Snow - again!!!

This winter has been crazy. Our second big snow in 4 weeks happened last night and is continuing today. There are still big piles of snow in our Walmart parking lot from the last snow, and our yard only melted a week ago! We missed seeing the last

snow fall, and it was so nice to watch the yard turn to white, and then to how deep it became. We've taken advantage of the perfect sledding weather, eaten warm oatmeal cookies, drank our hot chocolate and look forward to more family movie time and playtime. I'm sure we will have more pictures before the weekend is up!

Mommy and Daddy love to sled too!

Matt and I had fun sledding

too! Check out my redneck snow boots (trash bags over my shoes), I don't have anything that's waterproof for my feet, but with all the snow we have been having, it's about time to invest in some!

My Snow Angel

Noah loved making Snow Angels in the snow!

Would you like a snow picnic?

The first "friend" sleepover

Tabitha and Derek had to work on Saturday - early. They asked if Chevas could spend the night and the day with us this weekend, which gave us the opportunity to have our first overnight with friends at the house. Everyone was so well behaved, and they even let Matt and I sleep in until 8 on Saturday! We got to do our favorite Saturday activity, Lowes. The kids were all so proud of their tic tac toe games and made up their own version of how to play it as a one player game.

View from the porch

I was blessed to have this view to greet me first thing in the morning this week. A beautiful rainbow. A reminder of God's promises. I love the story of Noah and was so amazed at the faith of Noah in the Bible, that Matt and I decided to name our first son after him. Everytime I see a rainbow I am thankful, and it is a great opportunity to talk to Noah and Ella again about the one whose promises will never be broken.

A Tea Party

This week we were blessed to have mom come and stay for a few days. She got to hang out with the kids, take care of Matt and I while we were sick, and best of all... she got to have a tea party. Ella has been obsessed with tea parties for a few months now. They are almost a daily occurance at our house. And luckily, Nana picked her up a new tea set for them to use. It was a great visit, I only wish it were longer!

A super Saturday

This past Saturday we got to spend time with Nana and Papa Siak, Joey and Rebecca, LJ and the boys, and Mark. We had a great lunch, spent time swimming in the pool, and ate a great dinner together. It was so good getting to see everyone! My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures!

Little mommy

Ella is proving herself to be quite the nurturing child these days. She loves all of her "babies." This particular afternoon, Noah was playing a video game, I was working on something in the other room, and came out to find her having a "sleepover" with her friends. She's such a precious child!

Later that day...

After playing so hard that morning with Chloe Beth, and then all afternoon with Sylvie, and determined not to fall asleep, the inevitable happened. Ella crashed on the floor. It was early bath night, and this picture was taken at about 5:30. I was cooking dinner, and Matt was reading with Noah his book for the day. They looked over, and she had slumped to the ground, with her purse, baby, and blanket in hand. She stayed that way until Noah screamed on purpose and woke her up. It wasn't the best evening after that!

Do you know my friend Sylvie?

Ella asks almost everyone who will listen if they know her friend Sylvie. They have been kindred spirits since before they were in our wombs. This week Sylvie got to come over and play after she got done with school. Ella was so excited and so girly the whole time. They dressed up and became the characters of the outfits they were wearing (Snow White and Aurora). They hosted a tea party for various baby dolls and stuffed animals. They cooked cookies in the play kitchen. And gave each other sweet hugs. I love how they love each other!

Noah the Builder

I absolutely love the kids building program at Lowes. They have this Nationwide program that allows kids to do free projects a couple of times a month. Noah gets to build the neatest things and he's so proud of his hard work. Last Saturday he made a coin bank. Ella just likes to bang the hammer on the wood while Matt makes her project. Matt loves it more than he will admit, the lady even offered to get him his own kit last week :)

How Ella plays Skee Ball

For Noah's birthday he got a Wii Carnival game. We all played it as a family last night and had a blast. For some reason, Noah came in first, Ella in 2nd, Me in 3rd, and Matt in 4th when we played the Skee Ball. Ella loved that particular game so much we played it twice. So tonight while we were at Chuck E Cheese she lit up when she saw the real thing. This is a video of her hilariously cheating and playing Skee Ball.

