The Blizzard of 2011

Hey everyone! My mom sent us a few more good pictures from the trip we took up to Virginia recently, so I thought we could lead off with those this week.

Aww, Grandpa. Don't you know tricks are for kids? This is my Dad's automatic response every time someone breaks out a camera.

Weeeelll, I know it's been a while and no, I really don't have much of an excuse. We haven't been doing much since we last posted. Charlotte has been going through a cold snap this past week, and we got some pretty significant (for us) snowfall a week ago that kept us from going anywhere for a few days. Carter got a little tired of spending so much time inside and got a bit fussy on us. Could be the new eyeteeth he's got coming in too.

As of yesterday our local neighborhood's playground still has a lot of ice and snow on it, so we've been walking right by in our wagon. Carter yells at us every time. "What's the matter, fools? Can't you see that playground? The one we go to EVERY DAY?" We explain the problem but he's not buying it.

The second morning the trees were still covered in ice. The moments of beauty in a snowstorm... before you have to shovel the driveway and destroy it all.

When can I get out of here?

Carter's started saying a lot more. He had been saying "moan" for a long while and we couldn't figure out what the heck he meant. Turns out it was "brown", which appears to be his new favorite color. Perhaps that's because it's also the color of "meat", which he crows enthusiastically every time I fix a steak.

Carter also went number 2 on the potty for the first time this past week! Now we know that one time does not a trend make, but the cool part was that he communicated well about it. We asked him if he needed to go, he made the potty sign, we took him in and told him what to do, and he sat on his potty, made the sign repeatedly, and got straight down to business.

We went out in the storm while it was still snowing and got some good play time in. I showed Carter the number-one thing to do with snow.... snowballs. He didn't want to throw them, but kept cheering for me to make and throw more at everything around.

Back at the playground! Sliding away until next week....

Happy New Year!

We're back from Virginia and visiting my parents, and I am beyond glad to be back in my own bed. I didn't grow up being quite so wimpy, but now I've got my lil' contoured pillow... and other people's pillows just aren't cutting it anymore. Carter had a great time up in Gladstone, and yelled at us heartily when we told him it was time to say goodbye after 3 great days.

There was still a little snow unmelted here and there, which encouraged Uncle Freeman to make snowballs. Freeman and Carter got along very well, because Freeman wasn't afraid to get down on Carter's level and play with him. That, and Freeman plays guitar and sings. If you can make music, Carter's going to like you. All I have to do if I want Carter to come running is break into song. He'll be right underfoot, clapping his hands together for more.

I told Carter this clothesline was a zipline. We had great fun "sliding" back and forth between trees.

...We had to tag the tree on each end before turning around and zipping off in the other direction.

While Carter took a nap, we left Grandma in charge and took a walk down by the James River, which my childhood home overlooks. No, (newly minted) Aunt Kate and Uncle Sawyer didn't throw Freeman in the river right afterwards, because if they did, we'd have pictures of a sopping wet and enraged Uncle Freeman chasing everyone around a field.

Oh, and we're all wearing those colors because it was the last day of hunting season and every other local was out with a six-pack and a rifle trying to bag one last deer for the year.