Snow Days

Last Friday it snowed in Atlanta. I mean, it really snowed. About a month ago it "fake" snowed, it was a light dusting that was more ice than snow, and the "snow" was not good for anything, useless for making a snowball or snowman, etc. We did not even go outside and play in it, we just drove around in the ice and did donuts. =)

In any case, it really snowed on Friday, which was so much fun! I love the snow. After naptime we bundled up the girls in all their crazy mismatched snow gear (thank gooness for a recent bag of hand-me-downs that contained a snow-bib outfit for Annelise) and went outside. The girls had a great time helping Dave make an 8 foot tall snowman, swinging on the swings and going down the slide, eating the snow, and throwing snowballs at one another.

Saturday was super fun too because the snow stuck around in the morning, and we made another snowman, snow angels, and just enjoyed walking around in it.

It is always a fun change of pace around here to get some snow. It does make me miss our days in Germany, though our last winter we got enough snow to last me a long time. But then again, it is winter, I figure it should snow! It makes spring more enjoyable when we have had a good winter. And now that we have had our god snow, I'm hopnig that spring is right around the corner!

A Look at the Week

This is not terribly fascinating, but thought I would jot down a look at my week, this week. Now that I am starting to feel better I am able to get out of the house more, yay, and think about things other than how terrible I feel and how happy I'll be when it is all over.

Today. We are sticking around the house. First because we usually stick around the house on Mondays, but also because Dave accidentally ran off to work with HC's carseat...so not going anywhere fast. We changed all the sheets, are in the process of doing all the laundry, made cookie dough for a V-day party at HC's school, cooked my 2nd to last pumpkin that I have left from the fall, mixed up dough bread that I will bake for dinner tomorrow, and played outside (oh and I did manage to squeeze in a shower. phew. I think I'm mostly done for the day, but still need to cook dinner, Indonesian PB chicken...yum...

Later this week.
Going on a field trip with HC's class to the post office. Wowee. Register my girls for preschool, even though I probably will not send them in the fall (this is a just in case this baby is INSANE and my life is INSANE move that I'm hoping we will not have to use). Having a friend over for dinner. Going through prego clothes and figuring out which of the borrowed ones I will actually wear, and putting all my normal person clothes away until July. Finish my reading for Exodus, the fun Bible study I am in this semester. Grocery store. Have Dave sign and send back our business taxes. Waiting for our last form so I can send in our taxes...the sooner we do it, the sooner we get our money back. Stare at the rug in the entryway that we might be keeping, and wait for the 2nd rug to arrive so we can compare/contrast, and plan what color we will paint the entryway...yay (our project for March). Meet with the master gardener one last time (our Feb project) to plot out the new beds for our front yard which we will be planting next weekend (anyone want to help us?). She is also going to give Dave a lesson in pruning and caring for our exisiting plants/trees, etc. Finish opening all our Christmas cards, since I was too sick to think about it in December. Go to playgroup. Bake regular bread, bake pumpkin bread, bake cookies, and I'm sure some other things. Wait anxiously to find out if our friends will be able to move into the house across the street from us.

Yea, guess I'm feeling better.

My Annelise

Hadleigh has gotten a lot of press recently, so I'm going to write about Annelise, my little munchkin. "Munch" is one of her nicknames, along with "Anna" and "Lieska" and occasionally I'll call her "Elf" (after the angry elf from the movie).

I swear she is 2 but should be 3. When you ask her about her age she claims to be 7, maybe in elf years. I think she is a genius, but I suppose every mother thinks that about her children, but no really, Annelise is one smart chick. It's not everyday that you meet an 18 month who wants to give up diapers entirely. Everywhere we take her caretakers remark about her. She is fairly articulate, so we don't have the communication troubles that we sometimes had with Hadleigh. And she just seems to carry herself like a little person and not like a toddler.

She LOVES her friends, loves going to school and playgroup. She plays with all Hadleigh's buddies at playgroup and most of them seem to accept her as one of their own. She talks about each friend and what she likes about them. She has a little shy streak in her, but she is much more outgoing and daredevil like. She loves talking on the phone and singing to folks on the phone, and she has a wide range of songs she likes, from "Away in a Manger" to "Doh a Deer". Annelise and Hadleigh are very close and A misses H terribly when they are apart. It is super sweet and makes me doubly happy to think about how well they get along together when I think about the possibility of keeping both of them out of preschool next year (still trying to decide about that).

She loves doing things by herself and helping out around the house, which both girls are good at. She is great at entertaining herself and both girls can play for a long while together without needing me. Annelise is growing to enjoy books, which is really nice, and I love having the time to just sit with her.

Annelise is starting to memorize some scripture and repeats it back with such fervor and enthusiasm, and she always asks to pray.

Annelise has always had a will, and it does pop out from time to time. She seems to be pretty sly about it, but we are onto her. Several things have gone by the wayside since I have been prego and sick, including cooking, cleaning and discipline. Now that I am feeling better we are having to do some serious reminding about the rules of the house. The whining is the worst, it just seems to come on hard and then go away for a while. But at this point Annelise seems to just go along with the rules of the house. She pitches a fit every now and then, but most of all is a very amiable little girl.

She LOVES the baby in my tummy and always asks if she can say hello. I love that. My other favorite recent saying of hers is "thanks SOOO much" which she always exclaims after I give her a drink or something to eat, or something else that she has asked for. I love it.

So that is the update on my little munch. She will only be the littlest for 5 more months, and I intend to treasure every moment.