Instead of starting off with snow pics I’m going to catch up on the past week or two. At the beginning of this month my friend Dory brought over some of her adorable boutique clothing that we love to inherit. This time there were things in there for Allen, too but he’s happy with whatever!

We also put up the Christmas tree over a series of two or three days. I had my camera all ready for the first morning that Katy and Allen saw the tree lit up with ornaments and I wasn’t disappointed with their reaction. Unfortunately, Allen likes it a little too much because he brings me an ornament every hour, or so. Peter got tired of that game and has been re-hanging them in the top half of the tree. It doesn’t look like this anymore so good thing I took a picture. Mom even made them each their own little ornament!

It is way past time for our Christmas cards to be started so I dragged out my nuggets to the park for an impromptu shoot. Of course, Allen has been snuffly and not quite himself so it was tough to capture something good of him. They were just happy to play at the park when we were done. My entire shoot lasted about a minute and a half, maybe less. They are tough customers.

Last week I went to Katy’s school with her for chapel and watched their canned food donation for the Food Bank get blessed. The kids were so cute heading up to the alter with boxes of mac & cheese. They sang “This Little Light of Mine” (I’m gonna let it shine) and held up their pointer finger for the light. So cute! When they said they wouldn’t let Satan blow it out, they pretended to blow out their candle and then raised it up again to let it shine. Next they hid it under a bushel (put their other hand over it) and I could tell that this was a crowd pleaser. The real reason for my visit was to help with their annual “Christmas for the Birds” activity where they each made three different kinds of bird feeders. Instead of helping I was taking pictures. This doesn’t bode well for the Christmas party I’m supposed to be helping with. Hmmm…. One feeder was made from half an orange peel filled with bird feed, another from a pine cone coated in feed, and the last was a wire with Cheerios, cranberries and popcorn strung on it. Could it get any better than that? Unfortunately for the birds, Katy and her friend Quinn spent much of the time eating the popcorn and cereal. Then Katy pushed her friends Kalan and Amy around on the two-seater bicycle. Kalan is probably her best friend during school, and then Quinn is for Lunch Bunch on Thursday afternoons.

This past Saturday Peter and I took the kids to see Dad for the holiday season. I’m calling it “Crumbs of the Holiday”. Even though it was less than a day, we had lots of fun playing at the park near his apartment and then snooping around his place. The weather was just perfect for some outdoor fun. And then Peter found a “digger” for the kids to crawl on and play inside. They were so excited! Katy did get a bit nervous about climbing into the bucket. Later she confessed that she didn’t want it to pick her up. Dad’s gifts are the only ones under our tree so far, which means I haven’t even started my gift wrapping yet. I’m sure I’m not the only ones behind!

On Tuesday night Mom came by to pick up Katy so they could watch the movie “Ice Age” together in front of a roaring fire. She brought piggy corn candy for Juice so he wouldn’t be sad. Mom always sends cute little e-mails when Katy is over to play that tell me a little about what they’re doing. For example: “Katy has taken her babies (in the stroller) to the little kitchen table. Katy told me I had to be the doctor and sure enough, each one has a fever and had to get a shot-just a little one - she didn't like it when I gave them a big one and made them cry. She then took them to school (the first big cardboard box) and discovered her pink elephant that she left here - he is now in the stroller, too. She just came to tell me that they are almost done working. She showed her babies how to change diapers. The pink elephant is now in my arms - he's a little bit sick. I asked me if she liked my Santa Claus on the piano - "no - sorry" Now I wonder how one of the red "very pretty" satin balls ended up under the tree? ‘Sorry.’” They had a slumber party and Katy reportedly told Mom that they were “Kate and Mook” which cracks me up! Then the next day they went to the movies to see “Bolt” the saving dog, as Katy calls him. It was 3-D and Katy couldn’t take her eyes off the screen…until she fell asleep sitting straight up with only 20 minutes left in the movie. The happy couple brought Allen back some popcorn, so he was happy, too!

And finally – our snow story! I was awakened yesterday morning by Katy yelling on my answering machine (from Mom’s house) that it was snowing! After another call or two I had Allen and myself dressed and over to Mom’s house to record the event. Of course, her place had much less snow on the ground than ours so it was pretty funny to see us trying to build a snow man. He was one hand tall and fell over quite a bit. That afternoon while the kids were home napping, the snow really started to come down. I was afraid it was only going to last a minute and I almost woke the kids up to see it. Good thing I didn’t because it snowed all the rest of the day…the biggest flakes I have ever seen in Texas! It really did cheer me up to see it everything covered in white. I’ve never seen so much on the ground. Usually it melts as soon as it hits. So Katy woke up first and the two of us made our second venture out into the cold for the day. We had a snowball fight and built our second snow man, this time about 8 inches tall. Katybird was wearing gloves, two shirts, a winter coat with a hood, scarf, cozy socks and blue jeans. Are we missing anything? Hmmm…oh yeah. I told her to put on shoes but didn’t double-check her. I guess I was so excited to get out there that we were playing for at least five minutes before she said her feet hurt. I am the mother of the year. I expect my trophy any day now. She warmed up in the tub and then Peter came home. Allen woke up from his late nap and the entire family trooped out yet again into the snow. This time was the best because Peter was there, we all had shoes on, and the snow was pretty thick at this point. The snowball fight was even more fun, and our snow man was almost three feet tall. Today I drove around and saw some over six feet tall! Now it’s warmed up to the mid fifties and the snow is all gone. For a while there it was our Christmas miracle!

In closing I’m just going to mention a couple little things that make Allen happy. His favorite footy jammies have a hole in the toe and he pokes his big toe out and says, “Peek a boo!” He also loves to wear shoes around the house, and I finally figured out that he thinks he’s going somewhere when he has his shoes on. He has been pointing to a snow man in one of our books and identifying it, but he seems like the real kind much better. Big Juicy brings me a bottle of lotion (or shampoo – whatever he can reach) and asks me to help him put it on. And finally, if my hands are cold and I put them down the back of his shirt against his neck or back, he squeals with laughter and runs away, then returns walking backwards so I will do it again!