We got a measly little bit of snow and loved every snowflake!
I figured with this little snow that the mountains had probably gotten some, so Jim, Mike, Jake and D (no Nicole b/c of basketball so sad) went up to Beech.
And it was still in the middle of a snowstorm!
There was literally only one place open serving dinner- a Chinese food place that had a long wait since everyone else was hungry too
Any inconvenience getting to the mountain was soon forgotten in the epic snow.
Such an awesome break from school!
Nicole and her cousin Kiersten playing around before youth activities. They have class at school together and I love hearing how much Nicole enjoys being with her cousin.
John's artwork from Kindergarten. He is so good! And hilarious.
School was cancelled. They often get the timing of snow wrong, and this was one of those times.
The next morning, however, there was actual snow!
We left at daybreak to the big hill in the neighborhood.
North Carolina often gets rain that turns into snow, which means there is a nice ice layer under the snow. This makes it hard to drive or walk on, so Nicole was kind enough to drag the youngest three along.
Sadly, the snow hill didn't have great snow. But we made the most of it!! And the sky was amazing.
Using all available snow in the yard, the kids made three snowmen in the most shadowed part of the lawn, hoping they would last as long as possible. Oh, the sad southern snow haha
I got it on camera: Jim reading directions!! This was how to take a covid test. Because Jim was working side-by-side no mask for days with two guys that caught it. And they both went down with it, along with others, the day before a big trip he and I were taking to Cancun. We cancelled it. And it took me over a month to really start recovering from the sadness of missing out on that adventure together. I just kept going, working out, finding joy in being a mom and making healthy dinners, and I got over it. Mostly lol.
Parents sometimes send random pics of basketball games. There's Nicole!
Jake holding his lizard. It's going to get a lot bigger!!
Sterling and Kelly came to visit (they were going to watch the kids while we were gone) and we took some fun and frigid hikes. I had one of the boys take turns getting out of school to hang with their cousin. We definitely want them back when it's warmer and we can do some beach time!
Pregame pic!
Nicole has dug deeper to find more self-motivated work. I have discovered this usually means I have to be willing to do the work alongside :) So yes, it was below freezing and had snowed. So while the younger kids played in the snow, Nicole went running with me and Jim.
Daniel visited and we just had to recreate our awesome Mexican dinner party of a few adults and a million kids. haha. Best part of this? Kaitlin helped John out so it was awesome to just relax and enjoy talking with Daniel.
The washer broke. And flooded.
It will be months before they can fix the flooring, but we have a really nice new washer and dryer.
Another shot of Nicole- can you believe they had to wear masks while sprinting all over? Whew! Of course, a week after the season ended, they ended that requirement.
The floor wouldn't dry, so they had to seal off Nicole's room. She felt like some horribly contagious patient for the weeks this took for it to dry.
Nicole's last game! It's hard to get good pictures, but it was a great game. She has a lot to work on, but she has also come a long way and learned SO much. Her skills are in a great position for next year, and we try to shoot around every week to keep it up.
We took Nicole out to dinner and Kilwins after her last game. I really want her to know that we see how hard she is working and that we love her. Basketball was a much bigger time commitment than XC or Track and she was hardly ever home. She'd leave to be at Seminary by 6am and come home between 6-9pm. Crazy growth and commitment that strengthened her in a lot of ways, but I'm glad she's not in club with that kind of life year round. It was good for her, but a change of pace back down is just right.
Whenever the weather gets warmer, we try to heat the pool and get a little swim time in. It's so good for the kids to get all of those wiggles out that in cold weather usually turns into cabin fever!
We took off a day or two of school to all go snowboarding, now that Nicole was finally done! (She did miss her end of season banquet, but we didn't even know about it until we were in the mountains. Oh well.)
Super misty and cloudy made it beautiful! There was hardly anyone there and I LOVE that since I'm still a beginner.
Just me and Jim snowboarding together while John and Katy are in snowboard school.
Off to go in the morning. We can barely see, but it's awesome!
Nicole took a pic from our balcony of me boarding.
Katy in the orange pants.
She took to this like a fish to water. Better than any other kid. I thought she'd maybe fall and cry, or be shy and hesitant. I was shocked to see her flying down the mountain with an instructor (she was the only kid for part of the day) and taking the same lift I was!
Hot chocolate after a cold morning is the BEST! We went through 2 gallons...at least.
John loved his snow camp. They play inside, color, then take shorter excursions to ski in the kid area. It's perfect for the little ones to love the snow and start figuring out gear. Next year he can do the snowboarding class, and that should be an adventure!
Our house overlooks the terrain park and slopes. So we had popcorn, hot cocoa and a blazing fire as we watched everyone snowboarding. The kids also tried popping the un-popped kernels in the fire. Not a good idea lol.
Jake going out, Jim coming in and Nicole on her way out. All of this coming and going is perfect with a large family so everyone can rest as needed without having to worry about everyone. They stay in pairs and we loosely keep an eye on them to make sure they are sticking together.
Love these days with the hill to ourselves.
Of course we had to eat at Brick Oven pizza on the way out, it's totally tradition now. John found his name by the entrance to the bathrooms haha.
Katy wrote down the directions to making macaroni and cheese after she watched Diana make it. So stinkin' cute!
She has lots of plans and creative projects going all at once. I love to see her focused and working on one of the many ideas she has.
Nicole's coach was kind enough to drop by the awards she got- Most Improved Player and Man in the Arena. Those are awards because she worked hard, which means more to me than baskets made. So happy for the reinforcement she got for her efforts.
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