Thursday, November 27, 2014

Snowvember

So last week this happened.  We are calling it "Snowvember".  Well, the news is calling it "Winter Storm Knife" but I don't like that name, so I am sticking with "Snovember".  Last Monday they called for crazy lake effect snow.  But being from this area, we ignored it.  We always have lake effect snow.  And usually the news makes a bigger deal out of these storms than we really need to.  Well, shame on us because the storm came.  And then it just kept coming and coming and coming and coming.  Here is our house after the first hit.  
We had lost power the night before but it was during the night so we were ok.  But losing power and not being able to see your car or the street is a pretty scary feeling so, we spent the morning digging out my truck.  Just in case we needed to go somewhere (I don't know where the heck we thought we were going but if we needed to get out we could).
The kids loved getting out and playing in the snow.
Here is Mark and Oliver DURING the first hit!
Claire chose to stay inside and watch tv, smart girl.
Oliver was tough and ready to rock!
Then things fell apart.  It was snowing so hard and so fast that Mark decided that shoveling was a waste of time so the boys tried to recover the buried garbage.
As you can see, that did not work at all.
So the next day we welcomed the sunshine and Claire was in for some fun in the snow.  
And together we dug a nice path from my truck to the street.
Mark was getting really worried about the roof so after we dug our path to nowhere, he hopped up on the roof and shoveled a ton of snow off.
That night this happened.  Notice our path is gone.
The snow came back!  And with raging force.  The metal poles are my awning rails.
It just wouldn't stop snowing!!!!!
It was totally insane!  We were buried again, living in an igloo!!!!
At this point we just got cozy and baked and drank hot chocolate and ate and ate and ate.
And had many movie nights!  And ate...and ate...and ate...
Finally after four days, IT STOPPED!!!!!!! And our friend Nick with his gigantic plow came and plowed us out (and our street)!!!!
The kids were so happy to get outside again.  School was cancelled all week long so they were thrilled to play outside!
Oliver loved driving his "plowtruck".
And Claire loved using our beach toys to play in the snow.
It felt so good to take a walk around the block but it was so sad to see all of the damage that the storm did people's houses.  
The town drove by while we were walking to help our neighbor because their roof was caving in!  So as soon as we got home Mark was back up on the roof!  Thank God he shoveled off the roof for two days because escaped any damage.

School was cancelled until December 1st!!!  I have really enjoyed my time home and we made some great memories but this storm was pretty scary.  My parents were completely snowed in until the weekend!  Also, there many lives lost during this storm.  People were stuck in their cars for days and there were many families who had major damage to their homes and vehicles.  I am really hoping that this is it for snow storms and it isn't even December!  I am also incredibly thankful that my family and friends are all safe!!!

Friday, November 21, 2014

Goals

I just realized that I never did our usual "Back To School" post with our goals for the new school year.  So here goes...
Claire 
Second Grade
~ To do well with my 2 minute Math.
~To be a better speller,
~To make lots of new friends in 2nd grade!
 Oliver
Preschool
 ~I hope that I can bring dragons to school.
~I want to play with the boats and books.
~I want to learn to write my letters.

Mommy
Kindergarten 
~To have lots of patience for my students this year!
~To come home and have lots of patience for my family this year!
~ To make someone laugh and smile everyday.
~To be more kind and selfless.
~To relax and enjoy EVERY DAY!!!!!!
~To laugh until I cry as much as possible.

Daddy
English 3
~ To stay fit.
~To help all of my students improve their reading and writing capabilities.
~ To continue to enjoy and appreciate my wonderful family at home.


Sunday, November 2, 2014

Fall Fun

I have been really bad about blogging lately so I decided to just do one whole "Fall Fun" blog!  We have been doing so many great things this fall that I want to make sure that I don't miss any of it!

Uncle Kevin & Aunt Sara's Wedding
The month started off with Kevin and Sara's wedding!  We had such a great weekend with the family.  It was awesome.
Claire loved being a flower girl.  She got to get her hair done and spend the day with the girls.
Sara got Claire this adorable flower girl shirt with her name on it!
We had fun getting all prettied up for the big event!
Me and my grown up flower girl.
The Komo girls.
Sara with her flower girls.
I had so much fun with the girls.
Hot Komo Mamas.
We clean up nice.
Claire loved dancing at the reception.
Oliver LOVED dancing with all of the ladies.
It was such an amazing wedding!  Everything was perfect!  
Congratulations Kevin and Sara!!

Apple Picking
One of my favorite fall traditions is going apple picking. 
The Cappelli family met us there and we had a great time.  There were not too many apples left but we still had fun finding what was left.
The boys had fun going for a ride.
The kids needed a little help getting some of the apples.
 Oliver was so proud of his apples.
Claire loved climbing the trees to grab her apples.
And Uncle Nick loved picking....well his own stuff.

Pumpkin Time
We didn't make it to the pumpkin patch this year but, the kids had a blast getting their pumpkins from Zittel's Farm.
 I love these goofballs.
This one too.
Zittel's had such a great set up! We loved all of the Halloweeny stuff they had!
Claire was thrilled to see that they had a baby cow to pet.
Oliver, on the other hand was a little iffy about the calf.
But then he warmed up and loved him!
The kids loved feeding the goats too!
 I love these kids!!!!
After Zittel's we had a nice dinner at Nana and Papa's where the kids loved making Halloween treats!

Halloween
There were many Halloween celebrations around here this fall.  
The first one was the Halloween Party at Claire's school.
Claire had a blast with all of her friends from school.
Oliver loved dressing up like Toothless.
He was pretty pumped when he saw his friend from preschool!
And they both loved sitting in the firetruck.

The second event was our Town's Halloween party.
The kids loved getting all dressed up and going to our local park.
And we ran into our buddies the Cappelli's there!!!
We had a great time!  We even went into the haunted house.  Which Claire loved but Oliver is not a fan.

Then of course we had to carve pumpkins! 
Grandma came over to join us! 
 Here is Oliver's pumpkin, Mark's pumpkin, My pumpkin, and Claire's pumpkin!  Oliver wanted a Toothless pumpkin and I think I did a pretty good job!

And finally, TRICK OR TREATING!!!!
Our little monsters ready to go!  I didn't take my camera with me because it was raining but the kids had a blast!
After trick or treating in the cold rain, we came back here and put on dry, warm jammies and watched some Halloween specials (while sampling some of our candy).
Oliver loved getting his jammies on!  Mostly because they glow in the dark.  He made each of us go into the bathroom to see them (thank you Auntie Shannon for the awesome jammies).
Claire and Nicholas loved snuggling up.

It was a great fall! And now onto Thanksgiving!!!!!!