....and snow it did.

After lunch time, the itty bitty snow flakes turned into big, fat, fluffy snowflakes.

I rushed around the house trying to gather warm layers for the kids..... I had this huge fear that the snow would stop in the blink of an eye and the kiddos would miss out.

As you can see, I was a little under prepared....no gloves. We just weren't expecting this kind of weather - you better believe I will be going out today to grab some mittens!

The minute Jacie stepped of the front step - she was having a blast with her hands reaching for the sky the whole time!

Jack, on the other hand, wasn't too keen about being cold.

Jacie was ALL over the place - even the neighbor's front yard.

Here is the front of our house. The roof is covered - the yard still green from our shady oak trees.

Within two hours everything was melted. It was a nice reminder of home. :)

let it snow.

Texas had it's first snowfall today. Started this morning when Jer was getting ready for work. At that point, you could tell it was snow if you stood outside and squinted your eyes really tight and even then, the only reason you knew it was snowing is because you could feel it on your face.

A little after breakfast, Jacie was sitting in her highchair and all I heard was, "UH-OH!" I am thinking, "great, another mess for me to clean up..." but as I walk into the kitchen, she is pointing out the back door at the snow.

(You can barely see it, so I circled it. And you can still hardly see it...)

Jack wanted a closer look, so he opened the door.

Right now, as I am blogging this, the snow is coming down steadily, to the point that it is big, fat snowflakes and trying to stick.

Current temp:40.8 degrees

Juliana's school called to let us know that because of "deteriorating conditions", school will be dismissed at 1:40pm.

Fun fact: My 'gmail' email account is set up so that the background of my inbox is the current weather condition. Right now, there is snow....something I haven't seen since we last lived in Cleveland.

Happy half snow day!!!

Thankful.

First:

I am thankful for: Jesus. a healthy family. motherhood. parents that love us. grams and poppy. a source of income when others are struggling. a roof over our heads. food in our bellies. clothes on our backs. Lucy. FCR. dvr. sunshine. leaves changing colors - YES, here in Texas!strong coffee in the morning. Juliana's growing mind. Jack being potty trained. Jacie's childlike spirit. Jonah's sweet, sweet smiles. Jeremiah's unconditional love. PHOTOGRAPHY. friends. a baby that sleeps through the night. coats. a warm bed. running water. a loving home.

just a few things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Now onto other business..... I now present the many faces of Juliana, Jack, Jacie and Jonah:

These are the things that make me smile. :)

down on the farm.

I love pumpkins. So much that I enjoy taking the family to the farm to look at them.

One of my favorite things about fall time is big, bright, orange pumpkins. Last year we learned our lesson. Instead of Dewberry Farm (which is comparable to Mapleside Farms - to all of you Ohio-ans out there) we went to some puny, muddy, small pumpkin patch...and we can see why it was FREE to get in.

However, this year, we splurged on admission and it was SO worth it.

Jacie on the hayride:

Jeremiah and Jonah. I just LOVE this.

There was ALL kinds of things for the kids to do! Corn maze, hayride, playground, rubber duck races, entertainment, pumpkin patch, some kind of barrel swing and hanging ropes so your kids could jump into huge mounds of hay! (Every parents worst nightmare!! ) :)

Definitely worth doing next year!!

Czapski Zebras.

About two weeks ago, Juliana had her first ever Field Day. :) They were the green team - the Czapski Zebras!

Jeremiah so graciously came home in the middle of his work day so that I could go up to the school and get pictures of this momentous occasion. :)

Water break:

500 yard dash...or something of that nature:

Cheering her friends on:

This is just the beginning. Pretty soon it will be soccer games. Then play practice. Then professional football.

(Lets hope not that extreme.)

Saving the moolah.

I am SO excited about this learning gem!

This year, Jeremiah and I wanted to get Juliana something "useful" and not something that would end up in pieces in every corner of her room. Being that she started school and is SO excited about learning, we researched learning tools and found our winner.

The Leapfrog Didj Gaming System.

Well, today I did some homework and we found out that we will be saving BIG. No, HUGE. No....GINORMOUS.

This gaming system is originally $89.99. Leapfrog.com is having a $30 off sale which brings it down to $59.99. That's all fine and dandy but I can do better... I found a leapfrog coupons link which will give me FREE SHIPPING (an $8.95 savings) AND 20% off (a $12 savings!)

Which brings my grand total to $51.49....tax included.

I LOVE saving $47.45. :)

Inferno.

For the past couple months, Jeremiah has been pursuing his dream. He has been attending meetings and various training with the West I-10 Volunteer Fire department. I love this. He is beaming with pride every time he comes home. He has made a few buddies and has even gone on a call or two -(cough, cough) fire at Starbucks....don't worry, no one was harmed. :)

Jeremiah will be completing his training by the 2nd week of December and will be able to become a "real" firefighter (and by this, I mean HANDS ON, not observing.) Jeremiah will be receiving his radio and from there, the fun begins!

