Happy Valentine's Day

In the Kennedy house, Valentine's Day extends way past the 14th. It seems that we've been celebrating the holiday all month long. Last Saturday, the 7th was the Kernersville Daddy Daughter Dance. Before the dance, Emmy posed for our annual Valentines photos. She loves her Daddy so much!

Similar to last year, the Daddy Daughter Dance was just a few hours after one of Emmy's basketball games, so we hustled home for Emmy to shower and transform into a pretty princess. This year's dance was a masquerade with the theme "Behind the Mask." After chatting with a few other moms, I realized a mask would be essential, so I scrambled to borrow one from my coworker Jennifer. She had the perfect mask to match Emmy's pale pink dress. We took a few photos before they left, and then Boomer did a great job capturing more memories while they were there at the dance. Emmy saw several of her classmates and teammates. I especially loved the side-by-side comparison of Emmy and Darby, who posed for a photo after their basketball game and then again just three hours later in their beautiful dresses. While Boomer and Emmy were at the dance, Eli and I were invited over to the LeBaron's house to watch the Duke vs. UNC Chapel Hill game. Eli fit right in with Emily's boys, Sawyer and Silas. It was a fun night for all of the Kennedys.  

The Valentine's fun continued on Friday, the 13th with parties in both of the kids' classes at school. They came home loaded down with a haul of candy, trinkets, and other goodies. They took their time inspecting their inventory...and consuming some of it too!

As for today, the actual day of Valentine's, the kids woke up to their last messages from Grammy on their doors. All four of the grandkids have had special messages for each of the days in February. And on this final day, all four of them were dressed in their uniforms for games. How fitting for the winter sports season that we are in! The rest of the day included a full schedule of basketball for the Kennedys. Eli played at 8:30AM, and then Emmy had two games: 11:40AM and 2PM. Granny and Paw Paw were able to come for Emmy's games, and we enjoyed spending the day together with all the people we love. It was a wonderful Valentine's Day!

A Winter Pause

Well as predicted, we got a second round of winter weather, and this time it was a surprising 8" of white, fluffy snow! It was quite different than the ice from last week, and it is the most snow Eli and Emmy have ever seen. The flakes started falling early Saturday morning, and they continued coming down for over 12 hours. It was a beautiful scene to watch from the window, and that is exactly what we did on Saturday. It felt like living inside of a snow globe. On Sunday, when the precipitation stopped, we bundled up to play outside. With temperatures still below freezing, we were sure to have on lots of layers. The kids enjoyed making snow angels, throwing snow balls, and going on a walk to the neighborhood park. Sunday church was of course cancelled and so has school this week. When the kids have not been playing outside, we have continued with our remote learning, played the Wii, and baked up some cozy treats. Emmy has been an eager helper any time I am in the kitchen. We have also used some of the time at home to get a jump start on our valentines. Eli chose a class set of race cars, while Emmy wanted to make her own this year. I'm glad we had the snow days to work on them. These last two weeks have brought a welcome pause from the busyness of life. As we begin to add back school, games, practices, and other evening and weekend events, I know I will look back on these days and cherish them for the slowness and togetherness they brought. 

Iced In

Last weekend started with a full schedule of events...and then ended with being snowed in at home. On Friday, the kids and I went to the Snow Ball Dance at their elementary school. Emmy hung out with her girl gang, while Eli, hesitant at first, found several other boys from his class to play tag with. I kept my head on a swivel as I tracked both of them around the dance floor. On Saturday, Eli played in his basketball game that morning, but because of an approaching winter storm, the afternoon games were cancelled, including Emmy's game which was supposed to be at 2PM. The sleet and rain didn't in fact start until much later in the evening, so we continued with our plans of going to the Claytons' for Barrett's 7th birthday party. Eli and Barrett played on the same baseball team in the fall, and we have become close friends with their family since then. Barrett's party had a reptile theme, and a reptile expert brought several cold-blooded animals for the kids to view and hold. Eli wasn't interested in the 'holding' part, but Emmy held the snake and alligator! As we were leaving from the party around 7PM, the precipitation began, and we made it home safely to hunker down for whatever was to come. Church services were cancelled on Sunday, and when we woke up that morning, there was an inch of hard snow covering the ground and surfaces. The kids spent some time outside with the neighborhood kids, but with temperatures in the teens, it was too cold to stay out long. We warmed up with hot chocolate, muffins, and taco soup, while playing the Wii and watching football. With road conditions too dangerous for travel, we have been out of school every day this week, and the days have continued in a loop, more or less: some outside time, some Wii, meals around the kitchen table, and a movie each night. Wednesday was the first Remote Learning Day, so the kids had schoolwork to complete. The same on Thursday and Friday. Boomer went to work on those three days, so I did my best to oversee schoolwork while completing some work of my own. We all survived, mostly with smiles, when Daddy got home in the evenings. The meteorologists are currently calling for another winter storm, which is on its way overnight and in the morning. We'll see if we get a second round of snow or ice this weekend - we may be home for several more days! 

P.S. Although my car isn't getting many miles this week as it stays parked in the driveway, I did get this sticker in the mail from Toyota in recognition of 300,000 miles! What a good car it has been!