"Nieces"

As you know, I have a few blogs to catch up on , so here we go.

I am the proud aunt of one awesome nephew but this summer I have been lucky enough to meet my two "nieces". One introduction was made in May and then one more recently in July.

My first "niece" is Miss Ellie Sexton. Her daddy, Brandon, was my boyfriend in third and fourth grade. Now that meant, we played together on the playground, were around each other constantly and gave each other presents. On Valentines Day in fourth grade, he presented me with a heart shape box of candy. Everyone in the school knew we were " serious". I think it mostly entertained all parties. We continued to be good friends throughout all of our schooling years, topping off our high school experience by going to senior prom as friends. Since then, we have always been there for each other. We visited each other in college and have attended each other's weddings. It was such a proud moment for me to see him and his wife venture into the journey of parenthood. Ellie was born April 30th. We met three weeks later and have also celebrated her two month birthday with dinner out. She is a doll and I love her. This is Miss Ellie and a pic of me and her daddy the last time we visited weeks before her arrival.

My second "niece" is my cousin Nancy's daughter Anna. She is two days short of ten months old. She has such a sweet disposition. We have been shopping with her several times these last few weeks and she is so patient, just hangs out as one of the girls. She is very talkative and has taken to all of us Griswolds. It was amazing to meet her for the first time and great to fix the insane statistic that Nancy and I had not seen each other in a year. Since she lives in Arizona and had Anna last September, there hadn't been a lot of opportunity. I have never gone a year between seeing Nancy! This time together has been so great and loving on Anna has been too.

I'm Still Here

Sorry the blog has gone a little stagnant. I just have been really busy. I have plenty to share. Here is what you can look forward to soon ( and what has been keeping me busy):

- Myrtle Beach trip with Brad
- Seeing my cousin for the first time in a year and meeting her 10 month old daughter for the first time
- Spending time with my best friend since third grade Brandon and his wife Lindsay and three month old daughter Ellie
- Attending a Cocktails and Canvas evening with Nicole
- Going to Savannah tomorrow with my mom and aunt

Have a good end of summer and I will be back soon

Why I Teach

Last Friday night, Brad and I went to the home of two of my students. It was the home of the fabulous "B" boys. I work with their mom and adore her. The boys are precious, so well spoken and so loving. I have taught both boys for two years now and am looking forward to a third. "Jo" will be in third this year and "Ju" will be in fifth. To give you an idea of how much I cherish these kids, Ju called me his "school Mom" last year. We have a close relationship still although I think the coolness of fourth grade caused that title to fade a little. He still comes to me , asking me to squeeze his head when he has a headache. They are a fabulous family.

So fabulous that to show me how much they appreciated what I have done for them this past school year, the family invited me to dinner and games at their house. It was such a special night. We ate pizza, played Cranium, Apples to Apples, team bowled in Wii. It was so great and I had such a great time. The appreciation they gave me left me inspired to fight for what I believe is right as a teacher. And what did I give them?

Well, I offered to bring something to dinner. When asked what Mrs. Dillard should bring, "Ju" said dessert. I rose to the challenge. I made a dessert out of ice cream sandwiches and brought sprinkles so they could decorate it before eating. It didn't take them along due to their outstanding creativity and help from little sister.

So these are the reasons I teach - not for the pay, the summers off , or the easy way out - to make a noticeable difference in the life of a child.

Summer So Far

Summer so far has been going great. I have the freedom to operate on my own schedule and do my own thing. I sleep in some ( the alarm goes off at 8:30 and some days I actually get up then) and I get up some. I get to clean up - my closet has made the annual switch from winter to summer and goodwill be taking in some new items because of it, our laundry piles are noticeably shorter and the kitchen stays cleaner longer. My physical fitness is getting attention with a daily effort to do something for at least thirty minutes - usually the exercise bike, sometimes a walk or some Wii Fit. Our dinner time meals are definitely less prepackaged items since the end of year craziness has subsided. And I have seen family members - the last two weekends my mom, myself and Aunt Brenda have had spend the night parties, bowled and shopped. It has been fun. I also have had some quality time with my Grandma. I had lunch with her last Friday and took her to dr visits this Monday. I even have moments when I don't know what to do with myself - which doesnt happen during the school year too much. But to make things even better, I have so much to look forward to in the next two months:

Remainder of June

- This weekend I am going to spend the night with my Dad for a couple of nights. We should have some really good father/daughter bonding time just in time for Father's Day.
- My nephew Carter is turning two this Friday and his birthday party is Saturday. His personality is evolving so quickly. Each time you see him, he is a little more grown up.
- We are going out to eat with one of my best friends (also my college roomie) and her husband this Friday near Perimeter Mall.
- I am going outlet shopping with another best friend next week.
- We have tickets to a Gwinnett Braves game.
- Eclipse is coming out!
- Brad is working weeks of four ten hour days rather than a five day work week so we should have some fun Fridays coming our way this month and in .....

