EVEN MORE SNOW!!!

So, the federal government has shut down. Schools are canceled. The metro is closed and busses aren't running. Even our 4 wheel drive SUB got stuck in the snow in our neighborhood. Where the heck do we live. Alaska. NOPE Virginia. Crazy!!! Over the weekend we got about 30 inches of snow. Which is really pretty and tons of fun, but not when the place you live isn't used to getting snow. They were prediciting that it would take them 6 days to clear the main roads and the metro is completely covered in snow. Ryan and Javin both had yesterday off and it hadn't snowed since Saturday night so we ventured out to get out of the house. The sun was shining, all of the snow on and around our cars was gone, we have a vehicle with 4 wheel drive we can totally get around right?!? WRONG> Our neighborhood hasn't been cleared and there is only enough room on the road for one car at a time. After going to lunch and the grocery store we were on our way home and another car was coming so Ryan scooted over to let him pass and then we were stuck. WE were lucky that a tractor came by after about 10 minutes and helped dig us out. The roads were really bad and after being out and about I can totally see why school buses aren't out in this. The real cincher is that today and tomorrow we are supposed to get another 10 to 12 inches more. They haven't even cleared off the other storm yet. Crazy snow. At this rate with all of the snow days the kids last day of school which is already June 22 is going to be even longer into the summer. Fun to not have to go to school now, sad that we aren't really going to be getting a summer break. Ryan has loved being home and not going to work. He is home again today. So, we are going to go to Dicks Sporting Goods today to see if we can track down some tubes because apparently the golf course that we live on has some amazing tubing hills. I love getting all of this snow it's beautiful and fun but too bad they don't really have the resources to clear it all. The state spent their entire snow removal budget for the year on the storm back in December. Luckily we weren't in the areas that have been without power since Friday. So glad to have power. Also, I still haven't found my camera since our trip to Utah at Christmas so if I find it soon I'll take some pictures of all of this crazy snow!!!

NEW DUE DATE

NEW DUE DATE:

So I went to my 21 week ultrasound on the 18th and the Dr's at the hospital were concerned because the baby was small for 21 weeks but great size for 20 weeks. So, they decided I should do another ultrasound to make sure that the baby is growing. I called my DR for a second opinion and he said that the ultrasound we did at 8 weeks actually projected a due date of June 4th so he thinks the baby is growing just fine and pushed my due date back a week. We will continue to measure and if it looks like I'm small in my measurements then we might do another ultrasound. So, now, the due date is June 4th instead of May 29th. Other than that things are going great.

Javin just started a sports and games class on Monday's which he loves and Cael is of course three and full of temper tantrums which are awesome. Good thing he's so cute and fun when he isn't mad.

SNOW SNOW SNOW and MORE SNOW

We had a huge winter storm this weekend. I think they officially called it a blizzard warning and our state was in a state of emergency. I believe we got around 21 inches of snow in a 24 hr time frame. The plows couldn't keep up and yesterday we got to dig ourselves out. Church was cancelled. Ry's work got cancelled today and they cancelled school for the rest of the week. We thought it was tons of fun and nothing compared to Utah but here it's a big deal. Here are some of our pictures from all of this snow.

These first ones are form Saturday during the day so before the snow had finished.

Ryan thought it was super fun to throw the kids in the snow. Javin did a snow angel. I think Ryan did a face plant but sadly I didn't get that picture I was up getting Cael nice and warm everyone ask papa if you can see it!!

By this point Javin was in tears because he was so cold. We don't have winter clothes.

Just one on the deck to see how much there is

Both boys were so cold after this. A Little bit later Ryan threw both the dog and the cat out there just to get a reaction. Needless to say they hated it.

Papa's car was totally buried.

The digging out of our car on Saturday. We had to run a few errands At this point it had only been snowing for a little while so it wasn't such hard digging.

Sunday the sun was shining and the day was beautiful. My camera died so I didn't get very many pictures to show just how much snow was on the cars. The entire neighborhood was out digging themselves out and enjoying the beautiful snowy weather.

