thing about snow.  Or it may tie with how God's handiwork just happens to have each and every snowflake unique...  I will never cease to be amazed!

We've had the camera for awhile, but I never really have time to fiddle with the settings.  I sure enjoyed it on these days!

Even the river birch seemed especially beautiful...

Knowing it would be the last year in our current house made me a little sentimental, too.  I know we'll get snow in the new house, but I did want to make sure we had pictures to show the boys where they'd spent their youngest years.

Many, many wonderful memories have been made here.  We won't miss the lack of storage space in this house, but the patio and yard have been beautiful.  We planted a Japanese maple for each of the boys after they'd been born. (wish we could take those with us!) We have funny memories of landscaping woes, from the infestation of black widows in the mossy rocks one year to the mini lake that forms between our yard and the neighbor's.  But we've had even more fun memories, like the impromptu baseball game with Aunt Lala, Uncle Matt, and the cousins one Memorial Day weekend, visiting with grandparents, family, and friends.  God provided a great place for us to inhabit for these past nearly 10 years. 

More Snow Days!

At the end of February, we had even more snow!!  We ended up having ice, then snow on top...meaning two snow days from school.  Reid was in snow heaven with all this white stuff he could play in.  You couldn't really pack the snow at first, so he made a backyard full of snow angels.  Then we went to the front and he created a snow angel totem pole. 

Jason works quite a ways away and must drive over several high ramps, so he was glued to the traffic reports on tv all morning.  Around lunchtime, we decided to venture down the street and check out the closest main road to our house.  Reid "ice skated" part of the way there.

Once we saw the main road...with very little traffic at all, it certainly didn't seem like a good idea to be driving far in this mess.

A few cars did indeed brave it out of our neighborhood...

Carter took good naps that day, so we had lots of time for snow fun.  Once the sun came out, the snow was perfect for packing.  Reid wanted a snow family, so we created all of us...even a snow Dixie.

Reid and his own snowman

Just before lunchtime, we thought we'd let Carter give the snow another try.  He was still NOT a fan.

So Reid and Jason started a snow fort, then Reid and I made it bigger, and bigger, and bigger...

I tried to convince him to build a really tall snowman, but he was more into the fort.  This was about as tall as he was interested in.

He loved getting his baby brother up from his nap, too.  I couldn't resist snapping a pic of the monitor, and then recording a bit of the silliness.

I was quite grateful for the two snow days with the boys.  The second just happened to be on my ONE year old's birthday (which was great for me, but kind of ruined the celebration we'd planned) and I felt extra grateful :)

February Snow

Our winter weather was crazy in February!  On Friday the 27th, we had a pretty good chance of snow. Of course, it began right after we'd arrived at school.  The kids were crazy, our phones rang off the wall all day with parents checking kids out early, and by 3:30 when I could leave, it was still coming down pretty good.

The roads seemed reasonably good, at least by my school, and I was grateful because I'd spent the previous Monday and Tuesday finishing up my preparation for the huge consignment sale I'd paid my entry fee for.  It had taken hours to gather, sort, enter all the information/description of items, print/cut labels, and then pin them to hangers.  We had a small window to drop them off on Friday and I wasn't sure up until the end if they were even still having the sale or not.  It's seasonal and only happens twice a year, plus we desperately needed these things out of the house since we were about to put it on the market.  Thankfully, they were indeed open and accepting items.  But then I got to my car and began second guessing myself when I saw it!

 

All turned out well and we got everything dropped off.  The views were pretty unbelievable, especially for Texas!

Once I picked the boys up, we raced home, dug out the snow gear (this Texas snow never lasts long and I was afraid we'd miss it the next day), and played until dinnertime.  Someone was NOT a fan...

But I couldn't resist making his first snow angel :)

 

Here's what he thought...

 

Reid was a happy camper, even though the snow didn't really stick together well.  He enlisted Jason to help make the snowballs so they'd stick together.

He was really into making snow angels and was quite proud of his first independent one!

The aftermath:

And the design builder creations just keep getting better...  He's made car hotels, spaceships, you name it!

 

February

February was quite an eventful month.  It literally flew by!  Reid had his first t-ball practice.  It was very interesting.  Jason got roped into signing up to be an assistant coach and since then, we've realized that aside from Coach Sean and his sweet wife, no other couple really seems to be committed to practices, games, etc.  They don't even bother responding to the automated "don't leave Coach in suspense...will you be there?" emails.  And after this one practice, pretty much two or three games and numerous practices were canceled/postponed due to weather.  First, ice/snow, then rain.  It's been the rainiest spring I can remember up here.  Goodness knows we need it, but it figures it'd be Reid's first year of t-ball. 

My little pumpkin is just too adorable when he sleeps.  I have to check on both boys each night, but there is just something so precious about a sleeping baby...

