Drastic Times Call for Drastic Measures!

So much to tell you!  First let me say, "Happy New Year!"  2014 has been a very unusual year already!  This is the first time in my 6.5 years that I have been allowed to stay up to ring in the new year!!  It was amazing!!!  We had some family over for a game night and me, Myla, Levi and Evan had a great time watching movies, playing games and running around the Academy Lounge!  The adults played games and almost everyone made it to midnight!  Uncle Patrick, Melissa, mommy and daddy made it until 4:00am playing cards and dominoes!!  I think this whole staying up really late is a wonderful tradition and I can't believe I am just getting a chance to do it!!!  I am already planning next year!
Some of you may have heard of the blizzard of '78.  My parents have heard of it...but they were just babies and don't remember. People talk about it every once in a while...well now I have my own story.  I survived Snowmageddon 2014, also known as the Deep Freeze of 2014.  It started snowing Sunday morning and it snowed and snowed and snowed!  It didn't stop all day.  Depending on who you talk to, we had more than 10 inches of snow!  We were supposed to start school Monday morning, but there was just too much snow.  And the BIG story really was the temperatures!!  I survived the wind chill of -40 degrees!
It is now Wednesday and tonight was the first time I'd been out of my house!  Me and Myla were allowed to play in the snow for about 10 minutes because we are having a heat wave of 28 degrees!! Daddy went out for a little bit yesterday just to get the car cleared off and mommy went to work this morning for just a few hours. Tomorrow is Thursday and we STILL haven't been back to school yet.  Mommy thinks we will go back Friday.
Well, drastic times call for drastic measures!  I am not sure if some of you have been stuck in a little place with a 2 year old and a 6 year old before...but it gets tough to keep us entertained!  Daddy went back to work Sunday afternoon, so mommy has been working hard to keep us from going stir crazy!  We've read books, colored, watched movies, played in the bath tub, played school and started my Magic School Bus Journey Into the Human Body Experiment Kit!  I've made a ball and socket joint, learned the difference between the ball and socket and hinge joints.  I made a stethoscope and it really works!!!  We've played games, helped mommy cook and have played with every toy from Christmas we got!  We've hatched dinosaur eggs that came in our stockings, we've decorated and bedazzled Minnie Mouse (and she is as tall as Myla).  We threw boiling water outside to watch it turn into, "smoke." And finally today something happened that I was sure would never happen in our house....MOMMY LET US PLAY WITH PLAY DOH!
The icing on the cake was going outside with daddy and mommy today and playing in the snow.  It wasn't very long, but at last we could play in that glorious white stuff that has been teasing us from the window for 3 long days!!  We are loving these snow/cold days!  

Celebrating Christmas - Part 5 (Grandma Donna and Grandpa Dave's House)

Thursday was a nice day.  We didn't have a lot that had to be done and it was a good pajama day to play with new toys and relax.  Friday was a great day!  After mommy worked we all went up to Grandma Donna and Grandpa Dave's house.  We were all spending the night to celebrate Christmas.  Uncle Adam, Aunt Christy and Isaac all came up, too.  We had a very good dinner, we watched Hotel Transylvania and we played!!  I really enjoyed talking to Isaac.  He must really like me because he talked back!  The grown ups stayed up late, but me and Myla hit the sack about 10pm.  Another exciting thing was that me and Myla got to sleep in the office and I got to sleep on a blow up bed all by myself!
Saturday morning I couldn't stay in bed past 8am!  I was super excited to get the day started!  We all got up and had breakfast that Grandma Donna made.  It was wonderful!!  We had breakfast casseroles and cinnamon rolls and muffins!
After breakfast we got grandma's computer and got to see Aunt Emily on Skype!  She got to be a part of our Christmas even though she was in Texas.  We opened stockings that Santa had left when he stopped by on Christmas Eve.  Then we got to open presents.  We ate some lunch and everyone (except me and daddy) took a little nap.  Mommy and daddy had to leave about 5pm, but me and Myla got to stay another night with grandma and grandpa and Adam and Christy and Isaac.
We had a really great weekend.  It rounded out our Christmas celebrating and it was lots of fun.  It was good to not be rushed and just be able to play and visit with everyone.  We got to stay in our pajamas the whole time, too!  We don't get to do that very often!!
I hear the next couple of days will be lots of putting stuff away and figuring out where new toys go!  We tried on some new clothes today to make sure they fit, but I also hear we have a few more things to try on tomorrow!  Who knows what the week holds, but I am excited to find out!

Celebrating Christmas - Part 4 (Santa Came, Sorrell Christmas and Filler Christmas)

Today was another great Christmas celebration!  To start, Santa came!  He brought us the Doc McStuffins Check Up Center!  He also brought me a scooter (and that is exactly what I asked him for last week)!  He brought Myla an art station!  Myla didn't really want to get out of bed, but she was sure glad she did once she saw that we had presents and stockings!  Grandma and Pa came over to watch us open gifts.  Daddy made cinnamon rolls.  It was a great morning!
By 11am we were all pooped out!  We had played and played, so Myla got a little nap.  Before we knew it, we were heading for Aunt Debbie and Uncle Greg's house for the Sorrell Christmas.  It was a nice time to have everyone together (though we missed Aunt Emily and Uncle Tim).  Myla was a bit tired (and I was, but I would never admit it out loud), but we all had a good time being together.  Myla especially loved the dancing, singing Santa!  It was sure great to see Grandma Haz looking pretty and feeling pretty good!
This evening we went to Grandma Doris and Grandpa Max's house for the Filler Christmas.  It was so great to be able to see Evan and Levi again.  That makes 3 days in a row that we were able to see each other for a little bit!  We had some dinner and played.  Mommy and daddy got to look at some funny pictures of Pa when he was younger.  There was one picture of Grandma Dee that had us all laughing!!  Then they saw pictures of Grandpa Max when he was in the army.  Everyone seemed to really have a good time together!  Me and mommy and daddy and Myla all sang Christmas carols all the way home.  We've been doing that a lot the last few days and I really love it. 
Tonight we are all very tired.  It is a good tired because we realize how very blessed we are to have so much family to love and who loves us.  We are blessed to spend time remembering the birth of Jesus and to spend time thinking about how we've been given another holiday to give and get lots of hugs from family.  It is only 8:30pm, but we've all got pj's on and we are winding down...getting ready to lay our heads on pillows and stretch out.  I am just sure we will all have wonderful dreams about what a great day we've had.  Merry Christmas, Everyone!