Snow Days

We had our first winter snowfall of the year this weekend,  and it really was the "perfect storm".  The entire student body at L&L's school did a snow dance on Friday in anticipation of the winter weather, and it worked!  When we went to bed on Friday night, it was just beginning to snow, and we woke up on Saturday morning to discover a winter wonderland!  

9 inches of snow = No school for days!

We were safe and snug with no weekend plans, and having Daddy at home on snow days is my favorite thing ever.  We went sledding down the hill beside our house (which is also a road, but since neighborhoods don't get plowed in the south, it's a great sledding hill!):

This photo series of Leah sledding perfectly captures our fearless Snow Baby:



We made snow angels, tasted the freshly fallen snow, and made "snow cream":

We came inside to warm up, drank hot chocolate, played board games, and it wasn't long before we heard, "Can we go back outside again?"

Leah and Daddy built a cute "snow mountain" (because the snow wasn't great for rolling into balls for a snowman body)... 

... and the kids built a snow fort to protect themselves during our family snowball fight.  Leah took advantage of our neighborhood's snowbound status to hike through the snow selling Girl Scout cookies door to door, and our neighbors were impressed with her dedication (and she sold almost 100 boxes!).

So far, school has been called off for Monday and Tuesday, and we're hunkered down as we wait for the snow to melt so that we can resume our normal routine (It's supposed to be 66 degrees by the end of the week!).  In the meantime, we're enjoying our southern snow days with these two cuties!   

Cousins' Christmas 2016

Part Two of our holiday travels consisted of "Cousins' Christmas" in Williamsburg.  For many years, we called this "Brothers' Christmas", as Bean and Poppy hosted their sons and families over Winter Break.  But somehow, the grandchildren changed the name of this celebration to "Cousins' Christmas", which is quite fitting for the 6 human and 3 doggie cousins that run the show these days.  Bean and Poppy displayed this sign on their table this year, which is absolutely perfect for our crew!

There are so many exciting parts of Cousins' Christmas, which are now traditions that the children anticipate with joy.  There are the Cousin Presents that they give each other, which often elicit adorable reactions:

Gabe's presents for his cousins.

L&L's gift for Gabe.  

"Back to Back" presents have been a tradition since Mark and his brothers were young, and are fun for cousins who open similar presents at the same time! 

Pokemon and Lego Back-to-Back presents.

Comparing their Pokemon cards.

Love these boys!

Alexis and Lauren's Back-to-Back, with Scout's help!

4th grade chefs with their monogrammed aprons!

A 3-person Back-to-Back present with dogs closely "supervising"!

 This year, Cousins' Christmas = Legos and Pokemon for the three youngest cousins:

Cousins' Christmas also means playing games together, reading books, and even chess with willing uncles!

Cousins' Christmas is a houseful of joyful chaos, with the Christmas tree up high on a table out of the reach of wagging tails and inquisitive paws...

(Of course, there are presents for the furry cousins, too!)

 Cousins' Christmas means time to bond and snuggle, too.  After years of Winnie being "loved" by her cousins, the tables have turned, and our children smothered their doggie (and human) cousins just a little bit...

Hailey was very patient and sweet with Leah.

Never enough hugs.

Giving Bean & Poppy their presents.

 Cousins' Christmas fell on New Year's Eve this year, and we went out for dinner to celebrate (Who says we aren't fun?  5:00 p.m. is the new midnight!).  I marveled at the institution of the completely independent "Kids Table" this year.  They ordered for themselves and wanted nothing to do with us boring grown ups at the Adult Table! 

The next morning, we had our annual birthday party for Baby Jesus, with church at home, complete with special readings and music.   

And there were even more cousins that afternoon at the Offutt Family Christmas party, with Great Grammy as the guest of honor:  

There were 28 people at this family party, and the children have so much fun together.  Some of these cousins only see each other at the beach and at Christmas time, and they pick up right where they left off, playing as if no time at all has passed. 

I had to take a picture of these boys playing with the pink princess castle!

"Big Tall Mark" is Everett's special buddy.

This kid sat down right away to read his book from Great Grammy.

When you're the oldest cousin (and a teenager!), you will always have little fans!

Another Kids' Table full of first and second cousins!  

These cousins may grow older and taller every year (Maya is now the tallest Winterhoff girl/woman!).  But no matter how big they get, we treasure these children and the gift of Cousins' Christmas together each December.  Thank you, Bean and Poppy!