The Best Day Ever

I can't tell you how often i hear "This is the best day ever" from Noah. He truly loves life. But today was different. I believed what he said. It started out with a two hour delay from school for the cold temperatures. No one wants kids out at the bus stop in single digit temperatures, so they pushed the start of school back a little bit. Then, he had a birthday party with cupcakes, a special hat, and a card from his class for snace. I picked him up early from school at 12:15 for the next part of his "best day," picking up Emma from her school (she gets out at 12:30 at her kindergarten). We then all trekked over to McDonalds for the much loved happy meal. After an afternoon all over the house playing imaginary scenarios with Emma and a little bit of Wii, we headed to Chuck E Cheese for Noah's party. Emma and Noah played their hearts out. They had so many tokens we got to bring some home for next time. And after a special cake, some pizza, and tons of playtime, we headed home right at bedtime. I'd have to agree, this was his best day ever. Until we try and top it again.

It's his birthday!!!

6 years ago today my life was forever changed. I was given the sweetest blessing by getting to be my little man's mommy. Noah brings us so much joy. He's funny. He makes himself laugh. He has the greatest dimple. He loves his sister, and she's his best friend. He knows the difference between right and wrong. He's getting close to making the decision to have Jesus as his Savior - I wish you could hear the questions he asks us all the time. He can get really, really hyper. He is so proud of his work at school. And he loves school and his teachers. He has two girlfriends. He snuggles really well. He loves video games. He loves spending time with his daddy playing the wii, and wrestling. This past year he played soccer for the first time, and even made a few goals during the season! He loves to sing, and has perfect pitch and vibrato at such an early age. He prefers sleeping on the couch to his bed. He thinks he's a good dancer. He's learning how to read! He still has a child's imagination, and can play in imaginary worlds with Ella for hours.

He's growing up so fast, and I consider him one of the greatest blessings I could have ever received. He's my heart. Happy Birthday, Buddy.

Sweet Friends

Ella has decided that when she grows up, she's going to marry Carter.

She got a dress up set that has a white dress in it, so she's already got her gown. She hosts pretend weddings at the house. And Carter will be her "prince." This week Carter got to come over for lunch and playtime one day, and they had so much fun together!

Cheeze!

Rockband - one of the most fun games. Ever.

Gabe got the Beatles Rockband for Christmas. On the game, on person plays the drums, the bass, the guitar, and sings. The game makes sure you are on pitch, hitting each beat with your instrument, etc. It was so much fun! This was the first of our games last Saturday night for the Siak/Cannon game night. After we finished rockband, we ended the night

with a heated game of Taboo which was equally as fun. We are definitely looking forward to the next game night!

Birthday Dinner

I think it's so neat in families how there is 365 days a year, but inevitably someone either shares a birthday or anniversary, etc. Matt's Mom, Brother (her first son), and Jack (his first son) were all born on January 7th. Noah's birthday is the 8th. So we celebrated them all while we were in Hendersonville this weekend. (Shout out to John Sr - today is his birthday - Happy Birthday!!). Everyone had a lot of fun, and we incorporated family game night into the mix so I know it's about to get loud around here!

5 Guys

My absolute favorite place to eat is 5 Guys. The best hamburger, hands down. Matt and I were supposed to go there on a date, but since that was the only place we needed to go, we went ahead and took everyone with us.

Riding Bikes at Granny's

Granny got the kids bikes for Christmas that will stay at her house for them to play with. They get to take them with the camping, and also, she lives right near East high school and it gives them the perfect place to ride. Since we don't have a place to ride bikes, Noah still isn't very good at riding yet. This is his first bike without training wheels. Friday, Matt took him down to East and Noah did a great job!