Snow and Ice Fun

Look at my snowball!

Abbie gets a turn with Daddy!

Now it's Sophie's turn!

Abbie's sledding on our alley.

a snowy view of our street

On Monday, February 16, we woke up to a winter wonderland.  We had gotten about 4 inches or so (I would guess) of snow and ice.  It continued to snow and sleet off and on Monday.  Matt did not go into work on Monday or Tuesday.  They cancelled classes at Lipscomb University.  We got some snow but there was a lot of ice under the snow so it was very slippery.  The girls were supposed to be out on Monday for President's Day anyway but they ended up being out all week and the following Monday due to snow and ice.  The girls had a great time sledding some almost every day.  Sophie and Abbie had fun sledding some with Mama and Daddy, and our friends, Sophie and Abby Clark sledded with us at their home and ours, as well as our neighbors, Charlie, Whit, Camden and Hugo.  By Wednesday, Matt drove in to work a little bit late.  I was starting to get a little stir crazy by Wednesday.  The main roads around us were clear but our little street was still a sheet of ice.  It snowed some more on Wednesday but we ventured out that afternoon to go see the Paddington movie (about Paddington bear).

The girls enjoyed playing games, watching T.V. and movies, doing some craft projects, making cookies, etc.  Thursday was an adventure because I had planned to drive to Spring Hill to meet my best friend, Andrea, who lives in Lewisburg but my van wouldn't start.  Andrea ended up driving to Franklin to pick us up and we rode with her to have some lunch.  That afternoon, AAA came and jumped off my van.  It turned out that the battery was OK.  My cousin, Craig, and his family were in town but we were not able to make it over to see them because most of the week, the roads were too bad.  They left town on Friday.  It snowed some more on Friday.  Saturday, was very dreary and rainy outside.  The roads were still slick in the morning and all of the snow started melting which made the roads kind of dangerous.

I was hoping that we would get some "REAL" snow this year though and we did!!  The kids enjoyed having snow cream and sledding in the snow (or mostly ice, I should say).

Abbie's 7th Birthday Bash

Abbie's ready to welcome her friends to the party!

Anna with Elsa

Sierra and Elsa (A.K.A Haley)

Sophie and Elsa

Elsa and Abbie

Abbie and Sophie C. with Elsa

Abbie and Elsa with her castle cake!

Elsa, Sophie and Abbie with Nana and Paw-paw

Matt, Paula, Sophie, Abbie and Elsa.

Sierra is enjoying an iced cone from the castle cake.

Elsa with Abbie and all of her friends.  L to R: Katie, Sophie C., Molly, Abbie, Rachel, Hailey, Anna, Tessa and Maggie.

This year, for Abbie's birthday we had a Frozen birthday party at our church.  I had thought we might do a skating party because Abbie loves to roller skate but then I was glad that had not gone that route because the two weekends before Abbie's birthday, her friends had back to back roller skating parties.  My mom had found out that Haley, one of my Aunt Shannon's nieces on the other side of their family, was dressing up as Elsa for parties.

Our area got a little bit of snow that morning but it melted off pretty quickly.  We had the party on Saturday, January 24.  Abbie knew that a special guest was coming but she didn't know who it was.  Well, we totally surprised her and had Elsa come from the movie Frozen. Haley was able to come as Elsa for Abbie's party and did a great job!  Abbie was totally speechless when Elsa (Haley) arrived.  At the party, the girls played a few games like Pin the nose on Olaf, a relay game where they had to get all of the items in order to build a snowman, a dice game where they made a snowman, etc.  We also had time for the girls to get their pictures taken with Elsa and make crafts such as bottle cap necklaces.

Abbie really wanted a princess castle cake.  I checked with someone to see if she could make the cake and when she was booked, I started looking into making one myself.  This was a big deal for me because I've only made like one cake for each of the girls and they have been fairly basic.  Anyway, after several hours, many cake mixes, one practice run, a few tears and some stressful moments, I made a castle cake.  I did not know if I could do it but it turned out fairly well!

We had invited about 17 girls total and about 11 of them were supposed to come but 3 were sick on the day of the party.  Also, we had some family who were able to come such as Nana and Paw-paw, Aunt Shannon, Sierra and Aunt Patti.  Aunt Martha, Uncle Matt, and their boys were not able to come because they were sick.  My cousin, Keri, and her son, Carter, had planned to come too but he was sound asleep.  Abbie had 8 friends who were able to come which was still a good number!  They all had a fun time at the party!

I can't believe that Abbie is 7.  She is sweet but also kind of sassy, spunky, full of energy and silly.  She is learning to read so much better this year.

After Christmas Fun in Virginia

I'm feeling festive!

The girls with Mimi.

Rahul and Aunt Leia

Sophie's doing an experiment!

The girls showing off their concoction that they made.

