Winter Piano Recital

Aubrey performed tonight in the Winter Piano Recital - playing Dance of the Reed Flutes by Tchaikovsky. She was nervous but played very well! And of course, she enjoyed the social aspect of it afterwards: being with friends and eating dessert! :) Which often reminds me of my brother, on a larger scale, that if there was going to be food served at an event (wedding, funeral - what have you!)...he was there!!! But that's an entirely different story. Some memories are hard to forget and hard not to mention. (Love ya Michael!) Jocelyn and I have been sick with some kind of bronchial irritation spreading around so we were just glad that we could all make it for the event. There were 16 of them that perfomed tonight and they all did wonderful! Enjoy the video below! 

{family picture}

{he loves music!}

{Aubrey and her (piano) friend}

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Back To Our Sunday Walks

Welcome back to our outdoor adventures!

First though, I have to say how lucky I am to have such a great (and handy) husband! He spent 4 hours digging us out of our home - making it possible to walk to and from our door and clearing off and around both of our vehicles. We celebrated by bundling up and taking a Sunday family walk - which we always did during the warmer days. Even with it in the freezing temperatures, the sky was clear and blue and the sun was OUT! It was gorgeous! My hands may have been frozen by the time we returned to our front door but it was worth it. And I have a feeling that our camera is becoming one of my best friends. I have three good looking kids to thank for that! :)

{I love this one - even if I did accidentally chop Aubrey's face out of the picture. It was bright out. What can I say!}

{Clearing the roads}

{He was working on getting his shoes off - which he does ALL of the time!}

{Another "bird in the tree" picture}

{Guess I can't be left out of the family pictures now can I? I may regret putting up this picture of me - definitely a laid back day!}

{Having fun jumping and sliding on the snow & ice}

{The forest next to our home - lots of trees have fallen due to the snow}

{I LOVE this shot & the story it tells - Jocelyn was getting cranky and didn't want to go home. So John swooped her up as she was kicking and screaming. And then he stuck his tongue at me!}

{Such a cutie patootie!!}

More Snow Pictures

After I wrote my last post about our winter blizzard, it stopped snowing. At about 5 pm. So I laced up my boots and ran outside to take a few more pictures. I loved the natural light! While I loved the ones I took through the glass, I especially liked these! It really is cold here so needless to say, I didn't stay out that long! That and the snow was almost up to my knees and warm homemade chili was calling my name for dinner!

My sweet little girls surprised me and didn't want to go outside and play in the snow. This storm seemed to be a bit too much for them! Neighbor girl came over to ask Aubrey if she wanted to play. "Nope." The neighbor kids were building a snowman. "Who cares." It cracked me up a little to see how they were so content being locked into their own warm environment playing and reading books galore. Andrew may be another story when he's their age. He loves to go outside any chance he can get - warm OR cold - it doesn't matter! And he's only ONE! I think when the next snow storm comes around (because there WILL be another one come next week!) the kids will be going outside just a tad bit more. It'll be good for them to get a bit more familiar with a different climate. And it will be good for me to get a few minutes, bless their hearts, of some peace and quiet. xo :)

Snowed In....Again

This year so far, our area has already been hit with a few snow storms. (As well as receiving a normal year's worth of snow in a little over a month's time!!} The most snow we've received at one time has been about 6-8 inches. Last weekend to be exact. Church was cancelled. We were snowed in all weekend and school was closed Mon-Wed. School reopened on Thursday but we were gearing up for our next huge storm - starting Friday and lasting well into Saturday late evening with snow accumulation expected between 20 and 30 inches! It wasn't a matter of "if" it was going to snow; it was a matter of "when!" With the expected severe storm, school was cancelled for Friday. John only worked half a day and then our family snuck out before the weather got too bad and took the kids to a quick trip to Borders to get a few books. (Library was closed!) Grocery shopping had been done on Wednesday and Thursday-preparing us with at least a week's worth of meals. We were prepared for what was to come. But weren't excited in the least to be stuck inside yet another weekend! Until the snow fall stops, we're hunkered down with many games and movies and books to entertain.

Here is a picture of our backyard as the snow storm started around 10 am Friday (with some snow from earlier in the week):

And here are some pictures that followed throughout the day yesterday:

{backyard}

{backyard}

{front bushes}

{front walkway}
{front tree branches}

{front yard}

{front walkway after a bit of snow fall}

{night picture of the backyard}

About 6 inches of snow fell through the night while we slept. It was so pretty to wake up with so much snow out our windows. And that's as far as my camera went. I wanted to go out but wasn't too motivated to take the camera out and get wet. So I just settled on taking window shots and will go outside tomorrow to take more when the snow fall has stopped. The snow will continue coming down until at least 9-10 pm tonight. Presently, at 4 pm, we have already had well over a foot of snow hit with more on the way. People are saying this has been the biggest snow storm in the area since the 90's...maybe even earlier.

Here are some pictures from today:

{picnic table}

{community playground}

{backyard fence}

{backyard}

{tree branches with snow & ice}

{looking out the window to the front yard}

{our street}

{neighbor's tree}

{snow built up outside our front door}

{front door}

Let It Snow!

Today brought us our first snow this winter. I have to admit: it's been awhile since we've seen (let along played) in the snow! Aubrey had the day off of school and John stayed home from work so while we headed out to run an errand in the morning we let the girls go out and soak up some fun. They were SO excited and really wanted to build a snowman but the snow turned out being wet and crispy so they weren't able to. But that definitely did not stop them from attempting a few snowballs. The girls and I took a walk down to the mailbox tonight and the whole way there and back Jocelyn would stomp her feet and yell out "crunch" with every step she took. Aubrey and I found that very amusing. :)