Snow Fun!!

Who can believe Cael is actually 3. He is getting so stinking big. He was really funny because he thought that now that he was three he had to give up all of the toys that were his when he was two. I had to talk him into keeping all of his toys.

Cael wanted to help decorate so after his nap he helped me blow up balloons and cut crepe paper. Daddy came home early to put it all up. I think he did a great job!

Javin really got into the heavy heavy hang over tradition.

More decorations! I think it's the most we've ever had.

On Saturday we got up to SNOW!! YEAH!! IT's been quite a few years since we've lived where it snows. We went to get our Christmas tree in it. These are the kids roasting marshmallows at the tree lot.

The kids, especially Javin, were so excited to throw snowballs. Javin almost hit Santa with a snowball. I wonder if he would be getting Christmas this year if he'd actually hit him!?!

Even daddy had to get in on the snowball fight. This is me getting mine for trying to take a picture of him!!

This one is on our way to get the tree. I let the kids play for awhile first they were so excited.

We got our decorations up and have been enjoying that its Christmas time because of the snow.

This weekend we went to a Renaissance Fair in Maryland with the kids and Ryan's parents. We've been hearing about it and it was GREAT!! Can you believe they even had jousting?!?

These are the fair maids who gave us a map of the grounds. The one in the peach dress even helped us find a few places and helped in the knighting of our kids

No fair would be complete without face paint!

The knighting ceremony. The Lady Mary dubbed the children knights for doing a goodly deed. They were so excited!! Caellum even got up to do this without our help. They got certificates declaring them official knights of the realm. Javin is so excited to be a knight but Cael wondered where his outfit was.

At one of the children's plays they asked for volunteers. OF course Javin volunteered. They had all of the kids yell as loud as they could and then picked the loudest two girls and boys. Javin wasn't the loudest and was extremely sad, (of course crying) but the Hero of the show George, decided that he didn't want to rescue a princess so the crew member said he'd take the first hand he saw to be the replacement and to every ones excitement Javin is extremely fast. He got to be the HERO and he was amazing. The play masters even had to step in because Javin really knows how to fight with a sword and could have taken the dragon out. He did an excellent job and was super excited. This was the best part of the day for me. I love how excited Javin gets for everything and he loves to be the center of attention.

As always good things must come to an end but I have to say if we are still here next year this will definitely be a repeat event.

DC and Grandparents

Caellum seriously loved this huge tower. We kept trying to tell him it was a monument but that tower was just so huge

We made Javin run around and read every state. He got especially excited to find the ones that we had lived in.

Just a friendly game of swords.

I love that Ryan isn't going to give the ball up for anything.

Caellum could barely even hold his sword. He did a great job getting dad though

I was really proud of Javin for the way he was going after the ball. I'm sure the day is coming when he may actually beat his dad

Wouldn't it be fun to be little and get tossed around like this?

Anyway, we're having a great time here and enjoying the extra time we get to see Ryan. It's weird to actually have a weekend and get holidays off. But we sure do like it!!

UPDATE

WOW it feels like years since I have posted anything. We had a great summer complete with the trip to Utah for a month to bask in the love of cousins, grandparents, and friends. After getting home, Javin started school at the beginning of August and then two weeks later we moved. School here didn't start until after Labor day so he got an extra couple of weeks of summer. WE love Virginia but miss our friends in Augusta. Our ward here is going to be a good one but probably not the home that the Augusta ward was. Javin loves everything about being here and is making friends in school. One of the things that we like about moving, besides just a little more space to live, is that we are now close to grandma and grandpa Thompson who will be coming to visit on weekends. YEAH! Also, we took the kids to DC one day and rode the metro in. They were super excited and can't wait to go back. I still haven't found my camera yet. It is in a box somewhere but once I get it out I'll get pictures up here. I'm super excited about Javin's school he gets recess everyday and has Spanish twice a week. Schools here are excellent. We really like the area we're living in and can't wait to make more friends and memories in a new state.