Snow Days!

We have had several good snow days so far here in Fairdale this winter...and we love it! We always make cookies on snow days and if it's not too cold out, we go out to enjoy it a little. Sometimes the weather is a bit unbearable to enjoy the outdoors, and those days we just enjoy the beauty of the snow from the inside. Having not grown up even seeing snow, I personally have learned to do many things in the snow with my boys-- making snow angels, making snow cream, having a snowball fight and sledding. It has been a lot of fun! Enjoy these few pics...maybe more will come if we get hit again! :)

JJ absolutely loved the sled ride daddy took them on around our house! Eli enjoyed it too...even though his expression doesn't show it too well. In all his efforts to hold on, he did tell me he liked it and even wanted more-- I promise! :)

I think daddy got a good workout in the midst of our fun!

Daddy has a way of making even the simplest things fun...like sledding around our house with all the little "hills" in our backyard :) Next time we get a good snow, we hope to find a good hill to take our boys to, but they enjoyed this ride around our house very much! The sun setting made the landscape even more beautiful! Watch...

Mami had to join in the sledding fun, too! :)

Happy Birthday sweet THREE-year-old JJ!!!

What a blessing the life of JJ Greene has been to our home!! We can't imagine our home, our days, our lives without him now! On January 2nd our 'little' boy turned 3!!! So hard to believe how fast he is growing. His 3-year doctor check up went great! He is growing and developing in many ways. For the first time in the office, it was fun to see our JJ have a conversation with the nurse and doctor and follow instructions on several things (drawing, jumping, counting, etc.) We praise God for a healthy 3-year old! JJ's birthday celebration was a lot of fun. We had a full weekend. On the first day of the year we held a special birthday party for him at our church with dear friends who have become our family here in KY. We did miss our family in NC and NY, but we are thankful for those that are our family here in KY. You all gave JJ a very memorable party!

Here is the birthday boy at his party.

Baby Noah fully awake and alert to take in all the fun, too!
JJ at his special table with his special friends: Lainey, Russell, David, Eli and Adrianne (Selena escaped the pic)
Three buddies growing up together so fast!
Brothers enjoying some party food! Upon JJ's request we threw him a Dinosaur Train birthday party. We had a few episodes of this fun cartoon projected onto the wall for the kids to watch while they ate.
Noah loves "Ms. Linda time" :)
Sarah, Michaela and LJ-- JJ couldn't have a party without these girls!
The cake table-- my attempt to make a Dinosaur Train birthday cake. It was a lot of fun but a lot of work. The night before the party was a loooong night and though it didn't turn out quite like I had envisioned it, the look of delight on my little boy's face when he saw his cake in the morning made it all worthwhile! He loooved his dinosaur train! :)
View from a different angle of the birthday cake
JJ and Lainey listening intently to directions to a game
Daddy explaining how to play "Hot Lava Rock"
JJ now understands pretend play so he had a lot of fun passing the hot lava rock and trying to keep his hands from getting burnt! :)
Eli, on the other hand, did not understand this quite well, so mami had to step in and help him out.
Sweet Lainey
We also played a "pop-the-balloons-to -find-the-hidden-dinosaurs" game. This was a lot of fun to watch. We had all ranges of reactions to this game. JJ enjoyed it and found several little dinosaurs. Eli just looked on.
Big girls Adrianne and Selena, some of JJ's good friends.
Can't believe how big our boy is!
I don't know what he was doing in this picture....stretching before playing pin-the-tail-on-the-dino?!? :)
For the first time in our birthday parties, we introduced the blindfold.
"But daddy, how am I supposed to do this if I can't see anything!?" :)
JJ getting a hang of it...
Good job, JJ! (he wasn't the closest though!)
Eli wasn't his usual bubbly energetic self at this party. He just observed and observed all that was going on around him.
Finally wanting a turn.
"Now how does this work?" :)
"Not bad...not bad"
Even baby Asher had a turn!
Russell's turn to pin the tail on the dino
Getting ready to cut the cake (mami explaining a little bit of "birthday ettiquette" to JJ)
Sonrisa de picaro :)
The cake up close- Engine
The dinosaur car (birthday candles)... someone had already had a quick taste of the icing :)
Coal car
Caboose
And cupcakes (though JJ loves cake, nothing beats having a cupcake for some reason! I think he had some of both at his party, though)
"Happy Birthday to JJ...Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday dear JJ...Happy Birthday to you!"
First time that he had multiple little candle flames to blow out. It took him a little while, but he did great and blew out all three candles all by himself!
Here is a video of daddy leading all of us in a special prayer for JJ and the singing and blowing out of the candles...

Beegee was our photographer. She did great and we are so thankful for all the memories she caught on camera! She is also one of JJ's favorite people!
Digging into his birthday cupcake...icing first!
Mmmmm....sooo yummy!
Evidence that it was good and all gone! :)

Russell enjoying a cupcake
Eli enjoying a cupcake...
He got sooo dirty...but he is at the stage of not wanting any help :)
David enjoying a cupcake
Noah enjoying a bottle :)
Kristy helping us with our little boy
Pinata time!!...again for the first time with a blindfold...here he is feeling it...feeling it...
...and going for a hit (the blindfold caused him to not hit as hard as he usually can and does!)
So we decided to get rid of the blindfold so the kids could go at the pinata harder...and break it quicker!
Three-year-old waiting to open presents.
Opening a transformer from Jon! He loves these but still asks daddy and mami to help him do the transforming part (which we have had to learn...but will soon be experts in!)
Dino Lollipops-- the party favors beegee and I made.
The next day, Sunday, was JJ's actual birthday. Our Sundays are usually quite busy with church and all, but daddy surprised JJ...and his Sunday School class...by getting up early to get fresh Krispy Kreme donuts with sprinkles on top! Here is a video of JJ's SS class singing to him and him blowing out the candles on his donut :)

We have a family tradition of taking the birthday boy (and the whole family) to celebrate at Chuck-E-Cheese. Our boys absolutely love this treat! I think it will be a tradition we will have to hold on to for a good while! :)

Here is our family with JJ's cookie cake.
Sweet little Noah taking in all the craziness of Chuck-E-Cheese
Pizza!-- It is so great to see how much Eli enjoys his food! :)
Ms. Linda showing JJ how to bowl...
Good job, JJ!
Eli found a way to play the older kid games :)
He loved being able to throw a ball!
JJ and mami racing a car. I absolutely treasure and love any opportunity to have my firstborn sit on my lap!

God had been soooo good to us in giving us JJ for 3 wonderful years!! We pray that He will continue to bless our boy with life, health and very soon, a heart to know and follow Jesus.

Feliz Cumpleanios preciosito JJ!!!