snow...snow...lots of snow...

On February 12th, it snowed. It really snowed. It is rare for us to get snow at all. It is VERY rare for us to get a bunch of snow. I took tons of pictures while the kids played. So...here are a few (bunch) of the tons. :)

The kids couldn't wait to get outside, so after it had snowed a bit, I let them head out to the back yard.


They built this pile (which ended up a good bit larger than it is shown) and it was the last thing to melt.


After supper we headed out front to enjoy lots more snow. But first, Mommy had to get a picture.


Grandma and Granddad came over to play in the snow at Nathan's request. They couldn't stay too long, though, because the roads were starting to be covered.


Sara got her first experience with snow. I'm not sure she knew what to think of it.


And here are all three kids in the nice clean snow. Notice the road behind them. Ack!


Caroline built a snowlady with a little help. Nathan also built one (a snowMAN), but I didn't get a picture for some reason.


Later, we went next door to see our neighbors, The Crenshaws.


And Caroline ate snow.


Nathan thought it would be a good idea to throw snow into the bird bath so the birds would have some water.


And Caroline ate snow.


Nathan ate some as well.


Mrs. Crenshaw gave me suckers for the kids to put in their snowpeople, but I forgot. After they were in bed, I went out and gave the snowpeople their suckers.


Oh look. Here's Nathan's snowman. As you can see, he wasn't too worried about perfection.


The next morning, we headed out to play some more before the sun melted the snow.


The snowpeople had eaten up their suckers overnight. Don't worry, though, Caroline found them and promptly set about eating them. When she was finished, she started digging around in her snowlady to see if she could find another one.


And then she ate snow.


Nathan and Caroline played birds. Here they are taking a nap.


And along the way, several snow angels were made by both Nathan and Caroline.


This one was the best of the lot.


Oh yeah...and Mommy and Daddy were there, too.

quick February in pictures

So...here's a quick rundown in pictures of our February.

Granddad retired.


Caroline built cubes all on her own. I think it's pretty impressive.


Sara smiled for the camera.


Caroline rode around on Nathan like he was a horse.


Nathan had a Cinderella Ball at school.


It snowed...a bunch. (Another post on this to come.)


Nathan smiled for the camera.


Sara got pink eye (and so did Caroline later).


We started brushing Sara's teeth.


Nathan and Caroline picked lettuce leaves from the garden (left overs from last year), had Mommy wash them off, and then they ate them. Whose children are these eating leaves???


And one video...It's not the greatest, but I did manage to catch Sara doing the "Roll" part of Pat-a-cake one day. Yes, I know that we don't do it "right", but this is the way I did it growing up.

Happy Birthday Sara!!

Happy Birthday to our sweet baby, Sara!

Caroline's Birthday Party

This year, Caroline's birthday fell on a Saturday, so we had her party that day. There were two major themes for this party - cupcakes and purple. After most of the decorations were finished, Caroline made two requests. First, she wanted to have "squiggle squaggles...but not like the ones at Nana's house." I figured that curling ribbon hung from the ceiling and laying on the table qualified. The second request was one blue balloon for Daddy, one red balloon for Nathan, and lots and lots of purple balloons. Check (well, except Nathan had to go for orange because we were out of red).

(In case you are wondering, the "squiggle squaggles" at Nana's house were strange lights on the wall at night caused by the candle in the window shining through the blinds.)


We had cupcake plates, cupcake napkins, cupcake cookies, and actual cupcakes - in pink and purple.


If you can see down the table, you'll see Caroline's special spot with purple glittery stickers and a special purple cup.


Grandma and Nana got in on the purple action, too.


Even Grandaddy and Granddad were purple-ish.


What a silly boy with his orange balloon tied around his head!


Here is Caroline's special cupcake - purple cake, purple icing, and cupcake candles.


I think she looks so old here. It'll be interesting to pull this one back out in about 10 years and see how similar she looks.


Blowing out the candles...


Nathan wrapped his own present for Caroline (in a baby food container). It was three dollars. He loves his sisters! It's so fun to see him start to get in on the gift giving action completely on his own.


Mema bought Caroline this balloon special for her birthday. She had seen the mylar balloons in Publix several times and wanted one. Mema found her the biggest balloon that they make, I think. In addition, when you hit it, it plays "Happy Birthday" in a very upbeat and dancy way. Caroline loved it! And see that hat that she's wearing? That's her gift from Uncle Sean and Aunt Lisa. It even has three candles on it. And last but not least, her skirt was made by Mommy. She picks out fabric all the time and this is one that she liked...just perfect for a cupcake party.



