Sledding

After being cooped up in the apartment for nearly a week, Gabriela was getting antsy. Even after all the coloring, puzzles, bubbles, books, cooking, dishes, giggles and chasing and other indoor fun antics, Gabriela was starting to miss her little friends. She'd tell me "Keady? Chase? Aadi?"

So it was good timing that we went on a playdate with Keady and family yesterday afternoon in the snowy park. They brought a snowy boogie board, and our whole little family went sledding for the first time. Keady's parents couldn't believe we'd never been sledding before, and were eager to show us the ropes. We always have a fun time with them!

Rhonda and the girls going down the slope.

Gabriela's first time sledding ever! She kind of whined the whole way down. Next year she'll love it.

Lane gave me a big push and I made it all the way down to the end of the hill.

That's right, I'm a professional :)

What? Lane sledded like a pro his very first time? Shocker! For those of you who know him well, this will not surprise you in the slightest.

Snowpocalypse 2010 Part 2

We just can't get over how beautiful the trees are all full of snow. As a result, we can't stop photographing it.

Snowpocalypse 2010

I haven't posted about the snowpocalypse yet because I didn't want to pick which pictures to post, we took so many! Here is the snow just as it got started on Friday morning.

And here is the same view Saturday afternoon. It snowed hours more after this pic was taken.


I stayed home Wednesday with Gabriela because overnight we had received like 5 inches of snow and daycare was closed the next day. I've hardly been to work since. A huge snow storm arrived on Friday, and we had an early release scheduled so we could all get home in time. I decided to do some work home instead of having to rush home in the snow to get to Gabriela if daycare closed early. It snowed from 10 am Friday until 6 pm Saturday, and we got nearly 2 feet of snow! We had a snow day on Monday, work and daycare are closed again today AND another 10 to 20 inches is supposed to make its way to us starting this afternoon. Surely, tomorrow will be another snow day!!!

My goal over the weekend was to make as many Cooks Illustrated recipes as I could. As a result, we've been eating like kings. So far we have made the Pizza Margherita, Chewy Chocolate Brownies, the Best Buttermilk Pancakes, Indoor Pulled Pork (and South Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce), Minestrone Soup, Cranberry Pecan Bread, and Braised Butternut Squash with Dried Apricots and Madras spices. These were just the Cooks Illustrated recipes. We ate more, believe it or not. I think it's wrong when you wake up after sleeping all night and you are STILL full. whoops. We are enjoying being snowed in.

I need to pick up a few groceries before the snow starts up again, since we'll probably be confined to the house for another few days.

Some Weekend Fun

Look how much these two love each other!
Our little salad spinner! Gabriela took all the basil leaves off the stems, put them in the salad spinner, spun them around (after I rinsed them), and of course, checked on her results.
I bought Gabriela a new coat and matching rain boots on Saturday (notice the tag is still on her coat). As soon as she saw it, she tried putting the coat on, pointing outside saying "no" for snow and "side" for outside. She was nearly in tears, she wanted to go outside so badly. This melted Daddy's heart, and they bundled up to go outside and play together.

Even MORE fun in the snow!

Fun in the snow

Just in case you are wondering, Gabriela is wearing a short-sleeved onesie, tights, a long-sleeved fleece footed sleeper, her new cardigan sweater, a pair of jeans, a big fluffy hooded snow coat, boots, a cozy fleece hat and mittens.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

If you haven't already heard, we got a monster of a snow storm over the weekend. It started snowing around 9 0r 10 Friday night and it snowed heavily until at least around 7 pm Saturday. It's supposed to continue on and off into Sunday morning. This is the worst snow the DC area has experienced in years!!! National Airport, which we live next door to, received 16.5 inches of snow in just one day - it's the largest one day snow fall recorded ever at the airport!

We would have been very excited even if it were just Lane and me, but we had visitors in town to enjoy the snow with, including Christianne from Arizona who has never seen so much snow in her life! And for the record, neither have I. We were up to our knees in snow.

Christianne was over the MOON excited. She not only bundled up and went downstairs to play in the snow THREE different times today, but she kept going out onto the balcony to stomp in the snow, check out the scenery, and even make a mini-snowman!

When all six of us went outside, we jumped in the snow, made snow angels and threw a few snow balls at each other. We were planning on making a snowman, but the snow was too powdery and dry for a snowman. Hopefully conditions will improve tomorrow.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

It snowed for the first time on Saturday. Even though it was coming down pretty hard, it had rained earlier so nothing stuck on the ground. It was enough for us to get bundled up and go check it out though. Gabriela can say snow now too.