SNOW

Well, just like the rest of the country, we got SNOW! 2x! It was AWESOME! The first "storm" that came through was more icy...which caused this tree to come down. Good reason for J to buy a chain saw! 

 Pictures never do it justice, but you'll see lots on this post anyway. Just because I think it is awesomeness. Icy trees.

 I took the neighbor girls with us to go ice sledding. (actually, maybe they took us since we don't have any sleds??)  This hill was great...

(same hill with them at the top)

 ...But then we moved to the other side and this hill was greater! Elias went down it too with me and liked it.

And then it started getting REALLY windy.

And then it looked like this.

 Super windy, rather dark, and huge snowflakes! So I ended up driving us home (roads already completely covered with a couple inches) in this 15minute snow storm. By the time we got home (praise the Lord!) and took off our boots, the sun was back out with no precipitation. A great memory created while driving home in the van with the windows down.

 And then after a few days off school, we got round two....this time with LOTS of snow!!  WHOOP WHOOP!! This is what we saw when we woke up.

I LOVE having our own Christmas tree in our yard! I've decided that every year I want to save one of my presents from Christmas and open it on the first snow of the year.

 I just think it's so pretty. I think heaven will have a "snow room". All snow, for all eternity!

 We even shoveled the drive way for old time sake! (Our neighbor told us that it was a little yankyish of us. ha ha) While shoveling, we had talked about how all of the snow would be melted by the end of the day because we live in TN, but we wanted to shovel anyway.

Snow date.

 Luci is a great snow dog. Look at her nose.  Aw. This year we pulled out the old sweater.

 Catching snowballs.

 The kids didn't remember coloring snow, so we did that again. Elias's first time. He looks like a pro!

 Snowman for the neighbor's yard.

While J worked on college assignments, we played outside for a few hours. Our neighbor Chris saw how to make an igloo on tv. So we worked on that for a LONG time.

Kristin, Cadie, and I had to shovel and carry these snow buckets. Chris flipped and stacked them.

 Then he had to go to work and left us with the rest. It was just plain too heavy and too tall for us.  This is as high as it got. The kids are standing up.

 If it had been smaller, we just may have finished. Oh well. Still fun and it did have a door and a window.

 Just because he can.

 The kids made a snow slide. It worked...with and without a sled.

We made about 6 snowmen in our yard...and some balls.  Next time it snows, we'll make a village. This snow was PERFECT for snowman making. 

 Thanks to Nana, I know how to make my own snow ice cream. I LOVE that too.  That should also be at the banquet table when we get to heaven! :-)

 Later on during the "big melt", I took the kids to walk down the trail. We threw snowballs into the creek.

 We didn't make it far on the trail because the soccer fields drew the kids in. There had been two spots of giant snowball rolling.

 I thought this was funny. Elias got stuck in the net. The picture shows him out, but his feet had been stuck.

There you go. Snow. Thanks for enduring so many pics! There were so many more that got left out!

Happy 6th Birthday to Isaac!

He picked our dinner on his birthday. Waffles.....and then ice cream! My kind of dinner!

 He thought it was silly he only had ONE candle on his "I" waffle because he was turning SIX.

He had a birthday party the Saturday after his birthday. 4 boys from school came. They got tattoos, tags, and face paint when they arrived.

They got their orders from Sgt. Ford

 Physical training obstacle course.

 Army crawl

Wounded Soldier: never leave a soldier behind.  Wrap em up...

 ...and drag em home.

 Weapon choice and target practice. (Justin is such an awesome draw-er!)

 Their mission was to find and take out the enemy trying to steal Isaac's cake. (army men hidden all around the house)

 The boys really got in to it. I guess the closer target, the more accurate hit!

 Pop orders. They had to pop these balloon without using their hands and follow the orders that were written inside.

 Happy Birthday! 

Cake.

 Yum!

Family Unit.

 Award ceremony. Each boy won a medal.

 They all made it through the training and mission.

One more drill.

 Presents.

Thankful for all the boys who came! Even more thankful for our mighty warrior who is now 6!!

Hickox and Potter birthdays and other January Happenings

The fam went ice skating. We haven't been for a while and it was a little shaky at first...

 Isaac was pulling himself across the ice like this until he reached the "walker".

We pulled it together! Elias was amazing for his first time on the ice. He really didn't have a problem with the walker. He even went around the whole rink just holding my hands.

Isaac even sleeps cool...with no blankets of course! Ha Ha Ha.

 He lost his first tooth! It's already 1/2 way in now!

 Grandma had a birthday!

 Guess where we went?

Panchos! (Grandpa wanted her to experience what he had to on his birthday!)

I made her a cheesecake.

 It lit the place up!

 Then Olivia made a game for us to play. Send the balloon down the string. She had done this activity at school.

 My parents took a trip down south. Here is my dad and nana (his mom).

 My mom and grandaddy (her dad). They were celebrating his 92nd birthday! He's like a super man!!

 Justin took Isaac to a hockey game. They stayed out late and had lots of fun.

 Isaac got another black eye. It was a real doozy. This may be #3 or 4. It's partially my fault, but basically it was a collision of Isaac and Elias on the trampoline. It's still slightly yellow after 3 weeks.

 Elias enjoyed looking just like dad in his jammies. (No, these are not Justin's jammies.....only another layer for winter hiking.)

 Family update from early December.