July

- We are going to Myrtle Beach for a week in July.

- My cousin Nancy is coming home from Arizona til the beginning of August. We will finally get to meet her baby girl Anna ( who will be one at the end of September).

- More fun Fridays with the husband!

So bring on the summer and bring on the fun!

Finally- the Last Full Day in NYC

Our last full day in NYC was Saturday. We got up and found weather the 60's more chilly weather that Friday had brought. Our tickets (that we had purchased the previous day at the South Street Seaport) were for a matinee show of Million Dollar Quartet. So if we were going to do anything else, we had to get up and go. That journey ended up being to the near top of the Empire State Building. It was an incredible view but also an incredible wind so Brad was the only one of us that was brave enough to go out on the exterior observation deck. Here is an example of the view we saw.

After leaving the Empire State Building, we headed back toward the hotel. We stopped at Dean and DeLuca for a small bite to eat and then got ready to head to our show. We had the concierge take a pic of us all dressed up.

From there we headed for the Nederlander Theatre to see Million Dollar Quartet. Our seats were second row and the show was great. It followed a night in studio where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis played together. Here is a picture of the exterior of the theater when we found it the night before.

When the show concluded, we went back to the hotel to change. I had one more attraction I wanted to see. In the NY Public Library, they had the original Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals on exhibit. These are the ones that A.A. Milne's son Christopher Robin actually played with and that were featured in the opening credits of the show. I was very happy to take this in. Tigger had always been my favorite.

We wrapped up the night with dinner on Restaurant Row. We went to Bourbon Street. It was some very tasty Cajun food. Then we went back to the hotel and prepared to leave the next day via the shuttle.

Third Day in New York

So the third day temps dropped unexpectedly into dreary, windy 60's and both of us had only packed one long sleeved item - matching gray fleeces. This was the day that we headed far south and rode the subway. We navigated it well and made it down to the South Seaport where we could buy our discounted Broadway show tickets. We scored second row tickets to the musical Million Dollar Quartet. Then we walked through the South Seaport stores. There, we completed a Dillard must on a trip to anywhere - finding a Christmas ornament to commemorate the trip.

We also found a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. On a warmer day, Meredith might have been up for walking over to it for real. However, on this day, we settled for a nice picturesque view. From there we walked down the waterfront and made our way to Battery Park and the Staten Island Ferry area. When we got there, we found out that the crown of the Statue of Liberty was closed due to windy conditions. Therefore, we again opted for just a view of this tourist attraction. I had done the ferry on my previous trip.

So then we or I pondered what to do and where to go from Battery Park. This is a pic my charming husband caught of me thinking over what we should do.

We ended up walking through the downtown area on the Southside. We walked past Ground Zero and then headed to the Subway to jump on a train towards Little Italy for lunch. We ate lunch there at a coal over pizza place named Lombardi's. It was really good.

Afterwards, we rode a subway back into town. Our travels took us by some of the staples of New York tourism - Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station, back to Toys R Us and H and M. While at Rockefeller Center, we went to the NBC store. We were hoping to schedule an NBC tour. This is the one thing we did wrong on this trip. When we got there, their tours were all booked up through Sunday AM, the day we were leaving. We probably could have done it but we wanted to make sure we got to the airport in plenty of time. There is always next time.

We wrapped up the day with beverages at Dunkin Donuts. The next day would be an early one.

Day Two in NYC

We got up and had breakfast at our hotel before heading out for another full day of NYC. Before going out, we snapped a pic of us fresh and ready for the day.

Our plan was to do the Central Park area. We had of course been up near there for Serendipidity the day before. However, on this day, we traveled via Times Square. Still, it would be a day with a lot of blocks traveled . Here are some pictures of our travels through Times Square.

