Snow Day(s)!

 As I'm sure everyone else in the state of Kansas is well aware of, it snowed yesterday and this morning. Avery's school was canceled due to weather. And like every other child who can't stand to stay inside no matter what the weather, these two kiddos were practically dragging me out the door at 7:45 this morning to go out and play.  Never mind the fact that Mommy hadn't had breakfast yet or that Rylan's boots are about 3 sizes too big. (I bought them on sale for next year; he is determined to have them on his feet every single day this year.)  So out we went.  The snow Daddy had shoveled already was as tall as Avery on the sides of the driveway.  She would stay out in the snow all day long; Rylan not so much.  He likes to stand and watch and then realizes he's cold and wet.  So then he's ready to go right back in and poor Avery's left to play in the backyard with the dogs.  Here's some pictures from the last couple of days.  You should be able to tell by the accumulation which pictures are from which days.

Starting to realize that the snow is not so warm and fuzzy.  He has snowflakes caught in his eyelashes.

She had a brief moment when she honestly thought she was stuck.

Ha ha.  Not really stuck.

And the final moment that did him in.  He fell and really was stuck (or guck, as he says it.)  So in we went to warm up and I'm assuming we will be back out again as soon as he's up from his nap. 

Avery's Preschool Christmas Program

As previously mentioned, Avery had her very first Christmas program a couple of weeks before Christmas.  We had all been very excited about it; Chris and I couldn't wait to see our pretty little girl belt out some songs.  The day of the program, I took Rylan into the doctor because he had started running a fever and had a lot of gross stuff coming out of his nose (more gross than usual), so he got the pleasure of having his first swab up-the-nose experience.  And unfortunately, it came back positive that he had influenza.  Poor baby.  Per doctor's orders, he had to stay away from people in general for 24 hours so the Tamiflu could work it's magic. 

With this wrench in the works of our much anticipated evening, Chris volunteered to stay home with baby boy since he had gotten to see Avery "perform" at the Thanksgiving celebration a couple of weeks before.  Avery was still so excited about going to her school to sing, but couldn't quite understand why her whole family couldn't make it to the big event.  We stayed at home with Rylan and Chris as long as we could, then left about 2 minutes before Avery was supposed to be at the school.  (It's nice being about 5 blocks away.) 

I felt very, VERY guilty about leaving with Avery for two reasons.  1. This was Rylan's first time having anything other than just a cold, so knowing he was running a fever and feeling completely miserable was enough to break my heart knowing I would be away for a bit.  And 2. Even though Chris went to the Thanksgiving deal already, I know I still get to see Avery with all her classmates so much more often than him between dropping off and picking Avery up at school.  I know he would have loved every minute of the night, but when there's a sick child, what can you do?  Luckily, when we got home, Rylan was fast asleep on Daddy, catching up on some much needed rest.  And Daddy got some special snugging time that our little guy doesn't like to do very often.  So I suppose it all worked out somewhat.  Here's some pictures from the night:

Avery before we left.

And again.

 I love how when they walk in a line going anywhere, the fingers automatically go up to their lips.  Genius.

Here she was on "stage."  It's the only one I got with her full face showing.  Otherwise I just took videos the rest of the time so Chris didn't miss a thing from the evening.

And after the show.  So proud of herself!

Ready to go home and check on little brother.