Ice Storm 2011

Just two weeks after our "White Christmas" the weather man predicted another bout of snow and ice. Always a little skeptical of Georgia's snow predictions, I laughed about everyone going to the grocery store but headed there myself to gear up for the big snow storm. The predictions just seemed to get bigger as the weekend progressed...so the kids and I packed and headed to grand mama's to be snowed in with my parents. My kids had never gotten to play in the snow with all their cousins, since there was almost a 100% chance of snow, I figured this was a pretty sure bet. Z is always very busy when the weather is bad and I knew he would make it to work and work long days if he even came home at all. The kids were very excited at the chance to get to play with all their cousins in the snow.

Sunday night the weather started with heavy sleet falling hard and fast. We quickly loaded up the kids and the dog, kissed Z goodbye and got on the road. In my hast I forgot my camera, so all my pictures will be borrowed from my moms camera and my sister. We woke up Monday morning to about 5 inches of snow on the ground and a nasty layer of ice above that. Although not great for snowmen, it made for great sledding conditions! Our cousins had sled and ski boards that gave us a great ride. The roads were horrible, some of the worst I can remember, so everyone was pretty much home, happy to be safe and enjoying this rare snow storm that only comes to GA every 15 or so years.

Day two was even a little warmer, road conditions were still really bad, so we stayed Monday night and enjoyed another day of sledding and fun with all of the family. Tuesday afternoon Z came to get us in the truck and after a quick stop at Domino's, the only pizza place open in the county we headed home.

Snow day three after an extremely cold night left us with a blanket of ice that resembled a skating rink on the roads and in the yards. The ice was so hard you could not break through it as you walked. Myself, the kids, and the dog just skated around the yard. Risk for falling was quite high and today there was no need for a sled. You just sat down gave yourself a little push and away we went. Everyone was falling everywhere, the kids, the dog, the neighbors, and even mom and dad both feel before the crazy weather was over. Never in my lifetime have I ever seen ice like that. Taking Nate out for potty breaks took on a whole different meaning. Quite dangerous! The hills our yard were very scary for little feet and unprotected heads. Snow day three turned into a quick play outside and then back to the house for some inside playtime. With the high of 26 on Wednesday, I was not too sad to have an inside day.

While we were enjoying all the snow and ice from the comfort of home, my co-workers at the hospital were going on their 3rd day with no relief in sight. Wednesday night I took my turn sleeping at the hospital to be available in case there was need for an emergency surgery. Thursday morning we did cases and I stayed on Thursday until 5:30 finishing up the day, completing almost 20 hours straight of work. This made for a long tiring day, but I was glad to help out and offer relief for my co-workers.

Thursday--day four of the snow.... all kind of tired of the snow and ready to move on. The roads are still icy and the kids are still home from school. The ice continues to stick around. The kids had a blast at Mary's playing with Mary, Shooter, and Lauren in the snow. The golf course made for great sledding and much safer than our sloping yard.

Friday... the ice is still around but much less of it. Finally temperatures above freezing. Another long work day and the kids are at my mom's this time. It was quite a challenge getting the kids to my mom's house. We had to park at Kim's house and carefully walk the kids and Nate across the icy yard into the house. We all made it safe and sound...but there was no driving in my moms driveway! Way too icy and dangerous. Finally a little melt on Friday with the warming temps and finally at last we were saying good bye to the ice storm of 2011!

2010 The Christmas Standoff!

Ahhhh! Christmas memories, we can all remember waking up on Christmas morning so excited to see what Santa brought! I wanted to make sure and record this because, I am sure we will not have another Christmas morning quite like this one. About 7:30 Christmas morning the kids could stand it no more, they were ready to get up and see what Santa brought. Everyone was gathered in our bedroom as we always do to read the Christmas story, say a prayer and then go see what Santa brought. This year we had a special Christmas gift....ha! M had the flu. She was feeling a little better Christmas AM and had only run a low grade fever during the night. She had given us a little trouble the day before taking her flu medication, but I had put it in chocolate milk and with a little coaxing she had taken two doses the day before. I went downstairs, prepared the medicine in Chocolate milk and brought it back upstairs. Z and I told M that as soon as she took her medicine we could all go downstairs and see what Santa had brought. That's when the STAND OFF began. We never dreamed she would refuse to take the medicine, but that is just what she did. We were not too worried, who could resist the bribe of "take your medicine, so you can see what Santa brought". After about 20 minutes M still refused to take her medicine. She now had S and E crying and M was enjoying the power of controlling when we went down to get our presents a little too much. If we had ever dreamed she would not have taken her medicine, we would have never said "you can't go down and get your presents until you take your medicine", but now it was Christmas morning, S and E were crying and M was quite calmly refusing to take her medicine. This is not the Christmas morning I had envisioned. After about 30 minutes of this nonsense, Z and I had no choice but to hold M down, of course with her kicking and screaming and to force the medicine in her. Not really the Christmas morning we were hoping for. Just a little lesson in parenting. Keeping it real and just knowing that you have to just laugh or you would be crying! So much for the Hallmark movie, perfect memories on Christmas mornings! That's okay, I would change any of those memories, except maybe next year we will not think we will outsmart the kids and bribe them on Christmas morning!

Christmas 2010

Making a ginger bread house
Christmas with Nana and PawPaw, they came to us because everybody was sick

Christmas morning!

S and M doing a "Christmas performance" at their grandparents' house

More of Christmas Morning. M dog that kept barking. "Mama, my dog needs air, you better let me open my present"

M not feeling too well, Christmas morning

Eagerly waiting to open gifts

White Christmas!

Playing in the snow on Christmas night. Yes, M outside with the flu, on Christmas playing in the snow.

Playing in the snow the day after Christmas with Nate.

Wow! I can hardly believe that Christmas 2010 has come and gone. Shortly after S celebrated her 9th birthday, she came down with the flu. This put a little bit of a damper on our early Christmas activities. Little did I know that would start 3 weeks of the flu, (one week per child) and here we are in early Jan still battling coughs and colds. We did manage to have a few days symptom free between the kids and were able to do school Christmas parties. A visit to SC (while we were there E came down with the flu). One thing I must say about this Christmas was all this sickness forced us to slow down and just be home and spend more time together. Too bad we had to have the flu to force us to do that.

One of the most exciting things about Christmas 2010 was the snow. This was the first time in mine or my parents lifetime that we can ever remember it snowing on Christmas. We got 1-2 inches--not much but we will take it. Everything was beautiful, I just kept saying. This does not feel real, I can't believe it is snowing on Christmas. Between sickness, being out of town, and snow--church service around Christmas were few and far between. I really missed worshiping with my family this Christmas and celebrating the birth of Christ in my church. Hopefully something I will look foward to in the years to come, because I realized how my I missed it this year.