Once we got to Central Park, we headed to two specific and important locations: Shake Shack and the Museum of Natural History. Shake Shack was wonderful. It is a green operated restaurant which specializes in frozen custard. They use their custard to make blizzard like dessert with candies or fruits blended into a flavor of custard. Mine was fabulous with strawberries, bananas and shortbread cookies. It was my favorite food consumed in NYC. They are bringing a restaurant like this to Centennial Park. The museum was interesting but I am not a history buff persay so it was a more Brad experience. Still, it was definitely something someone should see once.

Following our adventures in the museum, we went deeper into Central Park. I was on a mission to find the Central Park Carousel and also wanted to revisit the Belvedere Castle from Nicole and I's trip to NYC. Our legs were tired as we came back home to the hotel after long travels in the park. We came back via Times Square. We stopped by the Hershey and Mand M stores as well as Toys R Us on our way.

After a nap, we headed to a small, quaint Italian restaurant around the corner from our hotel for dinner and then went into our local Starbucks for a warm beverage. And that was Day Two.

Better Late Than Never... Day One in New York City

So we got up for our trip to Hartsfield Airport at 4:30am! Sooooooo early but we wanted to have plenty of time to park and ride to the airport and get through security. Well that happened and we had a LOT of time to kill in the airport as our flight was at 8:30. Better to be safe than sorry, but oh the missed sleep! So we looked for breakfast at the airport. In our concourse , there weren't great selections. I had a bagel and OJ. We waited patiently for our flight. The flight itself was uneventful. We landed in Newark and enjoyed a slightly long taxi ride via the Lincoln Tunnel. Upon arriving at the Hampton Inn Times Square South and depositing our luggage, we were free to travel the city. I decided we could walk this whole day. It was as warm in NYC as it was in GA. High 80's.

Let's talk about walking!!! Our hotel was at 39th street between 9th and 8th avenue...... our first destination - Serendipidity 3 was in the 60s of streets and around 2nd Avenue. Yes lots of walking. But there was frozen hot chocolate was on the other side and it was a great way to show Brad a brief run through of major,anticipated sites of New York on Day One. We walked and walked, growing hungrier. I remembered that when I was in NYC with Nicole four years prior we actually couldn't find Serendipidity on our first attempt but I knew Brad and I were close. We stepped into an Urban Outfitters where I charmed the "yankee" salesman with Southern charm and he informed me Serendipidity was right around the opposite corner. There Brad and I shared a lunch of nachos and of course, a frozen hot chocolate as featured in the movie Serendipidity with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsdale.

On our way back down from Serendipidity, we traveled back towards our hotel down 5th Avenue. The strip of major shops. We saw all sorts of sights like Trump Tower and the Apple Store. One of our most fun stops was FAO Schwartz. I at once found a wayward monkey and made it my mission to find his "home". I really would have preferred to bring him home with me. We saw the traditional big keyboard, walked through Clifford the Big Red Dog's house and had a great time. Though we did walk away with no animals purchased.

As we went down 5th Avenue, we stopped at two H and M's . I love H &M but surprisingly didn't find anything. The major Dillard shopper that day was Brad. He got two shirts, maybe more. At this point our feet were killing us.... it was like 50+ blocks already. So we slowly trudged back to the Hampton Inn and took a nap in our room.

For dinner, we headed to Greenwich Village on foot. Again a far distance from our hotel but in the opposite direction. Greenwich Village is such a cute collegy area and warm...especially for NYC. We went to a restaurant called the Blue Ribbon Bakery and both ordered the whopping plate of Fried Chicken , mashed potatoes and green beans. A great southern meal in the North? It happened folks. They even served the fried chicken with honey for dipping. That was good. A yummy trick. We trudged back to the hotel , two tired travelers ready for the next day of fun.

Spring Break - Monday and Tuesday

Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break came. Brad had to work both of them and my aunt came into town so I went shopping with my mom and Brenda while Brad was at work. I had a good time.

Monday Mom, Brenda and I met up at my house. We went shopping locally so I could get home in time to get dressed for Brad and I's anniversary celebration.

It was our two year wedding anniversary. The NYC trip was in honor of this occasion but we still desired making an extra special evening out of our actual anniversary. Brad and I had a reservation for Veni, Vedi, Vici in Atlanta for dinner. I had a Caprese salad and Veal Scallopine. Brad had a prefixe dinner with three courses including fried clams, a small serving of ravioli and entree of swordfsh. Then we both got dessert. He got cheesecake and I had an apple tart. They presented us with a very impressive dessert display. It definitely made the night more "sweet."

