Winterfest Fun with Archie

Last weekend we headed up to Roanoke for some Winterfest Fun. (Winterfest is a free festival at the civic center with free games, food, and ice skating - we weren't brave enough to try that, though.) Grace was there, too, but this day was filled with stuff more aimed at Archie's age.

I was so proud of him for having his photo made with this big polar bear. He camped out around this really cool inflatable I think Archie went through 200 times.

He also made this cool snowman craft out of graham crackers and marshmallows. So easy! I've decided to host a marshamallow snowman making party for my Mom's club :)

Archie does not like to get his hands dirty so he chose a non-conventional way of sampling his treat.

Archie's favorite part was the fire stuff outside. We got to go through this cool fire safety house. The house would fill with fake smoke and then they would put the "fire" out by beaming lasers at it. Archie liked the truck best, though.

Growing with Grandma and Grace!

Grace has really grown since she was the sweet little two-week-old who could barely raise her head to look at Grandma DeJ.

At 17 months, she's already talking up a storm with Grandma.

My personal favorite conversation to have with Grace (while eating)

Grace: (points at food on table) mor-uh, mor-uh

Me: Grace, do you want more?

Grace: Yeah (satisfied grin)

I also enjoy hearing her call any muppet type creature she sees "Elmo"

Grace's First Day of School!

Grace started Mother's Day Out today. After dropping her off and running a quick errand with Hunt, I dropped him off at school and it sunk in. FREEDOM!!! I had freedom. This feeling is a first since Archie was born. Sure, Hunt watches the kids sometimes and grandparents are great when we're visiting, but now I can have freedom in a whole new way. Usually, I save someone-else-watching-the-kids time for something really monumental, but now I can use it for more ordinary tasks such as running to the bank or house-cleaning (or even blogging). Grace's teachers said she had a good first day despite a wipe out during Ring Around the Rosie. (I know, I know - dangerous game.) She's in the same class with Archie, which I think helped with the transition. He didn't even seem to mind having The Gracer tag along. She'll be going on Mondays and Thursdays. Here she is at the school sign, modeling her new outfit from Memaw.

Archie wanted in on the fun.

Archie on his first day of school in September. Grace started much earlier than her brother.

What did we do besides sledding?

We did a lot, but I guess the first question to answer is "How much did it snow?" Not a ton, but enough to have fun - you can get an idea from this pic. (Unfortunately, I broke my windshield wiper off while scraping so I'll have to get a new one.)

Grace enjoyed looking cute as always.

And, of course, swinging. I think this swing may be the best investment I've ever made in my life. HAHA! We do use it year round.


Archie liked sledding down this mini-hill between our house and the neighbors, too.

Sledding Adventures

We had a blast sledding today. Hunter braved the cold around 9:30 or so and ventured off to school. It was a short day (Tech closed at 3:30) and when he got back home we headed off with our neighbor to the local elementary school which has a HUGE hill! This pic is blurry but you can see the pure joy on their faces.


Daddy got in on the fun!

Grace spent most of the day looking cute like this:

But she eventually decided to get in on the action, too.

It was a steep hill.

Dream diet

Archie's dream diet is expressed in this cute dialog. (He loves hot dogs almost as much as his Mama. Aren't they a food group or something.)

Me: Peeling carrots in a quiet kitchen

Archie: Rushing in "I don't want to eat carrots; I just want to eat hot dogs..."

Can a boy live on them?

Grace, meanwhile, would scarf a giant can of baked beans down by herself if you'd let her.

Gingerbread Fun!

Archie and Daddy had fun with this gingerbread decorating kit from Trader Joe's. They were gracious enough to share their creation with the rest of us! I love gingerbread!

We were so eager to try our creation that we couldn't even keep the knife back long enough for a picture.


I think Archie's other favorite Christmas activity so far has been the Blacksburg Christmas parade and the Festival of Trees in Knoxville.