Knoxville Friends

Our friends Amy and Chad with their kids Caitlyn and Alek were in town this weekend from Knoxville.  Chad's brother lives in Murfreesboro and they were here to help him install a new theatre system for the Super Bowl.

So Amy and the kids came over to our house to play for a few hours yesterday and then we met them for dinner in Murfreesboro after naps.  It was great to catch up and spend some time playing with Caitlyn and Alek who have changed so much since we moved about 1 1/2 years ago.

The favorite toy of the day was our ball pit.  The kids thought it was hilarious to throw all the balls at Amy and me (they managed to get 95% of the balls out).

More Snow

Yesterday morning they boys got up at their normal time of somewhere between 5 and 6 (I don't remember already - mornings are a blur).  We had on some cartoons and ate some breakfast and then around 7 am, I finally got around to opening some blinds and this is what I saw - MORE SNOW!  I had no idea it was supposed to snow again.

This time it stuck to the roads and we got to see it coming down super hard for a bit.

We probably got just over an inch this time.

Here's the pretty view from the side of our house out of our neighborhood.

We did the whole (half-hour???) routine of getting all our snow clothes out (why had I put them away already?!?!?) and getting them all on.  But this time I had some help from Brian since it was Saturday (yes!).

Again this snow was not snowmen building material :(  But there was more of it to put into piles.

Brian attempted to make Carter into a snowman.

Rylan never put down our snowball maker (even though we could make snowballs with it because of the type of snow).

There were some attempts at snowball fights - they didn't really work.

Brian was able to pack a few snowball well enough to get Carter.

Charlotte spent the morning out with us again.  "Hey, Charlotte, you have a little something on your face ..."

SNOW!!!

Yesterday morning we woke up to SNOW!  I'm on the Williamson County Schools call list and got a phone call at 5:45 am to say schools were closed.  I was a bit annoyed because Rylan had slept in past 5 am for the first time in a few weeks and I got woken up by a phone call!

We bundled up (it was only 17F!!!) and were outside before 8 am.

And the boys were off!  They were SO EXCITED!

Carter was extremely disappointed that the snow was icy and wouldn't pack, which meant no snowmen.  But he decided snow angels were a good second.

He made a bunch.

Happy boys!!!

 

And happy dog!

There was probably just over half an inch on the ground.

I made a snow angel and Carter did one beside me.

Since we couldn't decorate snowmen with our really cool kit from Uncle Dale, we decorated snow angels!

Charlotte stayed out with us the entire hour we played in the snow.  She had icicles though hanging from her fur when I brought her in!

 The boys had fun cleaning off all our plants.

 

The snow stuck around for a few hours but even though it never got above freezing yesterday, the sun melted everything that wasn't in the shade all day.

Friday Playdate

Yesterday we had 6 little boys over to our house for a playdate (Missy w/ Will and Luke, Laura w/ Cole and McCabe, Ashley w/ Carson, and Cher w/ Radnor).

Carter and Luke were twins!

When my boys decide to go for a run (which they never actually do - the key to turn the treadmill on is hidden on top of the refrigerator), they have to put on some of my shoes and bike helmets.  Both Will and Luke had them on too before I was able to get my camera.

Thanks again Papa Mike for "the armies", as the boys call them - they were a hit, literally!!!  Next time I have to remember to hide them before a playdate :)

(Radnor is in the top picture and Carson is in the bottom one.)

Luke LOVES dogs.  He kept climbing the gate and almost diving in head first to see Charlotte (I always lock her up when we have lots of kids over because it's crazy enough without adding in a dog!).

Kisses!

Time to Potty Train?

I decided to put our potty seat out just to start talking to Rylan about potty training and see if he was interested.  When Carter needs to use the downstairs bathroom, he'll often ask Rylan if he needs to go too now.  Carter will try to help Rylan pull down his pants but is never able to and I have to step in.

Yesterday Rylan wanted to sit on the potty seat (and Carter had to sit next to him on the stool).  Rylan would sit for a couple of seconds and then stand up and look in the potty and give me a "where's the pee and poop?" look.  It was really funny.  I kept asking Carter to tell him what to do in hopes he would have a child's perspective/explanation that Rylan would understand.  After several "attempts" nothing had happened and Rylan was over it.

My plan is to potty train Rylan this summer when we have a week at home.  Since Rylan is only going to school 2 days a week next year, he doesn't have to be potty trained.  Though I'd like to try to have him potty trained but have his teachers put a diaper on him for nap.  We'll see if he's ready though.  Carter was 3 1/2 when he was finally potty trained and he was ready then and it was easy.

Girlfriend?

We had a playdate at our house today.  Ashley was planning on bringing Carson and there was a chance Lauren was going to bring Sophie.  When I told this to Carter after school yesterday, Carter said:

"Yay!  Sophie and Carson are my buddies.  No, I mean ... Sophie is my girlfriend and Carson is my buddy."

Pajamas and Pancakes

Yesterday Carter had Pajamas and Pancakes day in his classroom since they are working on the letter P this week.  So the kids got to wear their pajamas to school and then have pancakes during snack time.

I pulled a new pair of pajamas out of my stash of clearance clothes that I always stock up on at the end of seasons.  Carter was so excited to wear his "new pajamas with moose and reindeer".

When we got to school, I asked Carter if I could take his picture and he had to have Rylan in the photo with him.

I got a picture of a couple of the other kids in Carter's class before they went into their room.  This is Hunt and Sarah Kate.

Sarah Kate was in Carter's class last year and I have a picture of them from last year's P week.