Stuck Inside--Ice Storm 2011

Thunder ice storm. Who knew something like that even existed? It was loud and it lasted for what seemed like hours overnight. When we woke up...again...in the morning, the entire city was covered in ice. Seriously. Two inches (or more) of ice. We were iced inside, literally, and Philip didn't go to work (we couldn't have gotten the gate open or the cars out even if he wanted or needed to get to work!), so we had a Team Lamb Fun Day.

The white might look like snow, but it's not. It's ice. Cold, hard, frozen ice. Oh, and it was 14 degrees outside. Brrr.
How to survive being iced in with an active two-year-old:
Make a yummy breakfast
Introduce Toy Story 3 (Coop loved it!)

Make a fort. Pretend the fort is a car wash and drive your car through over and over. And over and over.

Build a fire and make s'mores. Yum-o!
Play and play and play with all the trucks and tools you can find.
Cooper was begging to go outside, so I bundled him up and braved the cold temps. He lasted about 10 minutes before asking to go back inside.

Even Drake was getting a little restless. How do you play fetch with your puppy in 10 degree weather? Open the door, throw the ball, yell fetch, and watch him run while you stay toasty warm inside!

This was all on our first day of being iced in. On day two, Philip stayed home from work again and we repeated all of the fun from day one. On day three (today), the natives were getting restless. Philip braved the roads and only slightly slipped his way to work while Coop and I slid over to Jackson's house for some MUCH NEEDED play time. Now, at midnight and the beginning of day four, it's snowing buckets outside. We have over an inch at this point! We might actually be able to have a fun day outside tomorrow!

Grocery Store+Firetruck=Happy Coop

Note to self: going forward I will ALWAYS time my grocery store runs when the firefighters are also doing their shopping.

Cooper noticed a "diretruck!! diretruck!!" from WAY across the parking lot at the grocery store yesterday, so of course we walked over to get a closer look. A half hour later Coop was best buds with the firefighters, wearing their gear, "heavy!"; holding the spray hose, "It's dirty. They work hard."; and asking to drive the firetruck, "I drive? My turn." The firefighters were so great with Cooper and showed him all around the truck.
Next time we go to the grocery store, I'm sure I'll be asked, "Where diretruck, Mama? Need to drive it!"

Snow, Snow, Snow 2011

While it was nothing like last year's snow fall of over 12 inches, we did get a good dusting of snow last weekend. Coop was so excited to get outside and play, run, play, run, play, run and then eat snow.

He kept saying, "Oh! Snow cold! Snow soft! Cold, cold, Mama!! Touch it again?"

Yummy snow.

Who says people from Texas can't drive in the snow? Coop sure can.

After we got clean, dry clothes on it was time for Coop to have his first hot chocolate. I think the pictures say enough...

Reason Number 857 Why I Love Staying Home

We get to make apple pancakes in our jammies at 10:00 in the morning. And, we could do this every morning if we wanted to (we don't...but we could).

He Makes Me Smile

I love this little boy.

At night he goes to bed with socks on his feet and recently, when I check on him after he's fallen asleep, he ALWAYS, without fail, has one sock on his hand. And when I go to get him out of bed in the morning, he's so excited to tell me, "Look at my glove, Mama!!" And now when he sees socks around the house, he says, "Hey! A glove! I wear it."
After we finished a run this week, I was unloading the stroller when Coop laid down on the ground and said, "Good walk. I tired. Take nap outside in sun?" He used a blanket for his pillow and a blue paper towel for his blanket. Then he insisted that I lay down with him...I did, and I loved every minute of laying on the cold, hard cement. It was exactly where I wanted to be at that very moment.

Trains with Poppi

I debated and debated taking Coop to see the annual train exhibit, but after seeing how he loves watching choo choo train videos with his Poppi, it quickly became an easy decision. And, Poppi was able to slip away from work for the afternoon to join us!! Coop couldn't have cared less that Mommy was even along for the outing. As long as he had his Poppi, he was a happy little engineer!

I wasn't sure how long Coop would last in the exhibit, but he loved looking at all the trains and the lights. There was so much to see and take in. We were there for about 40 minutes, and then ran upstairs for a little CFA lunch. I told Coop we were going to head home after lunch for a nap, but he started asking, "More trains with Poppi? See more trains?" It was so sweet, I, of course, gave in. So, back to the trains we went for another half hour! Such a fun, fun afternoon!!