2 Times in 2 Weeks

Somehow it snowed again in the Birmingham metro area, less than 2 weeks after the eventful "snowpocalypse".  We only received a true dusting this time (although several places just north of us got 2 inches plus), but it was enough to make Big Sister very excited!  John went out with both kids to play for a bit before he headed to work.  They even made a cute little miniature snowman, who now lives in our freezer!

After "snowpocalypse" no one was taking any chances, so they actually cancelled school for 3 days, even though in the end, the roads were only icy for a few hours overnight Wednesday into early Thursday morning.  Thankfully the Governor declared a "state of emergency" during both events (the weather was much worse this go around over parts of north Alabama), so the school days missed will be forgiven.  Aunt Jamie was getting kind of nervous that they would have to  make the days up over spring break...that would be no fun at all!!

My cousin lives in Chattanooga and they got almost 7 inches of snow!!  When I saw how much snow was forecast in east Tennessee, I wanted to load the kids up and head to the River House, but unfortunately the roads were bad between here and there.  There are some great sledding hills around there; hopefully we'll catch some snow up there one day!

"Engine Room"

When we first started working on Little Bud's new room, we decided to go with a car and truck theme.  Over the last few months it slowly evolved into a looser theme: anything with an engine.  Little Bud likes to play with trucks, tractors, trains, fire engines, planes and cars of all kinds.  Several of the fun things in his room were Christmas gifts from various family members, and recently John's brother James gave Little Bud some tractors and trains that were his when he was little.  We are so happy with how his room turned out, and Little Bud enjoys waking up to all of his fun toys and decorations every morning (after he wakes up he usually spends a few minutes jibber jabbering and making truck and train noises).

Most of the furniture (and lots of the decorations) in Little Bud's room are extra special.  John and his dad made the display cabinet and little bb gun shelf (that's above the window - it's only displaying little planes for now!) when John was a kid.  His little rocking chair was actually John's dad's from when he was a baby!  John built the corner shelf for Big Sister's nursery a few months before she was born (we're planning to paint the trim on it blue, we just haven't had a chance to yet).  John's grandmother painted the train that's below the "J" for John's brother James when he was little. 

 

Little Bud sleeps with his monkey, Llama Llama and Rebecca Rabbit every night

(at the moment he loves his Llama Llama books and 

pulls them off his shelf for us to read multiple times each day)

(Grammie made his crib sheet out of the cutest fabric I found on Etsy.)

 

John's dad built this shelf for Little Bud for Christmas

 

Gigi and Papa Dean gave Little Bud the clock that's above his shelves for Christmas.

The tractors (and little train decoration under the shelves) came from Uncle James.

The red train was given to the kids by my Grandpa.  It was a toy from when my mom 

and my uncle and aunts were growing up.

Little Bud came into the room as I was finishing up taking the photos, 

and I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of my sweet little love.

"It's Valentine's Day"

Big Sister said that sentence 4 times to herself as soon as she woke up last Friday morning!  I guess she was  excited!  When she got out of bed, she ran into our room, and said the same thing to us again!  She's been working on crafts at home and at Grammie's for a few weeks, so the gift giving anticipation has been building :) 

She and Little Bud were both excited to open their little Valentine gifts.  We realized that Little Bud has grown and changed a lot since Christmas.  He was way more into his gifts than he was at Christmas; squealing and showing everything to us with a big, happy smile.  It was so fun to see the excitement on their faces.  I love these kids more than words can say!!

love her excitement!

Little Bud needed his own brush, since he usually has to borrow

Big Sister's princess brush!