Snow days and Curling Champions

We finally got some snow in Charlottesville! Granted, it lasted all of half a day, but the kids got school off AND got to play in it, so it was a win-win.

Lily thought this snowball maker was pretty neat.

Lance had to show off his manliness and braved the slush in bare feet and mostly naked. 

Lexi was thrilled. 

The girls had lots of fun on the trampoline making snow-angels and jumping in the drifts.

I wish we had more snow this year, but at least we got a couple hours of fun. 

On my Birthday, Jason sent me this picture from our family cruise we took in 2000. 

Love my BFF! 

Lexi loving on Daddy one morning. She may be our most snuggly kiddo, followed closely by Cole and Lily. She loves to sit in our laps and give hugs and kisses. It never gets old.

We got a new swing for our playset! I think this swing has become a fast favorite, especially since multiple kids can sit on it at a time.

Speaking of ice and snow, George's curling team finally won their division! After coming close two seasons in a row, they pulled it off and are the reigning curling champions this year!

Woot! George has loved being part of this team. The met every Monday evening to play against other teams at our local rink. We aren't sure what's going to happen next season since the one and only rink in Charlottesville is scheduled to close, but fingers crossed he gets at least one more season!

Busch Gardens--twice!

This kid has been waiting ALLLLL year to ride the Busch Garden's train again. He started talking about when the park would open months ago. It's supposed to open on March 24th, but we surprised the kids by taking them a week early during their Preview Day. They had no idea where we were going until we started passing signs. It was great!

This boy is in heaven!

You can literally see the joy radiating from his cute smile.

This little person on the other hand was having a rough day. I don't think she felt very good.

Jude got to ride Apollo's Chariot for the first time!

And Lily got to ride Grover's rollercoaster! She wasn't too sure what to think about it, but managed to ride it twice.

Jude even convinced George to ride Pompeii with him! Now THAT is true love!

Love these sweet things!

The next weekend, we went again, this time with the Knights!

Lance came this time! But since he was still recovering from his concussion, he didn't get to ride any rides. He did, however, spend some quality time at the arcade and seemed to think that was an okay deal. 

Lexi was much happier this time around and loved riding any ride she could.

Lily also got to ride the big swings for the first time! I think technically she was still slightly too short, but they let us on and she loved it!

And of course we had to ride the train!

It was super cold that day (so cold, the kids wore hats and even mittens for parts of it)!

We called it a day a little earlier than usual and got some dinner at the local Chuck-a-Rama. You might turn up your nose at the idea of a buffet place, but it was good and cheap! Hit the spot after a long, cold day!

March Madness: a Blue and Gold and a concussion

March flew in, ringing in some crazy times!

Jude got to attend his first Blue and Gold Banquet for Scouts! It was Olympic themed, so we brought these torch cupcakes. They were a huge hit!

He got to be part of the flag ceremony:

AND received his Bobcat and some belt loops he earned!

Poor Lance. He suffered a concussion at school on March 9th as a result of some horseplay after an assembly (basically he tapped some kid on the head, kid didn't like it and pushed him back, Lance's foot came out from under him and he fell and hit his head on a doorway).

It was pretty scary for a bit--George was on his way to work when I picked up Lance, but we met up in the parking lot and George checked him over. He had slurred speech and was starting to feel sick, so we decided he needed to be scanned at the ER. I ran home, grabbed all the kids, and ran back to the ER while Lance vomited about three times.

They got him all checked in and did a great job pushing us through the system. All in all, we were there for only a couple hours.

What do you do when you're stuck at the hospital? Take stylized selfies, of course!

They did a CT of his head and it came back negative for any bleeding. Yay!

We were discharged home on concussion precautions--basically no screen time for a week, no school for a week, and limited activity. Lance clearly wasn't too pleased, but hey, your brain needs to heal! 

I was supposed to drive him up that night to Scott and Abbey for their weekend, but we spent the night in Charlottesville and drove the next day. Lance ended up staying in Vienna for the entire week since Denise and Clare were visiting and he was supposed to be avoiding stressful things like school and crazy siblings.

Can I just tell you how much I love my kiddos? Yes, most days I lose it at least once. I raise my voice more often than I care to admit and I have such little patience at bedtime, it's sad. But I love these little people. They brighten my day and fill me with more joy than I ever thought possible.

Especially when I see things like this:

A sweet big brother helping his little sister. Melts my heart and gives me hope that I'm not completely messing them up!

Jude had Market Day at school as a fundraiser for their Spring field trip. He made perler bead Minecraft swords and sold them for a ticket each. They were so popular, he sold out within 5 minutes! I didn't even get a chance to snap a picture of his set-up before they were gone!

While we were at the school, Cole got to show off some of his projects, too!

He really is coming a long way in school! (Although if you read the paper behind him, it says "I can make a difference by...(Cole's answer) playing Sushi cat 2".  *facepalm* They were doing a unit on George Washington Carver and his influence and I guess Cole missed the point of the lesson. 

This girl of mine is so snuggly! Whenever she wants to be held, she'll hold up her arms and say "Hold you!" or "Hold you me!" It's the cutest thing ever.