While Jason was in the Amazon, Murphy's Law would have it that Reid got Frogalicious, the preschool class mascot who comes home with kids over the weekend.  Horrible timing, but I did my best.  Frogalicious had visited us already, so at least there was less pressure this time.  He went with us to the gym...

...played My Singing Monsters on the iPad, and other various things that weren't really worth sharing pics of.  I tried.

Jason came home the day before Valentine's Day, which was great because party days totally wear me out.  The kids get soooo excited that it's virtually impossible to teach.  But one awesome mom made my day with a unique gift this year.  Forget the chocolate...  I like the way this lady thinks!

Reid was thrilled to get a goody box from his little buddy Violet, who moved to New York.  His face just lit up with the goodies and he was in heaven receiving his own package in the mail.

Jason and I escaped for a date night the following week.  We headed down to Plano for an amazing dinner at Sushi Sake.  The place is so delicious that you pretty much have to get there by 5:30 or you'll be waiting for hours.  You share your own sushi chef with a few others, and he prepares your meal right before your eyes if you're at the sushi bar.  Nothing in this place disappoints and everything is beautifully prepared.  But this one took the cake...  The dinner that looks back at you!

You know you're getting old when date night consists of dining followed by a trip to Academy to buy t-ball stuff and new sneakers.  Woo hoo.  But so much easier to do than attempting to shop while juggling two kids.  And bonus?  Who knew Academy was so nice and quiet at 8pm on a Friday night??  We enjoyed our time together and still made it home for an early bedtime.  Yup, that's what old married folks with young kids do.  And I wouldn't change it :)

Amazonia

Yes, I am still alive!  How sad is it that it's 2:30am and I haven't slept since about midnight...  Things have been crazy.  In happy news, we accepted an offer on our house (after an insane half week of showings!) and are praying that everything goes smoothly.  Only drawback?  We're going to have about a six day gap between closing on our old house and new house.  Eek!  And of course, that's the busiest time of the year for school.  Thankful nonetheless, but I can't stop thinking about all those little things...  Will we stay in a hotel?  What are we going to do about movers?  What about the cat?  How much stuff will we need to keep with us?  Blah blah blah.  You get the picture.  Thus the sleeplessness, which led my mind onto other things...like, "Oh--I haven't updated the blog in forever (even though I uploaded a ton of pictures when we had all the snow days)!" 

So let's back it up to the first week in February!  After months of preparation, shots, and malaria pills, Jason had the opportunity to go on a peacock bass fishing trip in the Amazon, beginning in Manaus, a tiny little town in Brazil.  After a commercial flight and a brief stay in the Brazilian town, the group squished onto a private plane.

So private that you could reach up and touch the pilot...eek!

I'm sure I don't have these in the right order, but the pictures were too cool to not share.  Brief synopsis:  They basically pay guides (some of them being about 12 years old!) to assist you with fishing.  The guides are from remote villages right off of the Amazon and often don't speak any English.  Rather than bunking with the tourists, they would actually hang their hammocks up in the edge of the jungle, with all the wildlife.  Here's one of the guides holding the holy grail of fishing...the peacock bass.

They would dock the bunkhouses along the beach each night and make a fire (to keep away jaguars, etc.), cook, then everyone would retire to bed.

One cabin was the mess hall.  

Jason relaxing in a hammock 

Can't remember the name of this, but it's where the river meets another tributary and there is a visible line between the two.  Pretty crazy!

It sounded like he was a bit disappointed that they didn't see nearly the wildlife we were expecting, such as monkeys and rare birds (only saw a few at all), but on the other hand that may be a good thing.  The biggest threat actually ended up being caiman, which apparently get huge, and they did see their fair share of piranha. 

They were hooked up with other groups of guys, but here are the actual men from Jason's group.

Along the way, they got to sample local fauna and food.  Here's a cacao seed they tried, freshly macheted from the tree.

Hanging out during the heat of the day still required long sleeves and pants, thanks to the intense sun and possible mosquitoes.

Dining al fresco...Amazon style.  Watch out for worms in your peacock bass :(

The inside of the cabins were nicer than what I was envisioning (mind you, this is 4-5 star stuff...seriously!).  There was even a toilet, but with Jason's luck, theirs didn't exactly work.

dolphin who swam alongside the boats for awhile

While they fished during the day, the cabins would all be connected like a train and transported to the evening's destination.

Guide with another peacock bass

Back in the little town ready to take off to Manaus and return to civilization!  The village children's favorite pasttime is running behind the plane on the little dirt runway.  I wish I'd have known they were in a village and we could've packed something for the kids...but Jason did have a weight/size limit that was very small, so it may not have worked anyway.

I was so, so grateful that he made it back intact, GI system okay, malaria free.  It was a rough week on the home front without Daddy here to help at night with the boys, but I'm glad he had some "man time".  He's glad he took the opportunity and went on this once-in-a-lifetime trip, but I'm pretty sure he'd never do it again.  And I am just fine with that!  ;)