We celebrated Christmas with Matt's family on the day after Christmas because we didn't arrive in Richmond until somewhat late on Christmas night.  We had a very nice Christmas and good time together, though we all missed Papa Tom.  We had a wonderful Christmas dinner together and we opened gifts.  Teresa, Matt's mom, had put a lot into our meal but unfortunately, we had a couple of construction workers there while we were trying to eat and it was quite loud.  It was hard at times to talk.  During the week that we were in Richmond, we went roller skating, went to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg for Christmas Town (the high was 60 degrees that day so no long johns were required), we went to see the new Annie movie and did some shopping, played lots of games, saw some Christmas lights and the girls tried out a couple of science experiments from their edible science kit.  

Christmas

Wow-a bow and arrow set!

The girls with some of their loot from Santa.

We had a wonderful Christmas morning!  As parents, I think we felt like we were ready to go and take a nap shortly after the kids saw their Santa gifts and we opened presents.  (We stayed up too late).  Nana and Paw-paw came over for a while and we had a delicious Christmas breakfast after we opened gifts.  Abbie was super excited about her roller skates from Santa!  Sophie got some nice gifts from Santa as well such as the monogrammed sweatshirt that she's holding but her big gift was the bike.  Uncle Phil slept in at Nana's house but he came over mid-morning.  Then, we went over to Nana and Paw-paw's for lunch.  In the middle of the afternoon, Nana and Paw-paw took us to the airport so that we could catch a plane and head to Virginia to be with Matt's mom and sister.  We had a short layover in Charlotte, NC but thankfully, all went fairly well and we arrived in Richmond about 9 PM eastern time.  We were very blessed to have a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve with the Waggoner clan

The girls are ready to go and celebrate Christmas!

Abbie looks very grown up in this picture!

Abbie and Sophie with Sierra

our family

Abbie and Sophie with Summer

Sierra and Summer with Abbie and Sophie

Paw-paw and Aunt Patti with the girls.

Morgan, Matt R., Martha and Monroe, Phil, Paula and Matt, Abbie, Sophie, Nana and Paw-paw

Matt's on the couch (an annual tradition).  There are 4 Matt's when we are all together.  =)

Sophie and Aunt Shannon

Abbie and Monroe

We had a wonderful time on Christmas Eve at Uncle Mike and Aunt Shannon's home in Chapel Hill, TN.  Thankfully, everyone was healthy and most everyone was able to make it.  We had a lot of good food (too much) and fun exchanging gifts!  I'm glad that we took lots of pictures this year.  It was Monroe's first Christmas Eve celebration and as you can see, he's enjoying his new Olaf.  Uncle Mike opened a gag gift that was supposedly from me.  It was a pair of crazy boxer shorts with the Grinch on them that said "Naughty or Nice".  It was a prank pulled by Uncle Phil.  For many years, our family has sung a few songs before we open gifts.  Several years ago, my dad started leading everyone in the 12 days of Christmas where everyone has a part that they help sing.  We did that again this year.  Abbie had a wonderful time doing the "5 golden rings".   She really got into it and was very dramatic about it.  It was fun to watch her.

Play Date with Friends

Sophie's going to make some music!

Sophie and her friend, Abby, are ready to get creative.

Abbie and her friend, Sophie, are ready to make some noise!

Sophie and Abby C. on the fire truck.

A couple of days before Christmas, both of the girls Girl Scout troops took a tour at a local warehouse where they took food, clothing and furniture/houseware donations for those in need.  We also volunteered there for a little bit in the warehouse.  All of the girls really seemed to enjoy it.  Afterwards, we went to lunch with our friends, the Clark's, and then we went out to the Discovery Center in Murfreesboro.  It was kind of a rainy day but the museum was not crowded at all.  The girls had a fun time sliding down the big slide, making music, doing crafts, and playing house and grocery store.   It's so funny that our girls have the same names but their ages are reversed!   Matt met us out at the Discovery Center because he was off work.  

An Early Christmas

Uncle Matt, Morgan, Aunt Martha and Monroe

Abbie definitely had a Frozen Christmas-it's a new frozen shirt!

our family

Wow!  A Frozen watch.  It was so much fun to see Abbie's face when she opened a gift.

Sophie loves her new sweater!

Awesome!! New Anna and Elsa dolls.  =)

We had a great Christmas overall despite having a rough week right before Christmas since we lost Matt's dad, Tom, on Dec 15.  We celebrated Christmas with Paula's immediate family at Nana and Paw-paw's house on the Monday before Christmas.  We enjoyed having a non-traditional meal with lasagna, frozen Oreo cake and other goodies.  We also exchanged gifts.  Abbie opened lots of Frozen gifts and she was excited about everything.  Sophie got a new watch, some new clothes, and arts and crafts stuff.  Both of the girls also got new boots from Uncle Phil.  Morgan was fun to watch with his huge new car garage.  He wanted to open it right away.  It was almost as big as him!