Meyer Love Bug

She is saying "Bye, Bye!"

Cheese!

She was off.

Trying to figure out what to do with the snow.

She was testing out the snow before she realized she could still run.

I had to do a special post about our winter break part 2. We have to go back to school tomorrow after having 10 days off due to a weekend, snow, ice, and MLK day. It has been the most wonderful 10 days anyone could have imagined. I had to post how the week went and some things we did to make sure we remember the good times while we are making up all of the days.

Warning!! This is long and I am sorry, but it was a whole week we were off!

During the first weekend we treated it like any other normal weekend full of sports, grocery shopping, and laundry. Then it started to snow on Sunday night and we learned we would be out on Monday. Yes! We were pumped, but had no idea what was in store for us. Then we woke up with about 5 inches on the ground of great snow! We had a great time playing in the snow Monday morning and just hanging out with hot chocolate and movies. The perfect snow day! Then as the day went on we realized nothing was melting and it was starting to sleet. We learned later in the day we would get Tuesday off too. Yes!! We got to watch the national championship game like it was a Saturday night. It was a lot of fun! We went to bed late after a great game and ready for the snow to start melting on Tuesday. Once we got up on Tuesday (around 9, Ally slept great this entire week!) we realized nothing had melted. Nothing! It was even worse than it was on Monday, and wait we are still stuck inside b/c our neighborhood was all ice. But after a few days stuck inside we realized we need some fresh air so we thought we would test out the ice and drive to my school which is three miles away. We didn't believe the entire county and city could be like our neighborhood. Well, the three miles took us 10 minutes. After that ride we realize there would not have school again on Wednesday so we started to get settled and enjoy the rest of Tuesday. It worked out great that we were able to stay home b/c Ally was fighting something on Tuesday b/c she had a low grade fever. Thankfully we were able to just hang out and chill. We finally watched Julie & Julia and Avatar. During Avatar Ally just cuddled up next to me and acted like she was watching and enjoying the movie. It was the best! (a side note is that I think she might like action movies b/c the first time I ever felt her move in my belly was when I was watching Batman, just interesting) Both are great movies. So of course we stayed up too late again on Tuesday night and we thought of course when we went to bed the snow and ice now would be melting on Wednesday. When we got up to take Anna out we realized Wednesday was way worse than Monday and Tuesday. Way more ice!!! We were still stuck!!! We couldn't believe it. So we pulled out more bags of tricks for Ally and found the dress up clothes she got for Christmas. Those are the pictures I posted above. She was even walking in her heels! It was great when she got the keys and was telling us bye, bye. Yes, she was getting stir crazy. Early in the day we realized we were in need of another quick trip out so we made it up the street to Target and then to dinner at IHOP. During that trip we saw 4 cars slide in the ice. I was pretty nervous about being out, but we made it back safely. During our trip out we learned again we would not have school again on Thursday. Thankfully Ally is starting to feel better as well. Well, I say thankfully but now that means she was getting crazy and tired of the same old things we had been doing. So it was time to pull out the big guns. We had done play dough, played with the Christmas presents, and watched enough Elmo and Sesame Street for her to learn the characters so it was time for paint. Yes paint! It was water paint, but still paint. She loved the idea of water and paint. I think she loved the water way more than she loved the paint. At least that kept her busy for a little while. Then came the key word for the rest of the week. March! Yep, march. We started to march around the house b/c remember we were stuck! So we would march around the couches and around and around. She would say march, march. Then if we would stop she would say "Mommy, March!" "Dada March!" and even "Anna March!" We tried to tell her Anna couldn't march, but she soon realized it wasn't going to happen so she was fine with just us marching. After all of that marching we realized we needed another quick trip out. Since it was Thursday we believed we had to have school on Friday. We didn't believe we would miss an entire week of school. I was so convinced we would have school I told Justin I needed to drive to daycare to see which route I should take in the morning for Ally. There was still ice everywhere! I was very nervous. Thankfully during our trip we learned no school on Friday again! I was so nervous Justin even drove the rest of the way while we were out. We realized we needed to do one more stop at the Forum to find something for the rest of our time in the house. It was great for some fresh air, but the problem was Ally wanted to run and well get loose since she had been stuck inside for so long. There was still ice everywhere so that was a challenge keeping her with us, but we made it back safely with no cuts or bad bruises. Thankfully while we were at Barnes and Noble we found her a box of books with the characters from Sesame Street. I think she has even learned Elmo is red from the books too. Anyway, she has loved the books and well they have been a savior for us these last days. But, what were we going to do on Friday after 7 days off already? Well while we were out we picked up a brush and some pony tails for Ally. Yep, we started to test out some pony tails. It was really for me to see how they would look and well it was the funniest thing I did all week. She looked so funny! She was not happy with me, but I loved it!! I will post pictures of those soon b/c I will keep on working on my pony tail skills, b/c she did look pretty funny. After the pony tails and nap time we finally decided Ally needed some fun so we found an indoor playground. This place called Catch Air, was awesome!! It is an indoor playground full of jumping spots and room to run which is what Ally wanted. She loved it!! Thankfully we got out of the house and she had fun too. Also the snow/ice is finally started to melt slowly. Thankfully!! On Saturday after a whole week off we realized we needed to get out again so we found another indoor playground at North Point Mall and got her a cookie too. She loved the cookie :). Then finally on Sunday and today Monday things have finally gotten back to normal. Full of sports, grocery shopping, and laundry. What an unexpected break to remember for a lifetime.

I had to document the week b/c we believe this is going to be one of those things that Ally will never believe us when we tell her as she gets older. Thank you Justin and Ally for making this one awesome week together!!!

I went up to her room while she was sleeping to test the "sleep" mode for kids which means the flash is not on. So cool!

Did you even remember we have a cat? Yep, this is Indy!

And here was our first true "baby" Anna

Here is our girl waking up from her nap with her blankie. She is a blankie girl.

I am one of those lucky, lucky friends born close to Christmas. So, many times I wrap my birthday and Christmas gifts into one and well this year was no different. I was saving and asking everyone for a new camera. Thankfully everyone was very generous and I was able to get the one I was really hoping for, the Nikon 3100. WOW!!! This camera is amazing. These pictures are only good b/c this camera is that good. It is the coolest electronic I have ever gotten and I can't wait to learn more about the camera and hopefully get better and better or at least a little more knowledgeable. I am trying to sign up for a class now (thank you Mary Ellen for the tip). Anyway, I will be posting tons of pictures in the next months b/c I will be playing and learning about the camera. I hope you enjoy!