snowpocalypse 2014!

Something I love (and hate) about North Carolina is how totally awesome they are about snow. And by "awesome" I really mean "not awesome" because even a hint of potential snowfall shuts everything down. And I really do mean just a "hint"--even just thinking that there might be snow means that schools close early and people rush to leave work before the storm hits. The funny thing is that usually the snow is no more than half an inch but it is still always considered very serious here. However, there was a REAL snowstorm here last week, on Wednesday, and it snowed probably more than five inches that day, so naturally things got a little crazy around here. 

As soon as the snow started, everyone in the entire Triangle area decided they needed to leave work and get home, so there were crazy, two-hour-long traffic delays everywhere, and the snow was falling so fast and hard that nobody could get up and down hills in the road (and many people don't know how to drive in the snow here), so there were cars abandoned left and right as people gave up trying to drive and just started walking home. Tommy and Russell started walking home from Duke after being stuck in traffic for a while, but eventually realized the roads weren't so bad off of Duke campus so they ended up making it home just fine in the car. But Dane and I were safe and sound at home and all three of us ended up spending the next three days at home without leaving the house! The snow basically mostly melted by Friday morning, and the roads were pretty much clear, but even on Saturday my class at Durham Tech was canceled, so now I have to figure out a way to have my students make it up. But really, it was so fun to have Tommy home and have several snow days with the three of us. 

I took a few pictures of Dane a few days before the big snow storm, when it was just starting to do a little snow sprinkling, and he loved it.

Then on Thursday, after all the snow was about done, we went outside and played in it for a little bit. It was so adorable to see Dane's tiny little footprints in the snow and see him trying to walk in it.

He insisted on walking. He was very offended when we'd try to carry him.

It was an awesome snow week! Great for us, but a bummer for a lot of people (like schoolkids and teachers) who have to make up all these days eventually later. I'm glad to have it be business as usual this week. And of course, just a few days after the crazy snow storm, the weather is supposed to be in the high 60s and 70s the rest of this week! We will hope that this is a sign that winter is officially over in North Carolina now.

a visit from my best friends

I was lucky enough in college to make some amazing, excellent friends. Friends who I lived with and who knew everything about me. And even though some of us (ahem, me) may be terrible at keeping in touch as much as we would love to, when we get together, it really feels awesome to see each other and it's like we slip back to the good ol' days back in Chandell on 50 East in Provo. It was AWESOME, hands down awesome to have them here. There's nothing better than long talks with old friends, that's what I say.

Right before we took them back to the airport on Sunday afternoon.

The main reason this trip was planned was so that Chelsea could go to another Duke game (she came out last year and had such a great time she wanted to come again). We worked our magic and got her in! There were a few worrisome moments where we thought they had lost their spot in line after waiting there for three hours, but luckily it all got worked out and we managed to get in. (Tommy sacrificed to stay home with Dane while I hung out with them at the game.)

Most importantly, we ate LOTS OF BLUEBELL ICE CREAM.

Not pictured: the hours we stayed up talking FAAAR to late in the night, and when our car got towed while we were eating BBQ at the Q-Shack. Good times were had by all. Thanks to SEF and Chels for coming down and visiting us. Crossing my fingers for a WKWWL reunion in the summer!

cuteness overload

Okay, last week's post was kind of a bummer. It was a HARD HARD week with sickness and teething and bad sleeping and lots of crying. But this week has been night-and-day different from last week; Dane was sleeping better (and sleeping in until 7!!!!!!!!) and therefore sooo much happier, and therefore so was I. What a difference a few hours of sleep can make to everyone's moods. So anyways, I finally uploaded some pictures from our cameras for the last month, and in celebration of how happy we've all been, I thought I'd share some great pictures of Dane and his cuteness, which has really been on overload this week. 

He's gotten some amazingly, ridiculously cute habits that he's picked up lately that really make some shining bright spots every day. Like how as soon as dinner is over, he runs over to the bathroom door and says, "Ba? Ba?" until Tommy relents and gives him his bath. After the bath is over, he now thinks it is HILARIOUS to run naked out of the bathroom, cackling and giggling as loud as possible, running away from Tommy and begging for him to chase him. Another cute habit: he is obsessed with trash cans (no, really--he's OBSESSED) and any time he finds anything remotely resembling trash, he says "Ka ka ka ka," which obviously means "Trash trash trash trash," and he goes and picks it up and throws it away in the trash. He takes his job very seriously--he even insists on throwing his own dirty diapers away. Every single time. It is just so hilarious and cute to watch him walk very seriously over to the trash can, open the lid, and carefully place the dirty diaper in the bin. He will never be a litterbug, that's for sure!

Dane and Indie in a box. Such an awesome, free way to entertain them. 

Dane has become re-obsessed with his little Bumbo seat lately. He climbs in and out of it by himself and is so proud of himself. Look at his cheesy grin here.

He loves to "help" in the kitchen. I pulled out this kitchen stool to try to entertain him and he quietly sat here for half an hour while I made dinner one night.

We've been making green smoothies to get some more veggies and fruits in, and Dane loves drinking out of the straw with mom and dad.

He's started digging in our drawers now. (Our bedside tables are a mess now!) He found my scarf in the bottom of my dresser and wanted to wear it around the apartment. It was a littttle too long for him, but he didn't even notice.

He randomly grabbed this apple the other day and started trying so hard to bite out of it, which he's never done before (we've always just given him already-cut-up slices of apple). He just looked so cute with his mouth open so huge trying to eat the apple we had to take pictures.

We took him to the Observation Park at the airport the other day to watch the airplanes taking off. They have a nice little deck for you to watch the planes and a tiny (really tiny) playground for kids. Dane was thrilled to run around and occasionally paid attention to the planes.

Looking for planes together.

Running down the little pretend runway they have for the kids to play with.

After we got back from the observation park, we made some breadsticks to go with dinner. Dane helped me sprinkle some salt on there. He also insisted on wearing an apron, which Tommy cinched up very high to fit him--but it looked soooo cute!

Then he wanted to wear his bib AND the apron, just to be especially well-protected, I guess.

Look, he LOVES getting kisses from me.

Cute little cheeseball.

And here he is, running away from Daddy and the flying blankie. He is sooo thrilled any time his dad is home and playing with him.

And I just found these pictures that we took when we gave Dane his basketball hoop for Christmas (so these are over a month old now, but they were too good not to share!). He loved throwing the ball into the hoop even though he was barely tall enough to make it in, and he was so proud of himself after doing it he would just smile and smile. He is definitely going to be a basketball STAR like his aunt Bethany!

And here they are watching Rudolph together. (This lasted for about 1 minute before Dane lost interest.)