And that, my friends, makes us caught up. Next up, a written update on the kids.

the girls

Look! Look! I'm actually posting in the same month...oh wait...it's February. Just kidding. :) Well, I'm getting closer anyway.

In case you haven't noticed, Caroline LOVES purple. She has tons of purple clothes. A friend from church passed on some clothes to Caroline. I think this set quickly jumped to the top. It's a purple skirt, shirt, jacket, and tights. So girly! So purple! And at the time of this picture, Caroline was playing with purple playdough.


Here is one of Sara's new favorite activities. Digging in Caroline's drawers. She pulls them out, pulls up, and then proceeds to empty them. It's a good thing her Mommy has gotten over worrying about whether the clothes are neatly folded or not.


The girls got matching overalls for Christmas. I thought they looked nice with the matching brown shirts that they already had.


We finally moved Sara from her infant seat to a convertible carseat. She really probably needed to move a good bit sooner, but we were just way busy. If she could talk, I'm sure she would ask you to ignore how she looks in the first picture. She was sick at the time.



Here's Caroline helping me make the cupcakes for her birthday party. Notice that she's wearing a purple shirt, purple skirt that Mommy made, purple socks, and her new (from a friend) sparkly black dancing shoes.

December - Pictures #8 (Moseley Christmas)

On Tuesday we headed to Augusta and got there just in time for bingo. The kids (Nathan in particular) look forward to bingo.


This time around, Nathan got in on the bingo calling action. He had fun and entertained the crowd. I think everyone's favorite part was when a bingo was being checked. Nathan would hold up his hand and count on his finger as each number was verified as correct. Such fun!


I know this picture has nothing to do with the kids, but I had to include it anyway. In the last several years, we haven't been able to see Uncle Sean and Aunt Lisa much at all. We hope to get to see them a little more often now that they're on the right side of the Mississippi.


After a few rounds, Caroline decided that she was done with bingo. She headed to the next room to play. I love her smile in this picture.


It's a present. Or not. If you look closely, you can see two little Caroline feet sticking out the bottom.


Nathan was very interested in Aunt Lisa's knitting/crocheting (I don't know which term is correct). By the time he left, he had some handmade doggie and kitty collars and a bunch of leftover yarn.


Here you go...a rare picture of Mommy. It's not that I avoid putting up pictures of myself (though I don't like them much), it's just that there aren't many of them in existence.


Caroline and Nathan made some cookies with Nana. They love making cookies with her because she gives them lots of freedom with their creations.


Look Daddy's getting in on the picture action, too.


Caroline LOVES her Uncle Sean. It's a good thing that he loves her too.


Caroline has found a kindred spirit who loves to dance as much as she does. Aunt Erin is sure to encourage her dancing and her girlie-ness.


It was so nice to get to spend several days with the Moseley family. It's been a long time since we've been able to be all in one place for very long.

December - Pictures #7 (Ferguson Christmas)

On Monday after Christmas and part of Tuesday, we got together with Grandma, Granddad, Uncle Jason, Aunt Jenn, Kaitlin, and Hudson. Have you ever tried to get five kids to all look the same direction and look semi-pleasant at the same time? It's nearly impossible. I think this one is about decent, though.


I had to include this picture because it is so odd but so Nathan. This is a set of DVD's of natural disasters. He is obsessed. He thinks they are very interesting but is also very concerned about ever being caught in one. He is thankful that we don't have much chance of too many tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. around here.


Granddad was ON for several days. He did such a great job helping kids open presents and entertaining them as needed. I think he helped Sara open WAY more presents than Matt or I did.


The three older kids watched a video. I think this is a funny picture because Caroline is smiling at me (her normal when she knows a picture is being taken) and the other two are making funny faces.


Look at this chuncky boy! We were so glad to get to spend a little time with him...finally.


I had to get a picture of the two girls in their chef hats and aprons that I made.


Camo boys! Can you tell that Granddad has some influence here?


We attempted to get a picture with Grandma, Granddad, and all the kids. It's not often that they have all their grandkids in one place.


We enjoyed having some time with the NC Fergusons. We don't get to see them much and it's never long enough. We hope to see them again soon!