ANOTHER Snow Day!

On Friday last week we had snow during the day that started around 9am. Olivia and I were over at Hannah and Casey's house for a play date and left around 11am to go to Olivia's tumbling class in Hurst. The roads were surprisingly bad and cars were driving either very very slowly or very fast. We made it to her class with only 15 minutes left, but she loves the class. While we were driving, I got a text message from GCISD that school would be released early and asked that parents pick up their kids whenever they can so everyone didn't show up at the same time.

After class, I drove to the school and offered to pick up Sofia's friend, Shivani, from school too since Pritha needed to pick up her older son from middle school and was stuck in traffic getting there. Technically the school isn't supposed to release a student to someone not on their emergency list without a note or email, but the vice principal, Mrs. Faragher, talked to Pritha on my phone and allowed me to take Shivani with me. The girls were so excited by the snow and for having an impromptu playdate!

Once we were home, Shivani borrowed a set of mittens and the girls headed outside to play in the snow. For some reason they decided to scoop up all the snow they could and throw it in the pool! So, they actually helped clear off our back patio pretty well for us. After they were all cold and wet, they came inside for snacks and hot cocoa and played. After a while, Shivani's dad picked her up and took her home.

There was still snow on the ground the next day, but a layer of ice had formed on the top, making it very slippery and hard to walk through. I took the dog for a walk and even he slipped around!

Last night around 7pm freezing rain started to fall. It really came down around 10pm and we received a text and phone call from GCISD that school would be cancelled today! According to some reports, up to 3 inches of snow was expected! The girls were already asleep so it would be nice to be able to sleep in on a Thursday morning, although CK and I joked that it would mean both girls would be up and ready to go at 6:15am! Olivia actually woke up at 3am needing to go to the bathroom and as soon as I turned the corner of our bedroom I was shocked at how much snow was on the ground - at least 3 inches - and how beautiful it was! After helping Olivia, I went back to bed excited to get up in the morning and explore with the girls!

The next morning, before the girls woke up we took pictures of the house and neighborhood while the snow was still smooth and pretty. Once the girls were up, they were so excited to explore the snow and got their snow clothes, jackets, hats and mittens on quickly! Sofia made snowballs and Olivia followed her around. When we made it to the front yard, our neighbor Brandon was outside playing and they quickly got together and played. Soon, Antonio was out playing in the snow and all the kids had fun running in the snow, walking across the ice and playing together. All the dogs came out to play too and Buddy had to jump through the snow since it was a little too tall for him. He soon had balls of snow in his fur. Brandon, Antonio, Sofia and Olivia were soon exploring together and ran down to the lake and back. They had so much fun running around together and enjoyed the snow. After the girls were cold and tired, we returned to the house for biscuits and scrambled eggs. Yum! By that afternoon, most of the snow had melted and was gone....It was fun and beautiful while it lasted!

Picking Sofia and Shivani up at school last Friday.

Driving home from school.

A hungry little bird on our snowy bird feeder

Sofia clearing off the table to add to the pool

Buddy in the snow

Our house

Our backyard this morning! Beautiful!

Our backyard pots.

More of our backyard.

Looking out the front door

Sofia is all set to explore!

The girls with a "real" snowball!

Olivia loves the snow too!

The snow that fell last night. It was a lot more than last week and more like "real" snow.

The house covered in snow

Buddy running through the snow!

Kids and snow!

Buddy!

The four explorers!

Off they go!

Running to the lake!

Our tracking dog!

Olivia!

Sofia!

Antonio!

Our fountain out front.

Our magnolia tree

Such pretty snow

Our slide....

Love this picture!

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Livingston!

Today was Mrs. Livingston's birthday, so I told Sofia on Tuesday to make her a card since she was home thanks to the snow day. Instead, she decided to write her an entire story about Emperor Penguins. We watched "March of the Penguins" last week and she really loved it and has been researching Emperor Penguins since then. I suggested she make up a story about something to write for Mrs. Livingston, but she wanted it to be "non fiction" and got busy writing and drawing. She spent hours over nearly 3 days to write "Antarctic Emperor Penguins" for Mrs. Livingston and researched when the penguins travel to their breeding ground and what the eggs actually look like. She really enjoyed the whole process and did a great job! Meanwhile, on Wednesday I made rugelach, one of my very favorite desserts, from scratch. CK and I actually gave up sweets two weeks ago, but I had to try one and see how it turned out. It was incredible! I boxed them up to include them with Sofia's story for Mrs. Livingston's birthday. Sofia then wanted to write a birthday card, so she drew an Emperor Penguin birthday card for her teacher to go along with the story and rugelach. On Thursday afternoon, Sofia decided she also wanted to give Mrs. Livingston a little clay pot that she painted red and we researched on Pinterest on how to make a cute flower out of paper. We found one which uses cupcake liners and went to town. It really turned out super cute. I also had an extra sweet mint plant that I wanted to give to her, so I put it in a cute pot. We put it all in a bag and Sofia carried it to school this morning to give to her absolutely favorite teacher!

Homemade Rugelach. Yes, they were divine!

All of the presents for Mrs. Livingston

Mrs. Livingston's Birthday card

Her flower

Sofia's story...

Olivia at 3 1/2 Years Old!

