Walker's 1st Snow...and He is 4 Years Old!

Yes, folks...we have snow! Walker was so excited. When we first started talking about the fact that it was supposed to snow, he said, "It's gonna snow and Santa will come!!". Poor child. I guess in his little mind he is thinking snow + winter = Santa. I mean, who wouldn't? Every Christmas movie special that he saw a few short weeks ago depicted Santa riding a sleigh in SNOW. Not to mention several Christmas carols talk about it. Not here in Alabama, though. We were ecstatic to see 1/2 inch of the white stuff, this morning. Riley and Walker played in the snow, after Riley's basketball game. They were able to make a small snowman (which by the way is still standing a few hours, and melted snow later). And I got some much coveted pictures of my kids with snowballs in hand and beautiful snow all around.

Daddy got in on the action

Walker chasing Mommy with a snowball

Walker, Riley & Owen enjoying the snow

Our snowman, complete with pirate belt scarf

This One's for You Anna Leigh...

I have been tagged by Anna Leigh to play Scattergories. Here goes...

RULES:Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following.Your answers have to be real names, places, and things and you can’t use your own name for the boy or girl name.

What’s your name? Anna
Car: Altima
City: Atlanta
Boy name: Austin
Girl name: Audrey
Occupation: Actress
Something you can wear: Angora sweater
Celebrity: Al Gore
Food: Asparagus
Reason for being late: Afternoon naps went long
Cartoon character: Ariel
Something you shout: Awesome!

No, you're not going crazy! Two posts in one day...it's a record!

The Diamondbacks

Riley has just started playing Upward basketball, a church league here in town. Her team is the Diamondbacks, made up of 7 Kindergarten and 1st grade girls. She has had two games and loves it. She scored twice in the last game and played really good defense. Her age group doesn't officially keep score, but all the mamas in the stands do (our team has won both games!). We are so proud of her. Tim is her coach and they have had a "ball" (sorry!) together. I'm just having a hard time with the Friday night practices at 6pm. I guess it is better than being in the middle of the week...Here are some pics from courtside. Maybe this week I can get a picture of her actually making a shot. Until then...

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

So, it's January and with the new year comes new ways of thinking and living. I am trying really hard to start eating a little healthier. I have gotten into a great exercise routine...running/weights on Mondays and Fridays, muscle flex class on Wednesdays, and spinning on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but the whole eating better part of the equation is really hard. If I could just not snack during the day, I would be doing really good....Every day is a new day, right?

Here is a Weight Watchers recipe that a friend of mine told me about recently (Thanks Renee!)
They are really good and only 2 Weight Watchers points each!!!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins
1 (18 oz) spice cake mix
1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin
Mix ingredients and pour into muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Makes 24 muffins and will keep in the refrigerator several days.

Happy, healthy snacking!

By the way, check out Konfetti Kids for some easy sick-day solutions.

Merry Christmas to Me!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. We had a great Christmas, got lots of goodies, ate a ton, and were reminded of the reason for the season. We spent time with both sets of grandparents, both sides of Tim's extended family, and friends. It was Owen's first Christmas, and I am ashamed to say that I think I only got a few pictures of him with his presents. I guess that comes with being the third child, right? We did get him on video, though. Santa came and brought Riley and Walker both a bike, books, a couple of movies on DVD, and lots of surprises.
It was a lot of fun and as Walker says "the best Christmas ever!"

Tim and I received our Christmas present a little early, this year. Two weeks before Christmas, the weather here in Alabama got unseasonably warm. I mean I'm talking like upper '70s-low '80s. Way too warm for the middle of December, if you ask me. So, Tim cut the air conditioner on and didn't think anything about it. Now, back in the sweltering month of August, we had had some air conditioning issues. We had the repairman come out and look at the unit, and thought that everything was fixed. We knew we would have to end up replacing the unit, but probably not until next year. Surprise, surprise! After two days of running every ceiling fan in the house and sleeping with the windows open...which is a little creepy, by the way...we had the repairman come back out. He basically told us that we had a hole in the coils that had just gotten bigger and bigger, which was causing freon to leak out, AND the motor on the fan had burned up. I don't know much heating/cooling jargon, but this didn't sound good. He told me that his suggestion was to replace the whole unit. To make matters worse, we have a heat pump and needed the unit to work in order to have heat. So, on December 14th, I spent the day at home with the 4 men from Jones Heating and Cooling, as they installed a new air conditioning unit. Needless to say, we now have a digital thermostat, which we never have to adjust thanks to the automatic setting, and it is always comfortable in our house. I think this the biggest, most expensive gift I've ever gotten for Christmas!