silver linings of a snowstorm

well, we are all back home. and honestly, the weekend turned out to be great. it was kinda chaotic, and definitely not what i had planned, but i was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

jason got to stay in little rock, he had a warm place to sleep, he got to work (which isn't super exciting, but he was out of vacation days for the year, so it's always good to make money), he got to work out and play touch rugby (which he broke his nose doing), and he got some guy time since me and the kiddos were gone.

hiba and matthias got a few more days to be the center of everyone's attention. we got to see my nana, who was visiting my parents house. i got to spend an evening out with my "little" sister (who is a real grown-up now. so crazy!), sleep in two days in a row (!!!), spend an entire afternoon with my bff, and see her and her kiddos again at church on sunday. bailey and hiba were instant friends and they kept saying they would be friends forever. it was super sweet.

so, it seems the snowstorm turned out to be a blessing. i am thankful to all be back home, in our own house, but i am also thankful for the great weekend that we all ended up having. 

snowpocolypesmas continuted...

so by thursday, it was apparent that our power would not be on anytime soon. the estimates are still tuesday at the latest. they have fixed a lot of little rock, but our area has not even been started on because they are still assessing the damage. so i have zero hopes of it being on before tuesday, and minimal hopes that even that will happen.

but, the good news is that we have family close by. two families, in fact, both of whom have power. chickfila was back to being open on thursday, so i decided to bail on jason and head up to siloam to my parents house (wait, i feel like i was just there....). as i was at the gas station filling up, jason's mom texted that their power was back on. so, we decided to stay there for one night, do laundry, take showers, get a little organized, and then the kids and i would head up to siloam on friday for at least the weekend. and this way, jason had a warm bed too.

and, the best part was that the kids finally got to play in the snow! they had wanted to since waking up on wednesday morning, but seeing as we had no place warm to recover and then were at a hotel with no real good place to play outside, it just didn't happen. but, once we were settled in a gramma and papa's, the kids had naps pretended to nap, aunt lizzie was the hero and took them outside.

 

hiba lasted about five minutes, matthias lasted about ten. but it was a glorious five and ten minutes and lived up to all of their expectations.

so friday morning, the kids and i headed up to siloam. rachel was off work for the weekend, and my nana was visiting, so it was a great weekend to come up. plus they have power, so that made it even more appealing.

and when we got here, it was snowing. i felt like this was some horrible dream that i couldn't wake myself up from. luckily, it didn't stick to the roads and it was just enough to be fun and pretty, but not enough to knock down trees or ice roads.

first nap since christmas

snow is following me!!!

not a great picture, but i did not want to go outside. i'm over this snow thing.

so now, we are up in siloam, jason's in little rock, and the end is not clearly in sight. but, i did get to sleep in today, went out for some sister time last night, and the kids are loving being the center of attention for a few more days. i'm thankful that we have options and somewhere to go, but i am looking forward to being back home - hopefully any day now!

snowpocolypsemas!!

power was going out left and right. sleet was coming down. the roads were getting icy. snow was on it's way.

lucky for us, our power stayed on for quite a while. we charged our phones and realized how little we had prepared for big storms like this. we gathered a few candles, put towels by the doors, and made sure blankets were down.

then the kids went to bed and it was the perfect night. egg nog, a warm house, walking dead, snow falling, tree branches cracking in the distance. so peaceful.

 



so we went to bed in a warm house, heater running, big blanekts....and woke up to no power and house with the temerature droping by the minute. not my favorite way to wake up.

so jason went to work, or went to trying-to-figure-out-if-there-would-be-work. hiba and matthias played in the house, completely oblivious to how cold and miserable it was (which means it probably wasn't that cold and miserable and i am just spoiled and a wimp, but whatever), and i sat on the counch with lots of sweatshirts looking for hotels.



who doesn't love dress-up in a cold, powerless house?

so after talking to a friend who informed me that the hotel she was trying to get was already full and looking at the entergy power outage map that was getting more red by the second, i booked us a room at the embassy suites for the night. packing kept me pre-occupied and we headed over there after lunch. after a little drama (which was nothing compared to the drama that people after me had to face - worst customer service ever, high emotions, lots of cold people = crazy town), we got in our room. the kids enjoyed the pool, snacks, and the tv. i enjoyed being somewhere with heat. matthias enjoyed three breakfasts (gotta get your money's worth, right?)

 

christmas, round 2

we celebrated christmas day in little rock at our house. jason's family came over (minus his dad who was sick with the flu, or who "had a flea" according to hiba).



christmas eve - stockings are ready, presents are out, and new
christmas pjs!

before she went to bed, hiba told me, "you know what i really want in my stocking? it is so funny. and santa won't be able to bring it. but it would be so crazy to have a stocking INSIDE my stocking!" and lo and behold, santa delivered! (thanks to a random little stocking we had laying around. i have no idea where it came from. it's a christmas miricle!)

the kiddos loved their stockings. it's nice that they are so easy to give to and so happy with whatever they get. it was fun to see their excitedness.

after a big breakfast, we opened presents. there were just a few of them. 90% were for hiba and matthias.

after presents, jason and i went to see les mis, while gramma and lizzie stayed with the kids. it was AMAZING. if you haven't seen it, go see it. so good. while we were in the theater, it started sleeting. no big deal right? well, we got back home and liz and kathy went to go see it, and about a third of the way through, the theater lost power. it hadn't even started snowing yet. just sleet, and a little ice. it was here. SNOWPOCOLYPSEMAS 2012!!!!!!

christmas, part 1

what a week it has been! two christmas celebrations, eight inches of snow, power outages, one night in a hotel, two trips to siloam....i actually can't wait for next week when things go back to normal. fingers crossed. anyway, here's the start of the recap for the last week or so.

last friday, we drove up to siloam to celebrate christmas with the piston family. we were all here, and it was so fun to catch up with everyone. the weekend included lots of food:
 

lots of fun toys and activities:

fun with shaving cream!



matthias the hillbilly, hiba's name out of blocks, shaving cream
fun, and stringing beads. yay for grammy and oscar's house!

rachel's birthday:

hiba's gift to rachel

rachel and kane - her "family friend"

christmas and presents, of course:

singing christmas hymns

and the present chaos begins!



it's just what she always wanted! and art set!!



new baby from aunt kristin and uncle nate

and lights on the square:

downtown siloam - this is what hiba and matthias got to see

the real lights with the siblings

jason had to work on monday, so we headed back to little rock for round 2. stay tuned!