Friday, February 20, 2015

Tubing in the Snow!

Well, the kids finally talked me into going out in the snow with them! I admit, I've been dragging my feet a bit.  It's just so warm in here by the fire LOOKING at the beautiful snow out the window, but I'm glad they persisted because it was A LOT of fun!

First, we surveyed the area to see which areas around our yard might make the best snow excitement. We were not finding exactly what we had in mind, you know, a nice steep hill covered with snow with a gentle landing but not too long due to hiking up and down it. Then, we spied the perfect one...in our NEIGHBOR'S yard. Well, it can't hurt to ask, so we did. They were very nice and told us to "Go have fun". And we did!

We got out the 2 inner tubes we used to float down the river in the summer, and made us a nice path. It didn't start out too well when I popped one of the tubes running into some spiky weeds on the first run, but even trading off on one tube turned out to be loads of fun. It reminded me of tubing with my church youth group when I was young. It was something we did every year and I never realized I missed it until now. Here's some pictures that we took of our adventure:






Headed for the tree but we dodged it


Making the trek back to the top


Tessa giving Jarem a push
 
Jarem now giving Tessa a push

Just a little more



Jarem and I going down together

Tessa head first this time







And a big surprise: we saw a snowplow in our neighborhood for the first time since it snowed on Monday! Ironic part about it was, the roads looked the same after they left...maybe spreading salt? Anyway, it started snowing again before we came in and it looks like we will have a fresh layer tomorrow. :)

Micah's Birthday--Part 2

It was past due. Since we have been so swamped with getting our house on the market, we didn't have time to do much celebrating on Micah's real birthday except going to IHOP. We had a certain present we wanted to get for him, and I didn't want him to miss out on a cake and blowing out the candles and all. So, although it may be a week belated, we made a cake and let him open his present. It was a lot of fun!

The kids have been out of school all week due to the 6 inches of snow we got on Monday, and the cold temperatures which have kept it around. We didn't even venture out of the house until Thursday. Finally yesterday, the kids and I went and got his present and made a plan for the cake. 

Jesikah and I had the perfect plan for the cake: the number 2, bright colored candies, and a car theme. We picked the number 2 cause he is two, the colors cause he labels everything with a color (and gets it right every now and then), and the car theme because cars are his life! We were able to roll these all together in an adorable cake. I love having Jesikah's help on cakes. She is very creative and good with decorating, even more perfectionistic than I am. Sometimes when we are decorating cakes together, I start to get the feeling that she's in charge, and I'm just her assistant. :)  We had a lot of fun doing it together, and it turned out perfect! 




This was how Micah looked while we sang "Happy Birthday" to him. Frozen in awe.

Eric teaching him to blow out the candles--too cute!

We had to relight the candles multiple times for practice

I love the way he formed his lips to blow

My favorite picture of the night


Picking M&M's off the cake

Got his own piece, still loving the M&M's


"I two", says Micah as he holds up one pointer finger on each hand.


Our crazy family enjoying the fun!


Micah's present
 There may be a few too many pictures of Micah unwrapping his ONE present, but he was so cute and excited, and he did the whole thing himself. It was so fun to watch. The tissue paper wrapping paper started out as a last resort when we were out of wrapping paper, but turned into a great idea because it was very easy to tear and unwrap, and being colorful was just a side benefit. :)







Tessa popped into the picture, trying a little too hard to look engaged. :)

A box of parts wasn't exactly what he was expecting. :)

Lots of pieces! Micah didn't leave Eric's side the whole time he was building it.

Micah holding his car anxiously waiting for Eric to stand it up again to try out the finished tracks.

A good helper