Before we had left for dinner, we swapped gifts. Brad and I wrote similar words in our cards about how much we have grown recently in our relationship and how committed we are to each other now. He gave me the DVD Up and Reba McEntire's 50 song Boxed set uploaded on my Ipod. I got him a dress watch and new brown flip flops. So much for the $20 spending limit.

Tuesday I met (well beat) my mom and Brenda to the Mall of Georgia. We had PF Chang's for lunch. YUM! I love their lettuce wraps and even though it is an appetizer, had it as my lunch. I also ended up leaving the mall with another pair of Yellowbox flip flops. I highly recommend them you guys and they are on sale this week for $19.99 during Belk Days. I then headed home to pack and got in the bed by 10:30. I had to because we would be getting up SUPER early the next day for NYC!!!

Spring Break - Saturday and Sunday

Saturday didn't start off low key but it was a low key day. Why did it not start out low key? It seems that two birds outside of our house did not get the memo that Spring Break is very exciting because people get to sleep in late. They began their week long journey of waking us up at 5:45 in the morning with their songs. Songs that would be pretty and happy at any other hour. Brad couldn't get back to sleep but I did my best to.

When we finally did get up, we watched a movie. We had tried to watch it Friday night but with little success. That is pretty typical around these parts. The movie we watched was The Family That Preys. It was very good. To be truthful, I really like Tyler Perry's movies. Very authentic about the family dynamic and experience.

We got ready to go afterward and went up to the Mall of Georgia. We got our wedding rings cleaned in celebration of our approaching anniversary on Monday and then went into the Mall. I had Chickfila for lunch (YUM!) and Brad got Chinese. We only ended up buying Anoraks at Old Navy for our trip to NYC. Sadly, they did not get packed so they will be going back to Old Navy. And to be truthful, I am sure we did more Saturday but I just can't remember. Oh the pains of being 29!

Easter Sunday came with take two of the birds and their morning song. Grr! Really any other time, I would think they are cute and want to support them in their mission of establishing a home but sigh, spring break. So since we were already up, we went to Early Service at Church rather than our usual 10:45 and attended Sunday School.

Once we got home, we prepared things to take to my Dad's. Then, we were on our way off to the Jefferson/Hoschton area to have a double dose of Easter - lunch with my dad and dinner with my mom. We had a light fare for lunch of quiche, salad, fresh fruit (that I brought) and breadsticks. There was also chocolate cream pie, cupcakes, and haystacks(thought crafted into birds' nests with jellybean eggs). While Jan made the cupcakes, I got to situate them each on their own private lawn of green coconut. After eating, we moved on to the lawn to play bocce ball. I brought our set up there and we had a good time playing. Grandma and her friend Henry would not play but seemed to have a good time spectating.

We (Brad, my sister Suzanne and her friend)left for Mom's after five. At Mom's, we had traditional fare. Ham, potato salad, green beans, baked beans. A special touch to the evening was that Mom found Nannie's strawberry cake recipe and made one for the event. Nannie passed away 13 years ago this June. She was my youngest grandparent and her mom outlived her. I miss touches of her like that strawberry cake, chocolate cake frosting, Christmas, the glue that she was for our family on that side. So it meant a lot that my mom attempted it and it was very good. After dinner, we just hung out. No games much to my dismay but we just chilled in front of the tv talking until we needed to head out because Brad had to be at work the next day. The Easter Bunny did visit us at Mom's though. He brought me Starburst jelly beans and Brach's Malted Milk Ball Eggs and Brad Reese's peanut butter eggs.

So while it was a busy Easter, it was a good Easter.

Back to Work - A lot of Posting to Come

Hello!
We are back from NYC and sadly back to work. It was very hard to get up this morning and I am sure it will be hard to get through the day. But then you will start seeing some posts on the rest of Spring Break leading up to NYC and all the best about NYC. Brad and I had a great trip and really enjoyed the best of the city. Stay tuned!

Spring Break - Day One Friday April 2nd

I had a good first day of Spring Break. After a little bit of sleeping in, I got up and got ready to head to Grandma's. It was a furlough day for the senior center and with my Aunt and Uncle gone on their westward journey, I figured she could use the company. When I got there, my dad was there too. We enjoyed a lunch of Grandma's homemade fried chicken and then got put to work.

