Snow Here, Snow There, Snow Everywhere

Wowza, did we get a helluvalot of snow this winter or what?!  I think Mother Nature was making up for the lack of snow the past 2 winters.  I didn't count, but we had snow on the ground for maaaaaaaany consecutive days.  It actually didn't bother me this winter!  Due to COVID and school/work schedules still not normal for a lot of people, traffic is normally a breeze - even when it snows.  There was one morning when it was snowing when I would normally be heading to work; I checked the traffic and the boss was cool with me working from home for a while.  Luckily, the fact that Danny's working from home most days helped when school got cancelled.  The plows also did a really good job keeping the roads clear with all of the snow.  All these things make a world of a difference!  Check out some of our winter fun below.

The boys were at baseball practice one Sunday morning.  After Cadence and I shoveled the top part of the driveway, we realized the snow was great packing snow - ideal for a snowman!  Danny snapped these pictures from us finishing up our masterpiece when he got home.  

Isn't he just the most perfect snowman you've ever seen???

I like to update my friend, Ashley, in Georgia when we get a lot of snow.  I sent her this picture from our ring camera in the backyard.  This wasn't even the worst of it.  It got to the point where you couldn't even tell where the pool is.  It's really pretty back there!

I decided to take the day off from work on one of the kids' snow days.  I didn't have much going on at work, so I figured, "what the heck?!"  I'm so glad I did.  We had a perfect snow day.  We went sledding at the high school again.  This time, since it was so cold, and we had gotten some freezing rain before the snow, there wasn't any mud - just a bunch of ice under the snow.  It made for some stellar sledding!  It was really difficult to get up the hill afterward, though.  We picked up some Panera for lunch, and we had hot chocolate and popcorn with a movie after.  Perfection.

They got so warm, they insisted on taking off their jackets.

This year, for Valentine's Day, we supported my old co-worker's restaurant, Lola & Giuseppe's Trattoria.  Danny and I agree, it's the best Italian food in central Ohio.  They were doing a special take-out menu for Valentine's Day.  I sent Danny a screenshot of the post on social media and we decided we needed this food.  We ordered spaghetti and meatballs for the kids, chicken fettucine alfredo, and eggplant parmigiana.  Each meal came with a salad (I saved one for lunch that week) and garlic bread.  It was sooooo good and worth the drive!

I let Cadence pick which dessert to make for Valentine's Day; since it fell on the weekend this year, we had plenty of time!  We made chocolate cake from scratch (the frosting was store-bought) and she had fun decorating the top with different colored frosting.  It was delicious!  We even shared some with Mom & Dad.

Since I didn't get around to making a Valentine's craft with the kids for all of the grandparents last year, I took the idea I had planned to do and put it into action this year.  Since Cadence is such a whiz with the sewing machine, we took this...

...and turned it into this!

You wouldn't believe how many pictures I deleted to just get the ONE good one. 😑

The cameras around the yard have picked up evidence of our nocturnal friend in the yard on several occasions.  He must've been cold and hungry.  He's so pretty, though!

Even though we had a lot of snow this winter, we really haven't had many days with sub-zero temps.  These icicles on the roof near our bathroom are something I've never seen, though!

It was also so cold that there was ice forming on the INSIDE of Colin's windows.  Yes, his room is the coldest in the house, but it didn't feel THAT cold!

My car read -8 on my way to work that morning.😲

The last weekend before we knew our temperatures were going to be above freezing, Dad asked if we wanted to go sledding!  He's such a kid at heart.  We talked the kids into trying a new place.  I had seen a friend on Facebook post that they went near the dam.  There's a park near the Alum Creek Dam called Winter Park. It was a nice, long, gradual hill to sled down.  It was pretty busy.  Once we got tired of that hill, we ventured over to the hill on the side of the dam.  My dad and Danny were the only ones crazy enough to go down it on the sled.  It was too bumpy - there are rocks under all that snow!  Not to mention, it is VERY steep!  Here's a picture from the top!

Here's a picture while we were trekking up!  It was a great workout!

