2011 in photoreview: february

If it's been a while since you were here, go back a post, i was busy today! If i keep up this pace i will possibly have twice as many posts this month than i did in all of 2011!

so here's how february of last year shaped up, as far as i can remember from the pictures we took:

we went to visit my parents and got to enjoy their very serious snowfall.  now this is the pile they made from shoveling the drive, but it was well over a foot deep, possibly two feet in places, and by the time we arrived, had a good ice crust on top. 

i remember that as i was driving up from tennessee i passed through miles and miles of ice-coated landscape, the sunshine lighting up trees, tall grasses, fences. it was gorgeous.

 of course i was driving alone and couldn't take any pics.

caleb was super excited to see how much snow there was to work with. i think we were suited up and in the snow within just an hour or two of pulling up to their house.

pawpaw was only too happy to play with his grandson and got to work quickly

building a tunnel through this huge pile, as caleb commissioned. you know your dad loves your kid when he gets down on all fours in the ice and snow and cold hard concrete to dig out a tunnel. did i mention my dad is awesome? 

trying snow angels. they didn't turn out well, the ice crust on top was so strong both kids could walk around on top of it all and only make indentations rather than going all the way through.

the tunnel conpleted. just the right size for a caleb. did i mention my dad is awesome?

we finally headed inside to warm up a bit. just before we headed up to visit my folks noah had gotten into a bar fight and was sporting quite  a shiner.

my brother jake decided he needed an edgier hairstyle to help maintain his street cred. wouldn't you take this guy seriously? only thing missing is a pack of cheerios rolled up in his sleeve and a black comb in his back pocket.

i asked caleb if he wanted to make a snowman, and my mom piped up that she 

preferred a snow-woman. ok then.

what? she's a snow-woman. real snow-women have curves.

look, she got my double-chin!

a few days later noah, who'd been sick, was doing well enough to head outside again. 

though he still moved with a bit of a waddle under all those layers, noah did quite well walking along the snow, helped by the still-thick layer of ice. caleb was happy to have a little playmate.

caleb had one last request, a snow cave. this was one of those moments when i thought, this is something that would be a sebbie-job, if he was here. but he wasn't. so i got to work.

i loved every minute of it. 

thankfully my folks have a nice blazing fireplace that is perfect for warming up 

after all those hours out in the snow. caleb got a lot of quality yaya time that trip.

we got to hang out with my brother josh and his family for a bit. noah took right to uncle josh. uncle josh and his iphone, that is.

caleb LOVES his cousin lilly. i think she loves him right back.

this was one of those trips that had me wishing we lived in the same town. 

why hasn't someone invented transporters yet? beam me home, scotty.

caleb had infinitely more patience for his toddler cousin roric than he had for his toddler brother. 

maybe there are advantages to not seeing him all the time?

but eventually we had to head back home. bills to pay, sister-in-laws to feed. whenever we get home from a long trip, the boys are completely thrilled to see all their stuff again. i almost always get everything unpacked and put away the same day we get home. they're 100% occupied reacquainting themselves with even the toys they totally ignored before we left. 

this was also around the time noah got to be really snuggly and affectionate. caleb enjoyed it at first. noah, despite the terror he can raise (or perhaps to ensure you forgive him for it), is a very huggy, kissy, snuggly little guy, and caleb can tire of it at times. this time, though, he was eating it up. 

hard to believe, but yes, in february in tennessee, it can get warm enough to

 head outside sans jacket for a little rock climbing.

how cute are they? my boys really bonded to aunt charlotte while she lived with us. she lived with caleb while his daddy was gone; she lived with noah from 9 months to 21 months. she was, effectively, their other parent for that time. my boys, they love their aunty to pieces. 

next up: march, and the return of daddy!