Olivia is growing up so fast and it seems like her hair is finally starting to grow along with her body. She is now 40 1/2 inches tall and weighs 39 lbs. CK and I took Olivia to get her haircut the weekend before last for just her second hair cut ever. In the last two months or so she has to have her hair braided in either a french braid or two braids, "like Anna." Until then, she didn't want anything in her hair and always wanted to "wear it down" which meant it always looked absolutely crazy! So, the braid or double braid is a huge improvement and looks really cute on her. She loves playing with the plastic horses and dinosaurs and makes up all sorts of stories, just like Sofia used to do at that age (and still does now). Her other favorite thing to do is to read stories and she loves all of her princess stories, but especially The Little Mermaid. Ariel is her absolute favorite princess and she could read that everyday and we go through weeks of doing just that before bedtime. She also loves the books "Dark, Dark Night" and "Ponyella" which are her recent favorites.

Olivia still loves to pick out her clothes herself and will just about only wear dresses or skirts with leggings. Despite having all of Sofia's former clothes, Olivia has three princess shirts and she just about wears those exclusively! She doesn't actually have an Ariel shirt, but I'm sure if she did she would wear it every day! She doesn't only like her clothes, but also has to pick out her own shoes every day. She seems to go through favorites that last for a week or two before moving on to a new favorite. For the past few weeks, she's really loved wearing her pink cowboy boots. As soon as she is dressed, she wants her hair down and usually wants her blue Cinderella hair bow at the bottom of her braid.

In the past two or three weeks, I've tried to cut her nap out. Until then, she would sleep 2-3 hours and wake up a little cranky around 5pm. Dinner and playing with Sofia would re-energize her to the point that she would often struggle to get to sleep until 10 or 11pm! We would always put her to bed at 8pm and she would stay in her room for a while but would emerge wanting water or to go to the bathroom a few times before we would finally go to bed! It just became too much, so we thought of trying out bed time without a nap. So far, it's gone ok. Unfortunately the few hours before bed can be a little cranky, but she definitely goes to bed at 8pm when we put her in her bed after stories.

Up until two months ago or so, Olivia slept in a pull-up at night. She would almost always be dry in the morning and we'd offer to let her sleep in her panties after 5 days of being dry. However, on the night she wore her panties, she would inevitably pee the bed! That went on for a while until she finally started wearing just panties with her pjs and very rarely has a mistake. She also rarely wakes me up in the night to help her go potty, as long as we make sure she goes potty before bedtime. The other day, I decided to throw all of her left over pull-ups and random diapers away since we no longer need them, and it was so liberating!

Our girl loves apple juice, apples, grapes, oranges, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, carrots, chicken and steak and is pretty willing to try anything. She really hates when she gets hiccups, which she still gets pretty often and starts to fuss and sometimes cry until she drinks water and they go away. She hated them ever since she was born. Much like CK, she isn't much of a breakfast eater and will usually eat nothing or snack on cereal in the car ride to drop Sofia off at school.

Olivia absolutely adores her sister and looks forward to her return from school every afternoon. She loves to play with her in whatever games Sofia comes up with and goes along with just about anything Sofia tells her to do. On any given afternoon, the girls play with the horses and/or dinosaurs, pretend they are part of an owl family, act like they are dragons, or run around like pegasus.

About two months ago we went to a Beauty and The Beast play at a children's theater. Olivia was SO excited to meet Belle, she could hardly sit still!

Ready for a hair cut

I think this is her 2nd hair cut ever! Her hair isn't growing as quickly as Sofia's

All bundled up for some fun in the snow (last weekend)

Playing

Dress up!

Playing dress up with her big sister! She's wearing a dress my Mom made that fit her perfectly when she was 18 months-2 years old!

Playing with horses - one of her favorites

One of her three very favorite shirts!

It's a stampede!

Our little girl is growing up!

So sweet!

Love this picture!!

Same shirt, different day.....she loves it!

Her "Elsa" braid with the Cinderella hair band she must wear with each braid.

Snow Day!!

Today the girls had a snow day! Actually it's more of an ice and freezing rain day, but fun none the less. The freezing rain started late yesterday afternoon after raining hard all day. I headed to an Oscar party at a tennis friend's house around 630pm and the roads were slippery even though it was no longer coming down. Shortly after I arrived at my friend's house, GCISD texted that school would be cancelled the next day even though the weather was clear out. In the very early morning, the freezing rain and sleet started and continued for a few hours. The girls were able to sleep in since CK told them last night that school was cancelled for both of them. Of course, they were both so excited for "snow" that Olivia was up by 6:30am and Sofia was up just after her. CK worked from home to avoid the slippery roads, so I was able to sleep in until 7:30. After I got up and had a cup of coffee, the girls were itching to get outside and play in the snow. Sofia wanted to sled, but we couldn't find a trash can lid that would work, so we decided to walk Buddy in the neighborhood and check out the pond.

Sofia got bundled up with her warm puffy jacket, my white hat and gloves while Olivia "didn't want to wear a jacket." After about 3 minutes, Olivia changed her mind and put on her jacket, mittens, and hat but refused her snow shoes. We set out and Buddy was as excited as the girls were! Sofia immediately started playing in the ice in the road and then she laid down to make snow angels, and Olivia quickly joined her. After, we headed down the street and made our way to the lake. The girls loved throwing snow into the lake and watching it slowly melt. The lake was actually steaming a little bit with warmth in the cool air and it was really beautiful. We walked onto the bridge and then headed home the way we came. Both girls were starting to get cold and a little hungry so we returned to our warm house where CK had a nice fire burning. Olivia took a warm bubble bath, while Sofia just changed into her cozy clothes and started reading. We made pancakes and scrambled eggs before the girls started playing with their horses. What a fun day to be lazy!

We are off in the "snow"!

Snow angels (in the middle of the road)

Happy girls

Love this picture!

We made it to the lake

Checking out the snow around the lake

Throwing ice into the lake

Lots of fun!

And we are ready for a fireplace and pancakes!