Let It Snow

Ah Christmastime....the smell of cookies baking in the kitchen....Christmas music piped through the house....the scent of pine from our enormous tree.....snow on the ground...wait, snow? In Richmond, VA? In early December? After getting hammered last year, we've already had two snow storms this year (IOW: snow that covers the roads and paralyzes the city), which is crazy considering winter doesn't even start for a few days. The good news: schools are closed and the kids are home. The bad news: well, schools are closed and the kids are home. At least we can get outside for some sledding on the hill that strands us in our house because our cars cannot go up or down it:



I'm pretty sure that Peeks was having a blast....pretty sure....



Last week we hit the Tacky Light tour around Richmond. Because there are so many houses, we picked our own route leading from our house to a Barnes and Noble for coffee. I've always wanted to experiment with lights reflecting off of water at night. Tough to do because it would require me to get up and go somewhere when it's raining at night, and who wants to do that. Luckily, this house was set up for me. Tricky without a tripod, but I managed to snap this one handheld and still have it be recognizable:



Finally, the highlight last week was the excellent production put on by second grade of "Melton the Warm-Hearted Snowman". Roo played the part of Blitzen. I had never heard the story of Melton, nor did I know that Melton knew Donner, Blitzen, Comet, and the other reindeer, but it really was awesome and the kids did an incredible job. We are still shaking our heads at how much these "kids" are growing up:

Nothing is worth more than this day.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

O Christmas Tree

Yes folks, that is a 10' tall Christmas tree. Who are we, the flippin' Griswolds? I'm still waiting for a squirrel to fly out of it and Cousin Eddie to walk in wearing a blue leisure suit. I had to walk upstairs to put the lights on the top of the thing. Awesome.

It has been far too long since I posted, so we have a lot to get caught up on. School has been kicking my proverbial tail lately, so I feel like I have a pretty strong excuse. That said, I have captured quite a few moments in the last month, so here they are, in no particular order.

On the Move

Shortly after thanksgiving, Juliette started to move. She wasn't crawling, it was more of a modified "scoot". Well, here, see for yourself:



She can really cover some ground like that though. Since then, she has moved to a more traditional "hands and knees" approach when on carpet, but when she is on the hardwood floor nothing beats the bottom scoot. This past weekend she covered 15 feet in a matter of seconds - right to the dog food where she proceeded to stuff her face. Seriously though, who among us hasn't tried dog food at least once? Anyone? Bueller?

Leaves

I love and hate this time of year. I love the weather. I hate the leaves. I discovered a long forgotten upside to leaf removal last week though - the piles. I vaguely remember hours of running, jumping, riding, and skating into piles of leaves at various stages of childhood. It was the girls turn this time around. Our friends Megan and Henry also joined in the fun:











Don't eat the leaves Henry...