As for now, Jeremiah is still working at our church and with the Cordes'. He will be eligible to apply for day shift (paid position) in 6 months to a year. (YAY!!)

This pic just melts my heart. True definition of "hero". Juliana's eyes lit up when she saw her daddy in full gear. She is SO proud to say that her daddy drives a fire truck. :)

She had a blast trying on Jer's uniform.

Jack is obsessed with Jer's helmet...

Kids....they are SO curious about everything...

Okay, okay...I had a little fun getting to play honorary firefighter for a couple minutes... :)

Love.....

Four years ago, today, I changed my life - until the day I will go be with Jesus. Juliana's life changed. My role in society and my social life had changed. From that day forward I would become a wife. We would add on to our family. We would change residency FIVE times. Jeremiah would start his fire department journey (a post on that subject - soon to come...) It had been a crazy ride and I wouldn't change ANY minute of it!

So, here is to another four years, and four after that, and four after that, and four after that......(you get the picture.)

Fall In Texas.

Autumn. I LOVE autumn.

I miss Cleveland this time of year. I miss the colors....by this part of the year, one seems to get sick of green really quickly.

We got a glimpse of fall in our back yard this past week. As I was having some one on one time with little Jonah, I happened to look up at our big arch window in the family room and saw one, two...no three little red leaves! :)

Here is our very GREEN key lime tree. (Well, the limes are looking a little yellow at this point. They are probably WAY confused by the weather - it has been averaging 50's at night and upper 70's during the day....today was 78 degrees.....

Oh my sweet, not so little pumpkin....we decided to have a little fun in the front yard with just one adventurous little girl, two pumpkins and mommy's camera.

Oh well, we may not have a big autumn but at least we have BIG pumpkins! :)

Photo Shoot.

This morning as Jonah and I were relaxing on the couch, I noticed he was especially "smiley". I got a few shots with my phone and then I ran for my camera. If I am going to captures these heart warming grins, might as well do it right!

By the time I got everything ready for my Jonah "photo shoot" he was way over being that super smiley little bug. Now he was just ho-hum.

I still got some good shots out of it! :)

bored:

curious:

naked:

:)

Forgive Me.

Here are quite a few posts for your reading enjoyment.

I know I said I would be consistent with this blog...but who knew that a school ager, two toddlers and a newborn would keep you so busy! :)

Six.

Happy birthday my sweet, sweet girl.

Juliana has a fun filled sixth birthday. On Friday night, we celebrated with Grammy and Tom. On Saturday, we went to a friend's birthday party at a gymnasium....lots and lots of fun to be had! On Sunday, Juliana and daddy when to dinner and then to a movie - "Where the Wild Things Are." (She was absolutely glowing when she got home.) And on Wednesday, Juliana and mommy went to get haircuts and dinner.

Here is my special girl with her very boring birthday cake. (It's what she wanted. ) :)

Juliana with a few presents from mommy and daddy.

again.

Scott washing her hair - very relaxing experience.

cut.

blow dry.

itchy face.

beautiful. <3

Caramel Apples.

I love fall. It is by far my favorite time of the year....crisp air (not so much here until Feb.), foliage (not so much here unless it is summer and the leaves are changing colors because they are dying), pumpkin ANYTHING (yes, we still have pumpkins here in Tejas). I miss Cleveland around this time of the year....

Juliana had off for Columbus day and we decided to make it a fall day! We painted leaves, made pumpkins out of play-doh and made caramel apples!

We went out for a walk to try to find sticks to put in the apples instead of popsicle sticks - saw it in a magazine....well here is what Juliana found:

(That was the extent of sticks....they were itty, bitty twigs. So daddy went out back and cut down a small branch and we sectioned off four sticks for our apples.)

Juliana is unwrapping the caramels:

Finished product:

(The un-caramelized apple is daddy's. He wanted to dip his apple instead. :) )

Grilled Cheese and Bacon.

My friend Tammy is the BEST. She is from Tennessee. She LOVES Starbucks. And she feeds her family bacon every other day, if not every. LOVE her. Well, she has these famous grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches, the kind that just looking at them will literally clog your arteries. And...she made them for us!! :)

Holy bacon, batman!

Sandwiches in the works.

Welcome to Texas! Jeremiah's FIRST legal shotgun. :)

"Bacon makes me want to shoot stuff.." - Sheriff Lamson.

"Bacon makes me want to fight crime and protect the innocent." -Super hero Jack.

"The smell of bacon makes me sleepy." - Sleepy Jonah

"Bacon makes me thirsty." - Three juice boxes Jacie.

I should also point out that the first bacon Jacie has ever had was introduced by Tammy. Way to be an enabler Tammy, way to go. :)

Jonah.

When they say "time flies when you're having fun", they aren't kidding. I cant believe how HUGE my little guy is!

7 weeks, 3 days:

8 weeks, 4 days:

2 months, 1 day:

Where on earth did the time go??