Snow, Snow, and more Snow

It's a winter wonderland outside right now.  Last night it started snowing lightly and this morning when we woke up there was approximately 3 inches on the ground which is a lot for Virginia.  It's continued to snow all day and we now have a foot of snow in our backyard and it's awesome.  The kids went out and played for an hour and even though they were freezing they had so much fun and neither onewanted to come inside.  This is the third year since Addie has been around that we've had a white Christmas so I guess we're magnets for snow but we're not complaining.  Hopefully a store or two will be open tomorrow so we can pick up some better snow clothes.

Getting ready to dive in

Mom it's up to the top of my boots

Measuring with the yard stick

Carter getting in on the action

He's helping

Snow blower, lawn mover, same thing

Glad Henry bought me this hat when we thought we were moving to Alaska

Look at Carter's cheeks

Frosty :)

Our little casa

Christmas Day

We have the best kids!  Carter slept in to 7 and then was content to watch Thomas the Train until 8:20 when Addie woke up.  We got everyone together, went downstairs and this is what they looked like...

OH TRAINS!!!

Come on Carter let's go

He brought it!

Santa rocks!

The rest of the day was spent opening presents, hanging out watching movies, playing with all of our cool new toys (including me... Henry got me a NookColor and it's awesome!), and guess what... those cute pajamas that the kids are wearing they wore all day.  We never even changed. 



Christmas Eve

Every year we try to take a family photo on Christmas Eve.  Some years we are successful, others, well, let's just say they make us laugh.  This year after no kidding 60 self timer photos we got one.  In the others Addie was picking her nose, Carter was sticking out his tongue or giving us the stinkeye, Jennie was fussing with the kids hair, and Henry was a blur as he ran back from the self timer button.  So, from our house to yours, Merry Christmas Eve!

The Schantz Clan 2010

Don't you just love his cheesy grin?

My sweet girl

Kisses from my two favorite guys

Showing off their special presents from Magan... the only ones they got to open early

Do we look tired?  We've both been sick for two weeks and we have a long night of toy construction ahead.

Santa was unable to assemble their presents before he loaded them onto his sleigh so we graciously volunteered to do so.  What's a little think like a train table with over 100 pieces of stuff not including the construction of the table or a motorized car?  Uggg... SEVERAL hours later we finished.

Box number one of four

Working on the table

Finished- train table from Papou that he owes us big time for assembling.

Isn't it the cutest mini you have ever seen?

One Down, Two To Go

Today was Henry's Wing Commander cert ride.  After many weeks of freezing cold early mornings and 17 upgrade rides he is two certifications away from being full up.  He'll be going down to Shaw in January to do the demo for the 9th Air Force commander and then in early February will show the ACC Commander what he's made of.  Today was COLD but the awesome maintainers brought out a heater and aimed it right at Addie so she was toasty through the whole demo even though the rest of us were shivering. 

Getting ready to taxi

Taxing out with our team chief in the foreground

"If you've ever wondered where the bombs and missiles hide here is the answer"

Dedication pass

"Not many jets can slide backwards"

Jet Photos

SNOW

I told you it was cold here...

On Monday, the day Nana left, it started snowing pretty hard in the morning. What's ironic about this is that she was flying back to Denver and it was 65 degrees there. Who would have thought that VA would be so much colder. The kids bundled up and went out to try to make snowballs but since the snow had started as rain it was a bit muddy and gross.

If you party all night you might end up looking like this...

The best part... her gloves.

Virginia Living Museum on a chilly day

BRRR! It's gotten cold here in VA so we are trying to keep ourselves busy with indoor activities. We have a membership to the Living Museum which is part aquarium/part discovery center. Since it was a whopping 24 degrees we decided to take Nana and show her where we hang out when it's cold.

A few of our favorite things we weren't able to do such as walk the train and see the otters but we were able to catch feeding time for the fish and pet a horseshoe crab.

Viva Las Vegas

The first week of December Henry had a conference to attend in Vegas so Nana came out to stay with the kids and I tagged along for a few days. It was quite rough staying on the strip, going to shows, attending fancy dinners. We had a great time and hardly took any photos! On Monday we went to see Mystere which is one of the Cirque du Soliel shows and it was incredible. The storyline was a bit vague but the show itself was amazing.

Tuesday we were able to enjoy dinner with our dear friends Dave and Karina and their kids as well as Scott Prom. We've know these guys since before we were married and it's nice to see we can pick up where we've left off without having that awkward hey how are you conversation. I also got to visit with my friend from Florida, Melissa, for a few hours in the morning prior to an awards lunch.

Wednesday night wrapped up the conference with a formal banquet. We sat at the best table! It was us, the outgoing demo pilot and his wife Zeke and Kristene, as well as our friends the Cunninghams. We get to see them every now and then since Basket flies with the Thunderbirds but rarely do we just get to hang out. We had a great time, stayed up WAY too late and sort of paid for it on the flight home the next day but it was totally worth it.