My grandfather used to have a major garden when I was growing up. Grandma would prepare all the veggies that Pa could produce for freezing and we would have great meals until the next garden could come around. Some summers while us grandkids were there, we would be put to work snapping, shelling and shucking. It was a neat experience and a memory that I treasure. The year after Pa died we all came together in South Georgia and made Grandma a garden. It was really hard work, tilling and plowing and planting but it meant a lot to do it in Pa's honor. The vegetables tasted that much sweeter that year because of all the labor we put into it. This Friday however, the garden is much smaller, and I really didn't dress for the work but my dad tilled while he made Grandma rake all the dead plants in to the soil. This is what it looked like.

After a good afternoon chat with Grandma, I headed back home. With a detour along the way. There is a Target and Belk in Bethlehem so I stopped there to pick something up for Brad's anniversary present. I called Mom on the way and she met me up there. While I was shopping for Brad, I did buy something for me. Remember how Reason #5 to be excited about Spring Break was flip flops .....well doesn't that mean that I should buy some new ones on Spring Break.

They are YellowBox brand and so cute and comfy . I highly recommend them. They are available at Belk and well at the Shoe Dept at Mall of Georgia.

After my shopping journey was over, I came home and spent time with my husband. We were going to have a California Pizza Kitchen White Pizza Frozen Pizza for dinner, but when I opened it, the toppings all slid off so I saved as much of that as I could . I added some spaghetti sauce, cheese, the remnant toppings and some bell peppers and some turkey pepperoni to the pizza. After that we relaxed. And that is what Spring Break is all about.

6 More WakeUps til Spring Break!

I can't emphasize or express enough how excited I am that Spring Break starts next Friday bringing me ten days off from work. As many of my friends in the blog community can relate to, this is the time of year where kids go bonkers. It is nearing the end of the year, almost CRCT time, the weather is warmer( well that one is still up for debate) and the days are longer. It is hard to keep them focused. But right now, I feel like I am right there with them. Why? This has been a hard year in a lot of ways but lets just say calendarwise I feel like I am due. I have Perfect Attendance for this year and with all the flood and snow days taking out snow make up days along the way, that means I have not had a day off since MLK day. As a teacher, that is a long time. But instead of being really negative about it, I want to focus on the positive. Spring Break is coming !!! Here is the top five reasons I am excited Spring Break is just around the corner:

#5 - Flip flops are going to be coming back out soon. I love feet freeing shoes! I have lavender sparkly flip flops, brown, black, etc. I just love them and the warm weather means they can find their way back to the front of the closet. Yay!

#4 - Easter is coming. I like Easter. Carter will be an active participant in the Dobson Easter Egg hunt this Sunday . It will certainly be fun to watch him go after the eggs.

#3 - Certain candies come available for said easter egg hunts. I love some Starburst jellybeans and the Brach's Malted Milk Ball Robin Eggs. And the latter are hard to find.

#2 - Brad and I will celebrate our second wedding anniversary on the Monday of Spring Break. It is amazing to me that it has been two years. We are in a really good place in our relationship and things get more and more fun. Two weekends ago and we went to the lake and just had couple time. Last Wednesday night we went and saw John Mayer second row. Things are just always hopping.

#1 To celebrate our two year anniversary, we are going to NYC. Four Spring Breaks ago, I went to NYC with my one of best friends and former roommate Nicole while Brad went to Colorado to ski. I am excited to share the city with Brad. We have a plan of events and sites that we want to enjoy when we go. We will be there from Wednesday to Sunday so our actual anniversary will be in Loganville but two days later we are NYC bound.

So there it is my top five of why Spring Break can't get here fast enough. Of course, it should go without saying if you know me at all that I can't wait to sleep in. :0) What are you all excited to see come in with Spring Break? Do you have any suggestions for restaurants in NYC?

Funny Friday

Yesterday I took my first and second grade class to the computer lab. They are learning about the forest ecosystem. Therefore, we were making fact forests. They draw a tree but then it has to either be outlined or filled up with facts about trees. So I had selected two kid friendly sites to research from.

Well, we were the first class to use the lab because the computers were not on when we arrived. So we had to sit and wait through them warming up. I told the kids that the computers were just like them ( and me) and didn't want to get up out of their beds to come to school and get to work on a Friday morning. Most of the children just thought that was funny but one of my second grade students, Anis who is of Bosnian descent said:

"They don't want to get out of their Micro - soft beds!"

