living the freeman life

So, I was up and about to take Caleb to school at 7:15am when I got a text from Buncombe County Schools saying that school was cancelled. I was thoroughly flabbergasted because I had looked outside and there was no snow. Not even a dusting. I had Caleb tell me the temperature outside (he reported that it was 21 degrees), so it wasn't like they'd cancelled school because of single digit temperatures. But, we changed/cancelled our plans for the day and stayed home (well, Eric went into work). And then, it hit. It started around 9:30am and never let up. We got probably around 2". Our neighbors graciously let us borrow their plastic sleds and they boys had a blast. 

Here are a couple of videos!

The other day, we made our own velvety play-doh using 1 part hair conditioner and 2 parts cornstarch. I had read that "this stuff gets everywhere", so I sent the kids to the bathtub with their play-doh to play. :) Easy clean up!

Adam and Caleb received some fun gold stars from his Great Aunt Linda to play with, so he put one on his bulletin board, and asked me to take a picture of him. So I did.

 Then, he grabbed two more, put them up, and asked for another picture. So I did. :)

 Last weekend, we took a trip to Clover, SC, to see Nana Ollie, Grandad Pete, and Nancy! Here are some of the pictures from the trip!

The boys are getting easier to travel with. Caleb usually reads for most of the time, while Adam hops from one activity to another. Here, Caleb is reading "There's a Mouse About the House" book to Adam.

 

Adam tends to roll off beds (and I forgot to bring his bed rail this time), so we pile couch cushions on the floor, cover them with blankets, and voila! Instant bed. :) Here are the boys playing on Adam's bed after we'd set it up.

A few years ago, Nana Ollie gave us a bunch of old wooden spools for our boys to play with. She kept some at her house as well, and the boys (even though we have some of our own to play with) always gravitate toward them first once we arrive. Adam is showing off his tall tower!

I caught this adorable picture of my aunt Nancy hanging out with Adam while he was reading his book. :)

Caleb used his allowance (plus an extra dollar from Nana Ollie) to buy a pretend ninja set. He loved trying out all of the swords and protecting us all from the bad guys. :) If you look near the bottom of the picture, you'll see a spiky looking thing that I guess is supposed to be something that goes on your hand when you hit someone. However, Caleb corrected me and said that it was a back massager. You know, because all that kung-fu fighting can cause a ninja's muscles to tighten up. *wink*

One "fun" incident that happened was (LONG LONG story short) Sunday AM, around 6am, Adam fell backwards off of Caleb's bed and cracked his head on this bump out: 

So, off to the ER we went, and Adam did GREAT as he got three staples in his head to close up the wound. Here's proof!

His head was bandaged with some gauze and some blue stretchy material (I'm sure there's a medical term for that stuff), to which he looked at us and exclaimed, "I'm a NINJA!!"

  

We had some stretchy blue stuff sent home with us, so we made another ninja mask for big brother. They played ninjas for awhile that day!

Nancy celebrated her birthday on January 20th, so we all went out for Sunday lunch to a wonderful place called Cherry, and ate some delicious Japanese food! Here are (from left to right) Liz, Nana Ollie, Grandad Pete, and Nancy enjoying the yummy food.

 Continuing on around the table are (L to R) David, Caleb (who was enthralled by the chef setting various things on fire), and Uncle Alan who graciously held Adam the entire meal.

 Nancy cracked me up when she put this tote bag on her head and said, "I'm a chef!" :)

For Christmas, Alan, Liz and their kids gave our kids two adorable t-shirts which fit them (in every sense of the word) perfectly. They wore them for two days straight (before I made them take them off so I could wash them).

 Caleb LOVES to play drums. He's always loved to play drums since he was little. Uncle Ben and Eric have been inviting him to play along during some of the church praise songs. At first, he was a little shy, but he eventually warmed up to the idea and now gets excited each Sunday to play with the band. He gets very serious about it, and plays very well! 

He's got a great sense of rhythm.

So, here's a funny story about Adam. He's known for awhile how to read the time on a clock, but lately has become fascinated by it.  The other day, at 2:20pm, I told him it was time for "quiet time" in his room and told him he could read or play quietly, and I'd be back at 3:20pm to get him. He says, "Ok!" and I walk down the hall, settle myself into my chair for some "quiet time" and I hear Adam say from his room, "It's 2:21...". I thought "How cute...he's checking the time on his new clock." Then, a minute later, I heard, "It's 2:22.....". I thought, "Surely he's not going to do this every minute for an HOUR".

Oh, but he did. Every minute.

It was almost like Chinese water torture, except instead of the water drops, 

I had a 3 year old chiming the time every single minute.

 I'd be lying if I said it never got old.

I'd also be lying if I told you that I didn't giggle every time he did it. :)

When I walked in (a hour or "60 long minutes later"), Adam was standing at his nightstand, holding his clock and watching the minutes change. I don't even think he played or read anything. But, hey, if it entertained him for an hour, that makes me smile. :)

Well, it was a rainy day from the time we got up until about 4:00pm today. Once the boys got up from their naps, we asked them if they'd like to ride their bikes at Biltmore and they said "YES!". When it is decent weather, we usually take them somewhere to ride their bikes at least once a week. Now that we have Biltmore passes, we love whisking them off for an afternoon/evening, packing a picnic, and just spending the afternoon there without the added pressure of "seeing everything". We've done everything from tour the house (Eric took them on his own to the Biltmore...I have the ultimate respect for him! I'd be afraid that they'd be rearranging Ming vases or tearing down tapestries!) to grape-stomping during the grape harvest (both boys LOVED it!) to just riding bikes along all the paved trails they have. Each visit is different, and this visit didn't disappoint. Here are some shots of the boys riding their bikes!

Showing off their new bike license tags they got for Christmas!

Friends forever.

 Possibly one of the best pictures of them that I have...

 Amazing views.

We rode bikes up to the FarmYard where the boys got to see horses and sit on a tractor.

 Once it got dark, we put the bikes back in the truck, grabbed our picnic bag and set off to find a table. We had a fun dinner eating our sandwiches and popcorn. The boys love walking down the tunnel of the Biltmore House Winery, and at the other end, we found a group of ladies in the Winery Gift Shop were doing an impromptu concert (complete with Christmas carols!) and Caleb got invited to sing with them! (Adam was too, but he politely declined.) Here's a video of Caleb's performance and some pictures of Adam's reaction as well!

Caleb was a bit shy at first, but did sing along!

 The ladies sang "Jingle Bells" for Adam

 Adam brought his beloved Mocha, a brown mouse from IKEA, and he was making Mocha squeak along to the singing. What you don't see here are the other dozen people who were watching the boys perform!

 Confession: throughout the last year, I strictly forbid my kids from getting any stuffed animals. They had so many! We culled through them and decided that some of them that were not getting played with would be better suited at another home (where they'd get more attention). So, I decided to lift the ban on stuffed animals and let the kids use their money that they saved from getting their allowance and their extra chores to buy a Build A Bear animal. Before we went, we told them that we (the parents) would NOT be footing the bill for anything above their budget, so they had to stick to what they could afford. Thankfully, there were no meltdowns, and they were both quite mature about the whole thing. Caleb picked out a camouflage bear (named Hunter) and Adam picked out a smaller puppy (named Jake). Both of them are in love with their new animals!