Group photo!

Oh, and our old pooch, Scarlet.  She irritated her paw/nail while walking on the deep snow.  The snow had this crunchy layer on top that you could step on, but as soon as you put your foot/weight down, you'd crunch right through.  Her fragile paws apparently couldn't hack it.  We noticed it was bleeding after she came in from a potty break.  After that, we would take her outside on a leash so she wouldn't wander around more than she needed to.  We also shoveled an area and packed down the snow so it would be easier for her to walk.  We were keeping an eye on it to make sure it would heal.  One night while putting the kids to bed, Cadence said Danny was calling my name.  I went downstairs & he was holding Scarlet on the floor in the kitchen.  There was blood on the deck, blood on the tile, blood on the carpet.  Her nail was dangling and it was bleeding badly.  Knowing that we couldn't get her paw to stop bleeding, I called mom (poor thing was about to go to bed) and she came over while Danny and I took Scarlet to OSU (again).  Due to COVID, we couldn't hang out inside the building, so we waited in the car after we told the vet what had happened and they examined her better.  At this point it was after 10:00; they called us and told us what they planned to do, and that it would be another 1-2 hours.  Danny ended up driving me home so my mom could sleep in her own bed.  I felt badly going to bed, so I stayed up until after 1:00 in the morning when Danny finally got home with Scarlet.  I was so afraid her old body couldn't handle the anesthesia.  She ended up doing really well; they got her paw to stop bleeding, they cleaned it up, and made sure the broken nail was smooth.  She was on a few meds and was out of it for a few days after. 

Cadence found her toenail in the driveway!  It must've fallen out of the towel we had wrapped around Scarlet's paw when we were putting her in the car!  Gross!

I sent some pictures to family so they would know she was doing just fine!

Poor pup.  She's got 9 lives like a cat!

Cadence's Big Chop

Cadence had been growing out her hair for about 2 years.  When it started to get really long, we decided she was going to keep letting it grow so that she could donate her hair.  She would get it trimmed here and there, but the trips to the salon were few and far between.  Her hair was something she was becoming really proud of.  She would also go through phases where she'd get really attached to the way she was wearing her hair and she'd wear it that way for a couple of weeks straight.  She went through a phase where she would wear it half up with a few "bang" pieces down to outline her face; she went through another phase where I would French braid it every night after her shower so she would wake up with super wavy hair.  As someone who recently had to teach herself how to French braid by watching YouTube videos, I was happy when that phase ended.  A lot of the time she did nothing at all with her hair.  Originally, she wanted to do the "big chop" during Christmas break.  She wanted to surprise her friends with her new 'do.  When Danny tested positive for COVID, we had to postpone her big haircut and the next availability we had was January 30th.  The way we looked at it, she would have another half of an inch of hair to donate by then. The weak leading up to the big day, she was beginning to get cold feet.  I told her what she was doing was so generous; hair will grow back; it will be a nice change.  The morning of, she was still a little nervous, but she was also excited.  I did some research on organizations that took hair donations and we decided on Children with Hair Loss.  In doing the research, we learned that recipients of wigs through Children with Hair Loss are kids and young adults under 21 who have lost their hair due to medical reasons; the minimum donation length was 8 inches; and recipients don't have to pay for their wigs.  We were excited when we realized Cadence had well over 10 inches to donate.  She could still keep her hair at shoulder length and she could still donate a lot of her hair.  When we got to the salon, we talked about her hair length and then Erin (my hairdresser for the last 20ish years) braided her hair into two braids.  She had Cadence stand up and she chopped away!  Cadence's face showed a little bit of shock when she heard the sound of her hair being cut off by the scissors.  She was so surprised to hold her braids after they were no longer attached to her head!  We made sure the hair was secure with rubber bands and I put them in a Ziploc bag and filled out a form to be mailed out.  We're so proud of Cadence for sticking with the goal and giving her hair to those who are in need.  She's still getting used to having shorter locks, but I think she likes that her hair is easier to take care of these days!

Before

After!

