Well our new house definitely feels like a home after all the time we spent inside it during the month of February!! February was very snowy and icy, and there were numerous days in a row we didn't leave our house. BUT we still had a lot of fun together!
February started with a Super Bowl Party at the Myers' house with friends! So fun!
We had so many super cold days, I downloaded some new apps on the iPad. Carter now LOVES playing games on this, and he's really good at it!
One day was chilly but not too bad, so we spent a little bit of time outside riding the Gator...
...and going for a walk.
Carter asked to get off the Gator to walk with Nora Kate.
He LOVES holding her hand.
Lots of basketball practice!
And lots of basketball games!
We continued to be amazed at how much Dawson and the whole team learned this season!! It was really impressive!! Dawson always had a little cheering section of the grandparents and, of course, me and the kids (John coached so he was on the court), and our friends the Myers even came to watch a game at the beginning of February! Dawson was thrilled to have Colt there!
With all of our house projects we are in Home Depot ALL.THE.TIME!
This was a quick Home Depot run after church one day.
The kids always get to try out the mowers as a reward for good behavior in Home Depot!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Happy Valentine's Day!
We had a nicer day at the beginning of the month, but it was really windy...
perfect kite flying weather!
We celebrated Nana's birthday this month!
Carter ALWAYS makes us laugh!!!
Love him!
Dawson had to dress what like what he wanted to be when he grows up for school one day.
He was, of course, a farmer!
It was cold, but these sweet kids begged to go outside and ride the gator for just a few minutes!!
For our Valentine's Date John and I went to Winter Jam 2015.
The Christian musicians were great! For King and Country was definately our favorite. Here we are waiting for it to begin.
It was SO packed!
When we were trapped inside during the ice and snow, we used this opportunity to let the kids take the last of their Christmas presents out of the boxes. Each kid had one thing we had purposefully left boxed up for a rainy (snowy, rather) day when the newness had worn off of everything else.
Nora Kate LOVED getting this princess castle out!
The boys each had saved a Lego set to open. They had fun getting to put these together.
Snow started falling, and Dawson claimed he "saw the very, very first snowflake." It was sooo cold and they were calling for snow and ice so the kids and I had a pj day and they kept watch out the sunroom windows until it started!
Being snowed/iced in gave us the opportunity to do lots of crafts. Like these snowmen!
You can't tell in this picture but the grass is entirely ice, and it's sleeting! As soon as the ice storm started a huge tree fell across our road and driveway from across the street. The city quickly came and moved it so it was only blocking half of the street. The kids LOVED watching the equipment!
Even though it was more ice than snow, Dawson insisted that we go out and play in it!
The sleds went REALLY fast on the ice.
Nora Kate was not really a fan of the ice.
Everything white is actually ice. You can see John's tire tracks where he literally slid down the driveway to get to work.
The icy trees in the background are so pretty!
While we were iced in the kids started having fun taking pictures with the iPad. So I showed them how to take a picture of all of us.
Carter immediately wanted to do a funny face picture.
Out of order, but our Valentine's decorations Dawson and I made.
Nora Kate has been cracking us up. She grabs her purse and puts her baby in the stroller and walks around the house like this!
And then it snowed more.
Everyone mows their snow, right?!
And then it snowed again.
odd picture, but it snowed so hard you couldn't see anything!!! this was when it was starting to come down!
While we were snowed in I taught Dawson to tie his shoes.
The snow was so, so cold BUT it was so beautiful to look outside and see this instead of just brown grass and mud!
Our house in the snow and ice!
The boys enjoyed the extra iPad time they got to have while we were snowed in...and extra pajama days!
Another productive thing we did while snowed in was teach Carter how to make his bed! He's amazing at this, and he's so proud of his hardwork!
These three still love to snuggle in Nora Kate's crib! They all three used this same crib and now look how big the boys look in it!!
We built some pretty elaborate forts and tunnel systems during the snow too!
Our driveway as a sheet of ice!
One Saturday morning when we weren't really even expecting much snow we woke up to more snow!
And then more snow.
John and I joked that our new ritual was getting up at 5:30 every morning to attempt shoveling the driveway. Then I stand at the top and watch as John would slide down it and then slide down our road.
We quickly determined we were not cut out for this.
Road in front of our house as John left for work one morning.
When it snowed, Dawson always requested to use the "snow measuring stick" to check the snow first thing in the morning (that explains the pajamas!).
Dawson made this little snow man on his own with raisin eyes and a carrot nose. I thought it was so sweet!
Another thing we practiced a lot while snowed in was Carter writing his name.
He was so proud of how well he did it!
Here's that snow measuring stick again for another snowy morning haha!
Obviously the city needed to employ Nora Kate to help clear the roads!
After days and days of trying to slide from Maryville to Vonore for work, when they were calling for 6-8 inches on Thursday and there was still snow and ice on the ground...John decided just to take a vacation day! It was so fun! It snowed a ton! We spent the whole day outside playing in it! The boys loved having their Daddy to sled with too!
John, Dawson and I made this snow wall!
Then John, Carter, Dawson, and I made these snow blocks to line the driveway like a wall...they thought this was cool!
At the end of February we had a couple birthday parties to look forward to. First up was Charlie's 5th birthday party! It was at an indoor gym. Here are Carter and Harper chatting it up on the foam mats!
The whole group at Charlie's party.
An hour after Charlie's party ended we got to go to Campbell's first birthday party. I cannot believe he's one already, but he got to celebrate with a sweet party!
It was a mickey mouse theme!
Carter has really started to like helping me in the kitchen. Here we are making Andes Mint Cookies-his current favorite!
We actually did this March 1, but since it was part of our snow experience I decided to lump it with February. We decided that while there was still snow lingering on the ground, we should drive up to Cades Cove and drive though the mountains. The kids absolutely love doing this. We got up there pretty early so it wasn't crowded at all!!
They like getting out to look at all the old houses and buildings..and this time it was even more fun because they got to run around in the snow!
Cades Cove in the snow
We saw more deer than I have ever seen in one trip!!
Look how close this one was to our car! We opened the van door for Nora Kate to see, and she loved it! We could hear the deer chewing!
Then we saw these two coyotes!
Cades Cove fun!
Cades Cove fun!
February was a great month where we got to spend a lot of time together doing fun little things since we were stuck inside a lot, and we loved it!
I am realizing now that I must not have gotten a single picture of the Valentine's party/playdate we hosted. But that was February 12th and a lot of fun too!
