Hey, It's Jade! and family

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas 2013!

I pray that you and yours have a very merry and blessed Christmas!

While the true story here is that Callen was just being grumpy (about taking a picture with Santa), I like to imagine that he's just a bit miffed to find he had showed up to this gala and someone else was wearing the same outfit as him.  How embarrassing!

Don't be fooled, it's not snow.  It's ICE.  We had a crazy string of several days in a row where the entirety of Dallas-Fort Worth was iced in!

Our new house is a bit on the drafty side.  No worries, though... layers and Daddy snuggles will keep them warm!

Anyway, again... Merry Christmas from my family to yours!!!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Ice Day(s) 2013...

On Preston's birthday, December 4th, it looked like this...
Remote control cars & chalking w/Uncle Daniel

Fast forward a few days, to December 6th, and it looked like this...
WHAT IN THE WORLD?!?!

And that, my friends, is NOT snow, believe it or not.  It is pure ice.  Yep, tiny ice pellets that fell.  All day.  And then, that ice stayed... for days.  It was insane for this part of Texas.  Schools were called off for nearly a week, people didn't go in to work if they didn't have to, grocery stores were literally bare of essentials.  Ice-aggedon 2013.

The boys were excited to go play in it.  Of course, they thought it would be fun... like snow.  Oh well.  They enjoyed it anyway.  For a little while.

He really wanted to make a snow angel.
Look at Callen's face, so happy!
He did really like being out there in the freezing cold!
Ice Day 2013
Found ways to stay warm inside!
When it all finally started to melt, our metal roof gave us quite the show.  The heavy sheets of ice would inch over the edge of the roof, then suddenly slide forward, break off and crash down.  The first time I heard a huge crash, I opened the back yard to look around.  I saw the ice sheet danging above my head and quickly closed the door, which caused it come crashing down.  Our back porch was soon completely covered in thick, hard ice... couldn't open the door any more for a few days!  Callen and I went around the side and then out the back and stood out there a while watching all the ice sheets come crashing down one by one, until the end when a bunch of it gave at once and there was a huge ice-sheet-water-fountain type display.  It was unbelievable!  Callen loved it!

Climbing the ice 'mountains.'
Several days later that those ice sheets were still built up along the edge of the house despite everything else having melted away.  The boys played in it and tried to see who could lift the heaviest chunk.

An unfortunate side effect of the freak ice storm on a metal roof is that some of the water froze in certain places and expanded, bending some of the metal, and making a place for water to leak in.  One morning a week or so after the storm, it rained... and there was a puddle in our living room.  It also bent and nearly broke off an exhaust stack from the water heater.  Geez!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Preston Turns EIGHT!

Preston's birthday completely snuck up on me this year.  We managed to pull off a party on the evening before his actual birthday and he had some sweet friends come.  He wanted a Nintendo-themed party, but it ended up being more Mario than anything, and barely at that.

I'm this many now!
My attempt at 1-Up Mushroom Cupcakes
Gma was opening a remote control car.
Kids playing in the boys' room.
Eight hasn't hit me nearly as hard as 7 did last year.  I think I haven't really had much time to think about it because of the move and all.  I dunno, I'm ok with it for now.  Lol. 

Sunday, December 1, 2013

November 2013 Tweets & Instagrams to Remember...

Nov 1st - Not yet, not yet, not yet... Too late. D'oh! KaBlam!

Nov 6th - A 1/4-Acre yard takes much more effort to mow than our previous yard. …

Nov  7th - This is the porch life.

Nov 8th - The long lost address book has been found!

Nov 10th - His super model look.

Nov 11th - ! Their own desks! Annnnnd, we have internet in our house now! Happy !  

Nov 15th - Don't forget to stop and smell the roses. :)  

Nov 22nd - Oh, just hanging in the door frame... With a bow on his head.  

Nov 26th - Super awesome comes home from a long day of work... And then works some more.