Snow in Little Rock

We find ourselves with snow-covered ground again today, so perhaps it's a good time to post pictures of last month's snow days.

Kataina watching the snow fall
January 9, 2011

Yesterday when I woke the kids up for school, I told them that they would have an early dismissal because it was going to snow. Gabi responded doubtfully, "Snow? Mom, it's February. We already had snow last month." Ah, my little Southern girl. Perhaps this winter is just preparation for when we move north.

January's snowfall was 4 to 5 inches of pure snow - no ice/sleet first. That was a pleasant change to the normal Southern wintry weather. It took most of a week to melt. The kids enjoyed playing outside, although they quickly got cold and wanted to return indoors.

Katarina watching me shovel off the driveway

Daddy was on call when it snowed in January, but he looked forward to playing with the girls in the snow when he finally came home from work the next day. He taught the girls how to roll big snowballs for a real snowman. The snow itself was powdery, so we had to spray water on it to get it to stick together well.

Bella making snow angels

Gabi by our snowman

Two days later, the snow was still hanging around, but our snowman was lazily taking a nap. On the third day, the girls and I stood him back up again to greet Daddy when he came home.

New Year and Great-Granddad

Katarina cut her two top front teeth this week. After a rough weekend, they broke through the gums on Monday (Jan. 24th) and are still growing in. Poor baby! But she is certainly enjoying eating finger foods with her new teeth!

Kati loves to play Peek-a-Boo! She also likes to hand toys to us and have us give them back to her. These interactive games are so funny to her, and her laugh warms my heart.

Tita Chrissie stayed here through New Year's, so we had more fun play time with her. Yay!

Everyone enjoyed watching Katarina smile and dance along with the singing snowman whenever he played music. It's amazing to see my children develop musical talent at such a young age.

Great-Granddad Leo and Gramma Jane and Uncle Brian also came to visit us for New Year's. The two big girls helped Great-Granddad do his exercises by counting to 20 for him, and they were even able to assist in putting on the sock for his prosthetic leg. We were so blessed to be able to spend this time with my 97-year-old Granddad.

Great-Granddad enjoyed holding the baby and watching all the girls play. He was impressed with how well Katarina can scoot around on the floor to get where she wants to be, and he remarked several times about how good of a baby she is to sit and entertain herself.

On New Year's Day, we went ice skating at the River Market downtown with friends Dalia and Zaina. Great-Granddad, Gramma Jane, Uncle Brian, and Dalia and Zaina's grandmother came to watch. The girls started off needing help, but by the end, they could skate on their own.

Bye, bye! Thanks for visiting us, Gramma Jane, Uncle Brian, and Great-Granddad.

Bye-bye, Tita Chrissie! Come again soon.

I'll also share a few pictures from Cousin Steven's 11th birthday dinner last month:

Santa brought all three girls tutus for Christmas. Here Katarina is modeling hers:

We call our little one "Baby" so often that Kati recognizes "Baby" as referring to her and responds. I sure do love having a baby!

Christmas 2010 and Tita

This was Katarina's first Christmas. Tita Chrissie came to Little Rock for the holidays, and we all enjoyed the week with her.

Tita reading Bella's bedtime story

Gabi reading to Lolo

Tita hides behind Gabi at the restaurant

Daddy makes Bella laugh at the restaurant

We gave the girls personalized books with coloring pages made from pictures of them. Gabi's book is a storytelling book, with creative story scenarios for her to write about, plus a few pages dedicated to her favorite things and thoughts about our upcoming move. Bella's book is an alphabet coloring book with a picture of her for each letter of the alphabet, plus some activity pages at the end. I highly recommend these books! If you're interested, you can purchase one from Kimba's Creative Outlet on Etsy.

A coloring page from the personalized books

Lolo had one of my pictures of Kati printed on canvas!

Silly siblings

Ninong Edward, Ninang Sylvia, and Cousin Steven (and Kati)

Mama and baby

Lolo and Lola came over early Christmas morning

Bella loves to dress up like a princess

Princesses driving their new remote control car

Outside the movie theater after watching Tangled

Bella's new ball castle

US map for the girls to explore with their new Tag readers

It took us several days to open all our presents, as the girls like to have a few hours to play with every new toy as they open each one.