Snowy fun

Of course, here is my documentation of the fun snow times we have had the past few days . . . along with everyone else's blog posts and facebook posts! :)

Friday morning Chad predicted that we would get a foot of snow after reading various weather blogs and such. We made it to five. :) It was still so much fun after not getting much the past few years!
It had snowed a couple of inches, then there was freezing rain/sleet, and then it snowed some more. Very interesting! :)

Here are the "innards" of the snowman Chad made. He stacked up the sheets of ice/snow and then packed around it.

Here is Carolina's first real experience with snow! She didn't even crack the snow/ice when she walked on it. However, a few times she hit a soft spot and did not like it when her feet sank!

Can you tell she's a girl underneath all that pink and purple? ha!

She has him so tightly wrapped around her little finger it's not even funny . . .

Thanks to our snowman, we were able to use our self-timer!

Meet "Snowy"!

After coming inside and undressing, we decided to risk our car for the sake of fun and drive to Brent and Emily's to sled. Our yard is COMPLETELY flat and so is anywhere we could walk to and safely sled. They have the perfect yard/hill!! I love this picture of Lawton and Hunter. So serious. :)

Carolina and her beloved "Emmy"

Believe it or not, this air mattress was a pretty fun ride!

This was Carolina's favorite "sled". She would giggle every time she went down on this one.

Hunter, Lawton, Carolina (who really did love her toboggan and didn't want to take it off when we got home) and Houston. This red sled won the fastest ride award. :)

May the Force Be With You

Lawton has been counting down the days all week. Only four more days! Only three more days! For what?? Star Wars Day at Lipscomb's Men's basketball game today. I was surprised that he did not want to wear his storm trooper costume, but he remained loyal and wore his Lipscomb shirt - but brought along his light saber, of course.

Here is the Star Wars crew - pretty impressive, huh?
His favorite - R2D2

"Arghhhhhh!" It's Carolina's favorite, Chewbacca! (She has a mean impersonation of him) ;)

(insert heavy breathing here . . . )

But do you know who was the highlight of the day for us???

Carolina and this storm trooper were the highlight!! She was drawn to him for some reason. After waving at him for several minutes, he was finally able to spot her way down below and pay her the attention she had been seeking.

She was really after his gun, and he finally gave in to her wishes. It must have been her puppy dog green eyes, her big bow, and that sweet little finger pointing at his large laser shooting weapon.

She eventually gave it back though and had a blast "fighting" him with the light saber. . . he was a really good sport!

We finally had to pry her away from him and actually go watch the basketball game. (oh, yeah!!)

I have no idea where she could have learned how to fight with light sabers and such. . .

It's all about balance around here.

Bless. Her. Heart.

Sooooo . . . if you're a frequent visitor to the ole blog, then you realize that Carolina is a paci-aholic. I mean, I love the fact that both my children have loved the paci, for multiple reasons. I'll be the first to admit that we almost "pushed" the paci on them. They have been able to self soothe (well, with the help of the paci) and have been great sleepers. It's also been nice to "plug them up" when needed and give mommy a moment of sanity when nothing else would suffice.

Lawton became a "sleep only" paci user by around 15 months, and willingly gave his paci to some newborn twins when he was about two years and two months. However, meet Miss Priss - aka Paci-aholic. She has not been as willing to give it up when she got out of her crib, and well, Mommy hasn't been as strict about enforcing it, either. (She is 20 months now)

Also meet Miss-Chiclet-Overbite-but-I'm-still-the-cutest-thing-ever-to-Momma. Oh, and the fear that if she loves her paci this much now, HOW much MORE will she love it later? Can you tell this has been a major deal around the house by now?!?!

Well, on Friday morning, for some strange-out-of-my-mind-experience, I thought it was time to get rid of the paci - COLD TURKEY. I'm crazy. That day it went great, and at nap time she only cried for a few minutes and then silence.

I'm a genius.

Only when I got her up from nap, she had somehow found the one paci out of her fifteen that I had apparently (not) confiscated. Shoot.

That night, though, we stuck to our guns and, poor baby, cried for about forty minutes. Chad would have given her a paci three minutes in, but he doesn't even know where I hid them. I'm smart like that. Oh, and Chad, I publicly apologize for the agony I've put you through this weekend. But know I've been through the same agony. Do you still love me? :)

Saturday night - cried for fifteen minutes. Sunday night - didn't cry at all. Sunday from 12:00 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. - wailed. Nap times Sunday and Monday - minimal.

Has she been a little on edge, like she just came off of crack? Yes. Have Chad and I been a little on edge like we need to go on crack? Yes. (totally a joke, Mom. Calm down.)

Even Lawton knows not to mention the sacred word (p - a - c - i) for fear of sending her on a search.

She has been LOUD - singing and talking ALL the time instead of occasionally, and she has been exceptionally oral . . . note the pictures below.

This was on the first day - she was desperately seeking for a paci and went to her drawer where the back ups were, only to find they were gone. She came out with this, and I'm not even sure why I hung on to it in the first place, but she sure was happy!! This confirms that she is addicted. BAD.
Saturday night we went to Cracker Barrel and this is how she decided to self soothe. Pitiful, eh?

