A Surprise Snowfall

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Saturday we were supposed to have baseball tryouts and guess what happened?!  There was snow in the forecast...seriously.  Now I LOVE snow and have been waiting for 2 years for snow, but it really picked an inconvenient time to happen.  As we called all the ball players to let them know about the cancellation, it snowed big beautiful flakes...and not a one of them "stuck."  It quit after about 30 minutes and did nothing for hours.  I figured it was over.  So we took a family trip (minus Corey who was hanging with some friends) to go out to eat and to the mall twenty miles away.  On the way there Corey I got a text from Corey that is was snowing and sticking.  We stopped at Denny's and got rained on as we dashed inside.  By the time they came to take our order the rain had turned to snow.  It snowed so quickly that by the time we finished our meal the parking lot and cars were covered.  Needless to say, our mall plans got cancelled and we headed back home.  We had a few minutes to play in the snow, but it was really too dark so we headed inside after a few.  It was a nice surprise!

 Hannah trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue.

Allie getting snowed on.

 Who doesn't love a cup of hot chocolate after playing in the snow?

The view from my front door the next morning...BEAUTIFUL!

Of course we headed back out the next morning

Getting a snowball ready...

 & throwing them at Dad in the house...

We even found a mysterious snow circle left by aliens...(ok, so its just a hula hoop the kids left out, but it did look funny.)

Partied Out!

We partied all weekend, literally.  Hannah's party was Friday night, she was invited to a party Saturday, and we had a family party on Sunday.  Can't get much more birthday than that.  

Her party was a success, even if it was thrown together at the last minute. (but hey, that's how we roll.)  I'm getting pretty good at telling stories through pictures, so I figured I'd stick with the trend.  Hey, if a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm becoming rather grandiloquent.

The partiers...

Bubble gum contest...we did bubble gum under whipped cream.  They first to find the gum (without using their hands) and blow a bubble won the game.  

Some had more fun than others...

Blowing out the candles... 

 A little Just Dance 4 action...

Opening her presents...this card was actually a One Direction poster.  Yup, she liked it!

My sidekick, Amy (she's probably gonna get me for this one)...she came to help decorate and keep me sane while Donnie entertained the rest of the circus performers.  

THIRTEEN!!

Well, we awoke this morning with a teenager.  So far, she's still the same kid that she was yesterday.  She has not morphed into a sassy, eyerolling, argumentative, drama queen...oh, wait, she's been all that since she was 3.  Today's pictures are a lot more hodge-podgish than the other posts because they are, for the most part, pictures Hannah has taken herself.  She has developed a passion for photography.  She will take pictures of anything, anywhere, anytime...many, many pictures.  All I have to say is, "Thank God we live in an age of digital photography where she can do this."  She is saving for a camera...not just any camera...a bells and whistles camera.  I think she will be saving for awhile.  If you have enjoyed these and would like to send a donation please mail it to....(ok, I'm just kidding, sort of ;-)  )

Hannah's first middle school dance.  She was excited to say the least.  I think she'd been dress shopping on line for close to a year.  I'm not kidding.  

We took our family vacation to Disney World. Hannah loved the atmosphere, the street performances where people sang and danced.  I'm trying to convince her that she would be much better suited for that as a career than a job in Hollywood.  Plus, I could go to Disney World a lot and that would suit my fancy just fine.  

The rest of these are pics Hannah has taken.  Of herself...

her friends...

on the train tracks

Of the train tracks...

of her siblings...

of body parts...

a wide variety of them at that...

of things from a different perspective...

of nature...

of Christmas...

in various weather conditions...

of inanimate objects...

for lots of reasons....

This one was for the Soil and Water Conservation District Youth Photography Contest. She won the county and the STATE!!  We were very proud of her, to the least!

Countdown to 13 - Day 13

A picture story...continued  (otherwise known as I'm too lazy to just type our stories and she's so dang cute, you just have to see pictures!)

Hannah's new do...first time with short bangs

 Hannah and Corey went with Dad and Papaw and Jason to the Carolina spring game that year and had a great time.

Hannah's class field trip in 5th grade was to Washington, DC.  Donnie went with her.  They logged a lotta steps on that trip and had a great time together.  

Last Day of School Pic.  Hannah was officially done with elementary school...

...and ready to move on to middle school, as you can see in this first day of school pic.

For our family vacation we stayed at a place near Charlottesville, VA.  Each of our kids got to pick one thing they wanted to do and Hannah chose kayaking.  She and I had a nice time on the water.  We also took a day trip to D.C.and saw some of the sights she and Donnie had seen months earlier and a day trip into Charlottesville. 

Hannah with her cousins in December at PaPa's

I love this photo of Hannah that I took on that same trip to PaPa's.  She took lots of pictures as well.  She really developed an interested in photography and loved trying out my new camera.

 Hannah started playing saxophone in the band in 6th grade.  She started out playing mine from when I was in band.  Here she is at her first concert.

She was a Hunger Games FANATIC! I mean,over the top.  She got me reading the books too, and we went to the movie when it came out.  (I secretly enjoyed it.)

The Hannahs - friends since age 2 

Love this pic.  Don't tell anyone...they really do love each other.  They fight and argue, but what siblings don't?  

The perfect gift for a budding star!

Hannah's 12th birthday party...a skating party!

Countdown to 13 - Day 12

The weekend after Hannah's 10th birthday, we went down to visit PaPa & Ganny.  Snow was forecasted, but we had no idea we'd get this much!  We had so much fun playing in it.  It melted quickly so we were able to return home that day.  

Making A Snow Angel

Hannah and I enjoyed playing Scrabble together.  

Hannah's science project was comparing real hula hooping to Wii hula hooping.  She did a great job on her first project and won first place for 4th grade.

Hannah and Allie in their matching dresses on Easter.

 Hannah was sooo excited to win the lead role of Stuart in Stuart Little for her school's spring theater presentation.  She did and an awesome job and we were sooooo proud of her!

We took a trip to Charleston as soon as school got out and visited the market, took a harbor cruise and went to the water park.(Our personal favorite)

Chillin' with her bro

 Back to school - 5th grade. That same year Allie started K5. 

Hannah played in the little theater's summer play again.  It was "A Kid's Summer Night Dream."

That year we took our beach trip in September.  It was so nice.  Hannah and Corey enjoyed boogey boarding together.  I love this picture of them.

Hannah getting ready to go her first high school football game.

For Christmas that year Hannah got her ears pierced.  She was excited to finally get to wear earrings.

On New Year's 2011, we enjoyed riding go karts and shooting BB guns.

Hannah turns 11!!