Arbor Day?

Arbor Day in February? I'm not quite sure, but today we planted new trees. It was a gorgeous day to work in the yard...I hope the weather stays like this! Our town was participating in a Katrina-recovery program and passing out free native-species trees to those willing to plant them. The girls were thrilled to choose their very own trees and to plant them in the backyard. They both choose magnolias, perfect for this state, and just what our yard has been missing all these years. Haley placed her two trees just the right distance from each other to one day shade a hammock, and Jenna's are near the swingset. I guess it's hard to imagine just how big the trees will grow, or how long it will take for them to get there! Just how long does Henry need to wait before he can harvest pecans, or Lisa to sip tea beneath her red maple?

Bowling

The girls had just one final day off before heading back to school. No more Valentine's, Chinese New Year, or Mardi Gras. What could we do for fun on this last day of freedom? Dad always knows how to have a good time--he took a long lunch and met us at the bowling alley!

It was our first time bowling together as a family. We don't really want to reveal the scores, but let's just say Jenna was happy not be come in last (it's tough always being the youngest in the family), and Haley was satisfied with her scores (her fingers could reach the holes, yippee!) We'll just say we all scored big in having a blast together.

Happy Mardi Gras!

Happy New Year!

Snow Day!

The girls were so excited to hear the dinner-time phone message...no school Friday due to the "winter weather" expected in our area. Just how much snow could we get this far south?

Well, we waited all morning, glancing out the window frequently to see if we could catch a glimpse of snow. But no luck. No snow. Dad called from work...it was snowing big, fluffy snowflakes out his office window. Everyone was just standing in awe watching it fall and calling their families to report this rare event. Should the girls and I jump in the van and chase down snowflakes?!? How silly would that be? After all, we have seen snow plenty of times before, just not HERE. I really wanted to see it snow HERE. Well, I DID! It snowed right in our yard for a whopping 10 minutes, maybe 20. And all the neighbor kids came out to marvel at it. And then they all came over for hot chocolate. After all, isn't that what you do after "playing" in the snow??