Do I feel TERRIBLE that her paci is gone? Yes!

Do I feel SO PROUD that we won't have to wean her of it later? Yes!

Do I still wish that she still had it for my sanity? Yes! (but I feel as though we can't cave now)

Oh, and just add in . . . I'm not judging anyone for paci use . . . actually I might be jealous and kicking myself for not allowing her to still have it . . .

Feel good about yourself . . .

I bet if you lifted up your couch cushions, you wouldn't find THIS.

I just wanted everyone to feel a little bit better about their housekeeping abilities. Yes, this was found between my couch cushions. . .






** The goldfish were in fact cleaned up the day they were deposited there. The other stuff? Ummm. . . who knows how long the "stuff" I found had been there. . . sigh.

My Marathon Man

Okay, before I even begin, I must tell everyone . . . Lawton has NO IDEA that we even left town last weekend, so local friends, please don't blow our cover ;) . On Thursday morning the 7th, when snow was predicted, we told him that he was going to spend a few days at Noni and Dandy's, which would be so much fun because they have hills and our yard is completely flat!! He never saw our bags and never asked any questions about what we were doing while he was at my parents so we never divulged any info. Just to clear the air - we did NOT lie to him . . . just didn't tell him . . . because we went to Disney World!! (and I am so paranoid that he is going to see these pictures on the blog or on my camera - he is tech savvy like that!)

Friday - Epcot and Wide World of Sports
Well, it was freezing back home, and by Orlando standards, it was freezing there, too. (literally) We look like Pillsbury dough boys because we each have like six layers on - but we still had fun!
There was more of a crowd than I thought there would be, but obviously not on this ride! (But I don't think there is ever a huge crowd on Figment anyways . . . not our favorite.)

Friday afternoon we headed to the Wide World of Sports for the real reason we were at Disney. Chad ran his first marathon ever! After running the half in April, the bug hit him to run a full and really wanted for Disney to be his first since it would be WARM (not at all) and flat. We had to go pick up his race packet and check out the Expo at the Wide World of Sports. His race number was 2911 - which is one of our favorite verses - Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." My old email account even used to be laurabeth2911 because of this verse. We thought his race number was pretty awesome. . .

Here's a shot at the expo - it was crazy!

Here we are in China at Epcot. I had the fun idea to get our picture made in hats at every different country. My straight laced hubby grudgingly went along. . .

Saturday, Disney Studios and Animal Kingdom

Okay - right before this picture was made, I looked up at the Disney employee who told you to go next and I saw her pick her nose and . . . ingest it . . . for lack of a more discreet term. I about lost it. That is so wrong on so many levels!! First of all, she was an adult. She was working right in front of everyone. It is flu season and she is handling every one's cameras so she can take pictures of Mickey. Not only is that nasty for the handling of my camera and my health, but for her health, too!! Thank goodness a new employee switched places with her when it was our turn because non-confrontational me was about to confront her and tell her that I had seen her eat her booger and she should be ashamed because that was so disgusting. ick!!

A Bug's Life photo op. . .

Sunday - Race Day and Magic Kingdom

We had to leave our hotel room at 3:30 a.m. - (2:30 a.m. Central) This was one of the many reasons we didn't take the kids. Oh my. Anyways, the race started at 5:40 - and there was a wind chill of TWENTY degrees. Oh my. Fuh-reeeezing!! I made this sign for Chad so that he would be able to easily locate me if I saw him before he saw me. It worked! (and it provided a good reading distraction for lots of the runners) I was able to see him at the very beginning, mile 4, mile 9, mile 12 and the finish line.

Here he is at mile 12ish.

And he finished!!

What you can't tell here is that he was in excruciating pain - Mr. No Expression Ever Face. (can I get any amens from people who know him well? Me, on the other hand, reveal too much expression on my face for my detriment. sigh.) He started having crippling cramps around mile 14 and his hips and ankles were bothering him as well. When he reached his 18 and 20 mile in his training runs, his hips started bothering him, so he was expecting some pain. However, he was not expecting to cramp like he did. I am so proud that he persevered and finished the marathon!!

We stayed at Pop Century in the 80's section. (We are children of the eighties, so that was kinda fun!

When I saw this huge walkman, I seriously almost doubled over laughing. Chad was using a walkman IDENTICAL to this as recent as December of 2008. Seriously. It's still in our closet somewhere. Sad, huh??

After an ice bath and a nap, we headed to Magic Kingdom for a little bit. Most marathoners were wearing their medals - and they almost all had the Marathon waddle. :(

The castle at night - so pretty!

On Monday morning, we went to Epcot again and ate lunch in China. This is where the guilt and irony really kick in . . . Since we have been back, Lawton has mentioned Disney World so many times in specific ways that he has never mentioned before. (we went last July if you didn't know)

Lawton told me Thursday that he wanted to go back to China in Epcot because he wanted to learn more about China and what it looked like. (guilt)

He also told me Thursday that he wanted to go stand in front of the camel in MK that shoots water and catch it in his mouth. (guilt)

He has said a few other specific things that I can't remember now. Poor thing. It's as though his subconscious is punishing us for leaving them behind.

We sure did have fun, though. And I'm proud of my Marathon Man!! :)