Oh the things kids say, but I thought that one was pretty clever!

Mom's Birthday

My mom celebrated her 56th birthday this Sunday. I started that day very early, at 4:45am when my husband woke up to leave on the field trip he is chaperoning for his school. Despite how quiet he tried to be on his way out, I am a light sleeper and I woke up to say "Good morning" upon waking up to the alarm and " Good bye, I love you" when he was walking out. I went back to sleep and slept through church after Brad left.

I then ran a few errands to finish getting ready for my Mom's birthday. I had already gotten her card a week before when Sarah and I shopped at the Mall of Georgia. I had bought her frame during the week. I had ordered the picture for the frame but I had to go pick it up, return a movie that Brad and I had watched Saturday night and fuel up the Honda. Then our fun evening was ready to begin.

To celebrate Mom's birthday, Suzanne, Mom and I got together to go out to eat Chinese. We split sizzling rice soup, general chicken and house fried rice. Then we came home. Mom had bought the ingredients for making haystacks. Haystacks are a candy/dessert that Mom used to make for us around the holidays when we were growing up. I had never made them before and I am in a habit of trying to get family recipes recorded or figured out right now. I have made Grandma do it recently with dumplings and in the past with biscuits. Too many family recipes have gone on with my loved ones and this is something special I like to do. It ended up being a special night of fun too.

Starting the Haystacks ( I am on the phone because Brad called to tell me he got there)

My sister scooping out her first stacks

Having Better Luck with the Stacking than I did with the Cookie Press at Christmas

The Spread

The Birthday Stack

After all the haystack makings were complete, Suzanne went home. Mom spent the night to be closer to work and keep me company. We watched Enchanted and went to bed. It was a good night. Happy Birthday!

Reader's Rally

Last Saturday, I coached my second Reader's Rally team in the county competition. Reader's Rally is a great program where throughout the course of the year team members are required to read 20 books off a chosen list. Five of them are picture books and the rest are chapter books. Team members may be fourth or fifth graders. Teams can have up to ten members and five are allowed to represent the Reader's Rally team in competition. Teams rotate throughout their division answering 8 - 15 questions a round and earning 10 points for each correct answer.

It was an exciting day. The competition grows every year and there were over 50 of Gwinnett's elementary schools present. 80 schools overall including middle and high school competitive teams. Do the Math and this is a lot of people, with just team members (10 x 80= 800) and then two adults required for every team ( a coach and a volunteer) and then parents are allowed to come out and serve as spectators in each room. There is a wild crowd.

My team was very nervous , since most of them were fourth graders and had never experienced this before. However, we loosened up and performed better in later rounds. While we didn't win our division, my kids were very impressive in the way they chose to look at the day " At least we got to read all of these really great books". I was also impressed with one of my noncompeting teammates. You see I had had fifteen kids practicing for a chance to be on the team. I had to narrow it down to the allowed maximum of ten. This was done by averaging their attendance, number of books read and knowledge of the books to reach a number score for each team member and taking the top ten. Well I had encouraged those who didn't make the team to come out on the day of competition and support us. And one boy "j" did and it made my heart soar.

As a coach, I have learned more in my second experience with this competition. I have a new perspective for strategy next year. Also, I have grown. This team outscored my team from last year by twenty points. We also had a team shirt and weekly practices which I had not done last year. So I am growing too. Additionally, it made me feel good that we beat the elementary school that our current school principal was an AP at before coming to our school this year as a principal. Hopefully next year we will do even better.

We Played in the Snow Last Night

We went out and played in the snow last night and it doesnt look like much has melted or gone anywhere. It is very pretty. Our neighbors were out too. Their dog, Dallas, was having a ball. We are supposed to go to the UGA game tonight but I dont know that a) it is still on or b) we could make it up there safely. Brad had a very tough and scary time getting home where the back of the truck was swerving back and forth. But he made it home safely and was happy to play in the snow. In most of our pics, you can see visible snow flakes (dots) because that is how fast and hard it was snowing last night. We had chili for dinner and watched a movie before I konked out around ten. Here are some more pictures:

Our Snowman who had chocolate chips for facial features

The Measuring of the Snowfall

The Bush to Show You the Accumulation

The Difference Between the Sidewalk and Yard is Amazing