Snow 2014 Part 2

This is one of the streets in the neighborhood, solid ice.

 One of the hills close to the house.  I choose not to go up this hill last night on my way home from work.  Instead I picked the small hill.  There are 13 cars sitting along the road.  By afternoon the cars were all gone and the road was in decent shape.

Ethel does not like the snow.  She tried as much as she could to pee any where except where there was snow!

 The gas meter is frozen!  There was a huge ice cycle hanging above it and dripping down on it!

Eddie built a snow man in the front yard and because the sun shines more in the front, he moved it to the back where it would last longer.  

The snowman made it to the back yard!!

Snow 2014

 It started to snow on Wednesday around 10am.  It continued all day and was finally slowing down around 9pm when I got home from work.

My normal 15 minute commute took me 1 hour and 30 minutes.  I didn't have any problems until I got to a slight hill near Eddies high school.  Several cars where trying to go up the hill, and I think too fast and they were getting stuck spinning their wheels or were ending up in the ditch.  Once those drivers got their cars back down the hill, I was able to go up.  Slow and steady and a few prayers and I made it with no problems at all.

This is the view from the hospital.  I was glad to have a big window so I could watch the snow.

It was too dark when I got home last night to take any pictures  last night so I took these this morning.

 Eddie made a snowman when he got home from school yesterday.  Not bad for a southern boy!!

Kaila had to drive home from her school where she was student teaching.  She has never really driven in snow so I told her to take it slow.  She said it took her 1 hour and 30 minutes also.  Normal commute is 30 minutes.  She left about 2 hours after it started to snow.  I dont think her car has ever had good old northern slush on it!!

Kids are out of school today and possibly tomorrow too if this stuff doesn't melt.   I, on the other hand, have to work on tomorrow and the next day.

Christmas 2013 Part 2

We made out sugar cookies on Christmas Eve.  The kids have always helped with cutting them out and decorating them!

 Eddie even helps to roll them out sometimes!

As is tradition, they always make on Gingerbread man and then the rest are bells, stars, trees, angels and snowmen.

I am not sure what they like better, cutting them out, decorating or eating!

I always take a picture of them with the gift wrap after they open presents

Some of our gifts were wrapped with newspaper so the kids decided to read the Clarion News!

For Christmas Eve dessert, I made chocolate bowls and filled them with ice cream.  They were tasty!

Eddie on Christmas morning.

Kaila on Christmas morning

And of course Kelli and Christmas morning

Eddie got a ping pong set for Christmas and we have had fun playing it.  We set it up on the island in the kitchen, but that was a little small, so we moved it to the dining room.

Christmas 2013

 Today we decorated our Christmas tree.  Our tradition, is that each year, everyone gets a new ornament and those are the first ones that are hung on the tree.

Kaila is hanging her ornament.  (pictures below of each ornament)

 The finished tree!

The finished tree with the kids and Ethel. 

 Kailas ornament is her sororitys crest.  Gamma Sigma Sigma

 Eddie has always asked for a nutcracker every year.  So this year, I got him one!!

Eddie hanging his ornament.  Not sure why he has a goofy smile!

Kelli hangning her ornament.

Eddie putting the angle on top.  Again a goofy smile!

Kellis ornament is an owl.  I wrote KSU on it for her college, Kennesaw State University.

Sawnee Mountain

 Kelli, Eddie and I hiked up Sawnee Mountain today.  It was a beautiful day for a hike.  Some history of Sawnee Mountain is below:

Sawnee Mountain is a low mountain between the piedmont and Appalachian foothills of the U.S. state of Georgia, north of Atlanta. The name Sawnee Mountain actually refers to the entire ridge of approximately five miles (8 km) in length. At its summit, the elevation is 1,946 feet (593 m)above mean sea level, and is roughly 750 feet (230 m) above the surrounding terrain. The Sawnee Mountain range runs southwest to northeast, and consists of five knolls and three gaps (Chamblee, Sawnee, and Bettes).   Located only a few miles north of Cumming, Georgia(the county seat), the mountain is easily the highest point in Forsyth county. One of the highest peaks of metro Atlanta, it nudges out its prominently known neighbors Stone Mountain and Kennesaw Mountain by a hundred or so feet each. However, Sawnee is in the far northernexurbs, putting it in third place behind Bear Mountain and Pine Log Mountain to the west.

Eddie was trying to climb the trees!  In the above picture, Eddie sat down, and do did Kelli, but as you can tell,  they didn't want to move closer for a picture!!

Kelli sitting in the the "Indian Seats" at the top of the mountain.

According to the plaque at the top, you can see as far away as the Tennessee/North Carolina border which is 52 miles away.

I think the leaves would have been prettier the week before.  A lot of the leaves had already fallen or were not a pretty color.

Some of the leaves in the forest on the hike to the top were pretty.

Another view from the top.

Halloween

 Happy Halloween!  Kelli and Eddie carved pumpkins.  Kaila was busy with school and classes, so she never got a chance to carve hers.

Eddie was excited about using the knife!  Kind of scary!!

It is nice to be able to sit back and watch and take pictures while the kids do all the work!!
















Pumpkin juice, AKA, orange soda was the drink of the night.

Kelli had to stand on a chair to give her a bit more leverage for cleaning out those seeds!!

This is Kelli and her boyfriend Chris.  Chris is from the UK and had never carved pumpkins before.

Eddies pumpkin was a mummy.  

Ethel was anxiously awaiting pumpkin pieces to drop on the ground so she could eat them.  She loves pumpkin.

Kelli and Chris's pumpkin was a cat

Eddies pumpkin all lit up!

We decorated pumpkin sugar cookies too!

Yummy!

Kelli and Chris's pumpkin lit up!