She had a basketball game after her hair appointment, so after she showered that night, I helped her dry and style her hair.  She was playing with Snapchat that night and took this picture.  I was being goofy, but had to share because her hair looks so cute!

 

Big Walnut Basketball 2020-2021

Basketball was a lot of fun this season.  It was different.  It was good.  This was the first year we didn't play through the Upward organization.  Danny and I were a little leery about that.  We had heard (through people who had participated in Big Walnut) that things weren't as organized as Upward and it was difficult for the kids to shoot on a 10 ft. rim.  Things were a little different with Big Walnut, but all in all, they were fine.  The games were organized, the teams seemed evenly stacked, the practice/game load was do-able, and once the rim height was agreed upon, that was good too.  Danny and the other dads did an awesome job coaching Colin's team and Cadence had a great coaching duo as well.  Colin's game improved so much this year and Cadence learned a ton.  Even though Cadence might have only made one basket all season, the game started to click for her and she got more aggressive and involved as the season progressed.  It was exciting to watch them play each game. It's awesome to watch your kids excel at something that they've been practicing so hard with and then be proud of themselves.  They both have said that basketball is their favorite sport to play, so I think years of basketball are in our future!

Here's a cute picture our friend got of the boys (and Mason's little brother) planning out the next play.

I'm thankful that we were able to attend all but the kids' first games this season.  With COVID still rampant, each team was allotted 30 spectators at each game.  Each family unit was able to space out and we all took precautions by wearing masks.  We're lucky that Danny and I (as well as my parents) were able to attend all of the games.  It was such a relief to be able to do that due to the fact that the basketball season got abruptly cut short last year when the coronavirus was still this mysterious virus that we didn't' really know about.  There were a couple of times when the kids' game schedules clashed - Mason's dad, Mark, would get on Facebook live and stream Colin's games so I could check in and watch some while at Cadence's games.

Cadence's team played so well together this season.  They were undefeated for majority of the season and only lost, maybe, 2 games.  

Here they are after they won the tournament and took 1st place out of 4 teams!

They had a really good time and deserved their success.

Here's Colin's team after their last game.  They didn't have a tournament, but they had an all-star type game that weekend where any 2nd grader could play.  Colin's team played great together as well and I think each kid improved in some way, shape, or form.  

Danny had something sweet to say to each player after their final game as a team.

They were happy with their medals.

Quarantine Week & Fun with Friends

After Danny wasn't considered contagious anymore (but we all still had to quarantine due to the fact that we could've been exposed) life was a little more normal, even though we couldn't go anywhere.  Danny and I worked from home and the kids completed their assignments at home.  We picked up groceries using Kroger's ClickList - that was really the only time we left the house.  It was nice not having to be paranoid being around Danny anymore.  It was a flashback to our days last April and May. 

Danny found a recipe where you use skillets to cook/bake pizza - they turned out so delicious!  We haven't' made it at home using a traditional pizza pan since!

We finished the Wonders of the World 1,000 piece puzzle.  It was fun!

Danny and the kids picked out some stocks that they wanted to invest in.  He sat down with them and they researched each and every company before getting started!

We also finished a 500 piece Buckeye puzzle the night of the National Championship game against Alabama.  I really thought it would bring the Buckeyes some kind of luck if we finished it in time, but that just didn't happen.  We were still proud of the football team for getting as far as they did during such a crazy season!

Once we were able to leave the house again, we went back to work, back to school, back to sports, and back to friends. After baseball practice on Sunday, Colin's buddy, Mason, came over to play.  They had fun playing NBA2K...

And they all had a Nerf battle - it was INTENSE

Mason also came over after a Friday night practice and spent the night!  It was the first time Colin had a friend sleep over and Mason said it was the first time he stayed anywhere all night.  They both did great!  Here they are playing Minecraft.  We had homemade mac & cheese with chicken nuggets for dinner, so all of the kids were happy about that.  The boys actually went right to bed once it was bedtime and I didn't hear a peep until 7:00 the next morning.  Success!