Snow Days (posted 3/20)

It started about 3:30 in the morning...t

he tap-tap-tap of sleet against the window. Then the wind started blowing harder and harder. One thick sheet of ice later, we were trapped inside for what felt like FOREVER.

We made the best of it, huddling on the couch to keep warm.  The power went out for a short time, so we quickly took showers before the hot water ran out.  We weren't out of power more than a few hours, and once it was back on we kept busy by making cookies, watching cartoons and playing games.  We also built a fort, "Sam's Fort" we called it, and it was a great place to have lunch, snacks and read books.

While it was a fun adventure for the first few hours, it got old fast.  And by the fourth day of being inside with an almost-two-year-old I was climbing the walls.  We were all climbing the walls.  No one had really anticipated the storm would be quite that bad and for that long, so we were short on food, activities to keep us busy and patience!  There were no winter walks or making snowmen this time - it was all ice and very very cold outside.  And inside, the house was a

disaster

.  It's a good thing this kind of weather is unusual for Texas - I don't think I could handle being cooped up like that more than once in a great while...

Snow Day

It snowed a few inches here in North Texas this weekend.

Though much of it had melted, we took Sam on a Winter Walk through the neighborhood today. We looked for snowmen, touched many snowflakes - "shno-pakes" - and taught Sam how to walk slowly over the icy patches. He didn't like the snow on his fingers, but he did like stepping in it, listening to the crunch-crunch and seeing his own footprints behind him. It was great to get out after being cooped up all day Sunday.  And what a cute little snow-bunny he makes!

Christmas, Part II of II



We didn't have to dream of a White Christmas - we had a real one.  Because of that, we ended up spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Gram and Pops house. It was just too icy and windy to drive home. 

Sam had lots of fun opening presents on Christmas Eve, and we all enjoyed a cozy dinner of mushroom-crab soup, salad and bread.  Sam slept really well in Gram and Pops' crib...Sophie kept us up throughout the night, but we kind of expected that. 

Christmas morning we had a nice breakfast looking out on the snow, then spent the rest of the day hanging around, watching TV and eating snacks.  With hardly any room left in our tummies, we finished the holiday off with a ham and sweet potato dinner!

Enjoy the pictures and video of our little guy's First Christmas! 

















































































Christmas with Gram and Pops 2009 from Sara Straka on Vimeo.