Blizzard 2013

February 24 was a strange day here in the Texas Panhandle. During the early afternoon, we had both kids in the backyard enjoying the 70 degree weather, and by 5:00 pm snow had begun to fall. It did not stop snowing until late in the afternoon the next day. Amarillo officially received 19 inches, the second largest snowfall on record for this area. Here are some photos from the big event...

Here are Jeff and the girls standing at the back door watching the snow blow in. 

 

 

Somebody had to go out and get the firewood, and poor Daddy got nominated.

Here is a view from our front porch about halfway through the storm.  This is what we woke up to the morning of the 25th.

 

 

 

This is a picture of the storage building near our driveway once the snow had stopped falling.  It was a real mess!

  

 

This is a shot (taken by a local photographer) of abandoned vehicles on Hillside road about a half mile from our house.  This is one of the main arteries that runs east to west thorough the city.  The roads were completely impasssable.

 

 

After the storm was gone and things started to clear out, we made it outside for a little bit of winter fun.  Here are a few shots of Daddy and Alice enjoying the fresh powder and building a little snowman.

 

 

 

 

Cutest snowbunny ever

 

 

Here we are standing next to the snowman Alice appropriately named "Fwosty". 

 

 

Eleanor slept through most of this.  She says, "What blizzard?"

 

New Beginnings and Valentine's Day 2013

I have found that with 2 small children it is almost impossible for me to find time to post more than once a month, so I am going to do my best to keep everyone updated about that often.  Maybe one of these days I will be able to post more frequently, but for now, here are some of the highlights and happenings from January and early February.

 

It's a new year and baby Eleanor is growing like a weed!  It is so hard to believe she is already 3 and 1/2 months old.  Here are some of the latest pics of her...

 

 

We think "mostly bald" is beautiful around here ;)  It looks like we are going to have another blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty on our hands!

 

 All smiles!  Nothing makes this kid giggle more than Alice and Daddy playing peek-a-boo with her.

 

                                        Getting some love from Daddy                                         

 

 

 Here is a shot of her I thought was particularly sweet. Eleanor really is a happy (mostly!), loveable baby, and if she had her way she would be held by someone every hour of the day!

  

 

 

Alice is so proud of her new tutu, and couldn't wait to show it off at school.  Here she is practicing her twirls in the bathroom

 

 

 

Alice has also become quite the little sous chef.  She loves to bake and is always "helping out" in the kitchen these days.  On this day we were making a special cake for family dinner.

 

Her favorite part of cooking...

 Daddy and Alice took some time to enjoy the 7 inches of snow we got during the second week of February, and then we made snow ice cream.  Alice loved it! 

 

 

 

 

Mommy and the littlest snow angel all gussied up before a birthday party

 

 Alice had a great time making her valentines for school this year.  I found something similar to this on Pinterest and then tweaked it so that she could actually help to decorate them.  She picked out the exact sucker she wanted each of her classmates to have ;)

 

 

 Valentine's Day cuties

 

 

 

In February we had the opportunity to meet a very big celebrity who was visiting our local library.  Getting to hug Clifford made Alice's day!