There's SNOW place like home...

Blizzard Draco

Since when do winter storms have names? Since now. Since it started snowing Wednesday night and didn't stop until around 2am on Friday. Since we had "thundersnow", which is when there's thunder and lightning and three inches of snow suddenly falls from the sky is less than an hour.

The plan was for Matt, Sandy, the kids, and the dogs to drive to Arkansas Thursday night after Matt's clinic. Unbelievably, his clinic was cancelled. Now I know in Arkansas we cancel school, church, work....at the mention of the word 'snow'....but I thought things were different here in Wisconsin. Well, apparently this wasn't your typical snow!

So, I suggested to Matt that they leave Wednesday night to beat the storm. What was I thinking? Oh yeah. That I'd rather my family get out of here before the storm and be safe.

The good news is they had a safe and uneventful trip to Arkansas. That I had a few days of sleeping in and relaxing in front of our 'pretend fire'. That I was able to clean house without Hurricane Zane following behind me. I was able to vacuum without Hollin on my hip.

The bad news? I've never felt that lonely in my entire life. The realization that I was in our house alone, no kids, no dogs, in Wisconsin, in the middle of a blizzard....it was eerie. I can't tell you how many times since they've been gone that I've tiptoed around as to not wake the babies. How many times I've thought, "Oh, gosh! I need to let the dogs out!" And then realize I'm alone!

Small Happys that have kept me from feeling so lonely...warm blanket, coffee, General Hospital, and our 'pretend fire'.

Pictures really don't do justice to the crazy amounts of snow we got! Almost TWENTY inches!

Looking out the back door

A neighbor brought by part of our house that blew off.

I tried to walk around in the backyard to take more pictures. There were places where the snow was pretty packed and I could walk without too much difficulty. But I quickly realized that if i stepped in an area where the wind had blown snowdrifts that I would fall in all the way past my knees!

This picture was taken Thursday night. That's my mailbox in the center of the picture.

Wish Zaney was here to build Frosty with me. Once the wind stopped and the sun came out, it really was beautiful! But I'm SO ready to hop on a plane, get to Arkansas, hug my babies, and let the Christmas festivities begin! And there's even a chance for snow on Christmas Day in Arkansas!

 

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Christmas in Madison

A few Christmas festivities we've enjoyed this year....

The kids are so lucky to have Ms. Jeri take such good care of them and treat them to a Christmas party. They enjoyed treats, movies, and presents! Hollin was wearing her cute outfit from Aunt Lindsey, so Zane wanted to wear a Christmas shirt, too. Reindeer pjs it is!

We took the Christmas tree cookies....but there's no pics of us baking or decorating. My new favorite phrase: I might not have made them, but I did make them possible. The Sentry grocery store did a much better job than I could ever do. Worth the time and sanity saved. Notice the girl in purple that Zane is next to in every picture? In his words, "I wuv her."

We enjoyed lunch with friends at Daisy Cafe and Cupcakery, which wore this little elf out.

What kid doesn't like Christmas lights? Madison has a free drive-through animated lights display called Festival in Lights. One night, after dinner and baths, we bundled the kids up and headed to Olin Park to see the lights. My favorite was the capital display with the actual capital across the lake in the background. We loved hearing Zane's excitement from the backseat. "Look at that kid sliding!" "There's Bucky Badger!" And Matt and I enjoyed the mini-vacation from chasing kids. If only they had fallen asleep on the way home....

Matt and I had a fun night out for his work Christmas party. While we were away, the kids had fun making cookies for Santa with Miss Marisa (or Miss Arisa, as Zane calls her).

That Santa....he found us in Wisconsin early again this year! The cookies must've lured him in.

Things I want to remember Z saying:

"My favorite Christmas song is "Dominick the Donkey".

"I thought it was so COOL that Santa brought me toys."

"A manger is what cows and horses eat."

"Don't worry, mommy. My toys will protect you."

And we got a little snow....but, more on that later.

 

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big brother

Matt and I decided to actually sit down and catch up on some tv Monday night. Hollin had been asleep, but we heard her start to cry on the monitor. And then we could hear her laughing. And voices. And this is what we saw.

Zane had climbed into the crib with her. He was saying, "I'm here to pwotect you, baby. Don't cwy." They played up there for about an hour. He had her laughing SO hard. Z came back down and told us that he had "figured out the pwobwem (problem). Baby Hollin is scared of the dark!"

He decided that he wanted his picture taken yesterday before I went to work.

And Hollin says "cheese" every time she sees me taking pictures. Love this one. She's even waving.

Both kids are napping now. Z didn't want to go to his room. He said he'd be nice and comfy in this chair. Miracle of miracles, he actually went to sleep. For the record, he's wearing a razorback jersey, a superman tshirt, and his new sweatshirt. The first two to "make daddy happy."

 

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Haircut & Ice cream? Oh yeah...

Zane loved getting his haircut at Pigtails & Crewcuts in Little Rock, so we were super bummed when we moved to Madison and couldn't find a children's salon.

Until now! It just opened a few weeks ago. Scooops. And every haircut comes with an ice cream treat. Genius.

I think the goal is to serve the ice cream after the haircut as a reward. But Zane is impatient and wiggly.

It's definitely designed for girls, advertising treatments such as "hot fudge hand dips" and "sprinkle-icious up-do's" and hosting spa birthday parties. But boys like ice cream, too! Right? Plus, the haircuts are the same price as the adult place I usually take him + 25% for their grand opening. Win/win, if you ask me. I knew you were totally going to ask me.

Hollin hopes to have enough hair to require a haircut in a few years. I would love to take her there when she's Zane's age! Mother/daughter mani-pedi's? Yes, please! How cute is this outfit?!

We also made a quick trip to Wal-Mart. For the record, this is the second time I've been in WM since we moved here. WHAT? That was an almost daily trip in Little Rock! Reminded us of home, except that this one has a parking garage. You know, to avoid snowy parking lots. That's why this picture was taken in an "elligator" (elevator). And Little Miss is not in it because she's a horrible shopper. She just lets out one constant scream unless I'm holding her.

Finally, the "after" picture. I think the haircut made him look so much older! Not sure how I feel about that. He is a cute, sweet boy.

 

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Dear Santa, I can explain...

We took the kids to see Santa on Friday night. Zane has always LOVED Santa, or any character-type. I guess he got a little awestruck and froze when Santa asked what he wanted. "I want a...uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.....toys? Uh, uh, batman. And uh, uh, uh toys...."

Hollin has stranger anxiety, so I knew she was not going to tolerate this strange man holding her.

So this happened.

But then she thought that she might need to do a little explaining so that he wasn't mad at her.

Santa, Hollin is sorry that she cried. She really has been a good girl this year.

Matt and Zane headed to the grocery store parking lot to pick out a Christmas tree, but Zane wasn't having it. He wanted to "go to the forest!" So on Saturday the boys headed to Waunakee to pick out a tree.

I was kind of proud of his desire for things to be traditional. Until he decided that he didn't like my angel. "It has to be a star!" Fine. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a star. "It was supposed to be a YELLOW star!" He eventually accepted my new red star.

I also picked him out a new ornament. He was so proud of it that he took a picture of it. It did not actually make it onto the tree in one piece, but he did pick out the perfect spot for it. He said it was "so special".

Z asked me the other day if we had any socks. "You know, those big socks that you hang and Santa puts candy in them?" Hopefully the man in red will find us in Wisconsin again and fill up our 'socks' with candy.

 

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