At Long Last… SNOW!

Toward the end of last week, all talk in our area shifted to SNOW!

Snow gear and sleds were flying off the shelves and, since we haven’t had any snow in the past two years in Charlotte, I quickly realized we were rather unprepared for the playtime in the snow as well.

Chase was off school on Friday for a teacher work day and so I took all three boys with me to a local consignment shop early in the morning and nabbed a pair of snow pants and mittens for Chase. Thankfully Chase’s hand-me-downs from prior snowy winters worked well for Ryder and Rhett!

When we got home, I turned my attention to submitting our cabinet color preferences to our builder and the company making our cabinets. Now they will create small samples so we can confirm we’re good with the colors and then things will move forward from there.

Here are the colors we selected:

• Mudroom Lockers + Drop Zone: Sherwin-Williams Grays Harbor
• Pantry: Benjamin Moore Vale Mist
• Kitchen, Office Built-Ins, Play Loft Built-Ins: Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee
• Laundry, Chase’s Bathroom Vanity: Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter

All other cabinetry (including our kitchen island, bathroom vanities, and living room built-ins) will be stained wood.

My main goal for most rooms in the house is the create a warm, bright, comfortable space but I’m particularly excited for a moody mudroom! I figured that would be a fun space add a little depth and darker color. (We’re keeping cabinets mostly neutral and plan to add color and dimension to spaces with wall paper, trim and paint.) Oh and right now the plan in our pantry is to have an exposed brick backsplash paired with the off-green Vale Mist cabinetry. I cannot wait to see it all come together!

And that’s enough house talk for the day!

Saturday

Saturday was chilly and we tried our best to get outside and play at a local park but it was awfully windy and our crew didn’t last too long.

(Jacket: Steve Madden — so comfy and warm and currently on major sale! Size down for sure. / Sweatshirt:  New Balance *gifted / Ear Warmer is from Target last year / Sneakers: New Balance)  

(Picture credit: Chase!) 

The boys lit up when we suggested a family trip to Lowe’s for some odds and ends. We’re three for three on kids who think driving the tractors at Lowe’s is equivalent to an amusement park.

By the time we made it home, everyone was ready for lunch. The big kids and I then made a birthday cake for Ryan’s dad while Ryan prepped some beef stew for dinner.

Chase and Ryder were happy campers when I said they could lick the bowl of cake batter!

Eventually we got Rhett and Ryder down for naps and once our littlest two dudes were sleeping, I read Harry Potter with Chase while Ryan organized our garage. We realized our garage was in desperate need of some reorganization last week when we both tried to work out at the same time one morning and it was a bit of a mess. Hopefully we’re good to go now!

Eventually Ryan took Chase fishing for about an hour while I straightened up around the house. Saturday was the first day in a long time I can remember not turning on my computer to work during the boys’ naps and it felt so, so nice, even if I did fill naptime with cleaning. Ha!

Ryan and Chase arrived home soon after Rhett and Ryder were up and then we were joined by my father-in-law who came over for a birthday celebration!

We are grateful he lives close by now so we can celebrate this special day with him in person!

Greg stayed for a few hours until it was time for us to call it a night and dive into the whole bedtime routine!

Sunday

We went to bed on Saturday night crossing our fingers for snow and woke up to a winter wonderland!

The boys wanted to bypass breakfast and head right out into the snow but eventually we got waffles in everyone’s bellies (and coffee in Mom’s!) and figured we had enough energy to tackle getting everyone dressed in their snow gear. Approximately one million hours later (real time estimation), we had three kids decked out in snow pants, jackets, hats, mittens and boots.

(Jacket: Columbia — this one is similar / Snow pants: Roxy / Boots: Columbia — this pair is similar / Beanie: American Eagle — Every time I wear my Columbia ski gear I am reminded of this amazing blog trip!! Anyone remember that one!?) 

It was Rhett’s first time seeing snow and he did not know what to make of it. He wanted me to put him down and then pick him up and then put him down and then cry and then give him his pacifier and then eat the snow and then play with the snow and then cry. Suffice it to say he did not last as long as his big brothers out there!

We ended up heading in when Rhett was clearly over it but we also needed a little break to swap out Chase’s boots.

Chase’s make-shift boots had all of us laughing because we couldn’t find any “real” snow boots for him at local stores on Friday since clearly the snow sneaked up on everyone in the Charlotte area. Chase started out in his red rain boots with layered socks (major fail) before he switched to my snow boots. My boots shockingly worked really well since they were lace-up and could be tightened. Thank goodness! (And yes, we now have legit snow boots ordered for Chase that should be arriving soon.)

Once Chase had some better footwear on his feet, Ryan took the big kids off to the big hill in our neighborhood while I hung back with Rhett who was awfully thrilled to be back inside.

(Please notice Chase’s gigantic boots in the above pic. Haha!)

Their sledding adventure lasted just over an hour and eventually everyone arrived back home ready for a hot lunch! I made grilled cheeses for the family and Ryan and I ate our sandwiches paired with leftover beef stew from Saturday night’s dinner.

A perfect snow day meal!

The rest of our Sunday passed by in a blur of round two of snow day shenanigans, hot baths, pizza for dinner and movie night!

The boys are both out of school today in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and then the rest of the week will hopefully look relatively normal around here. On the house front, we have a tile selection meeting (oh my gosh, talk about decision overload!) and another meeting with an electrician. Thanks for stopping by the blog today and making PBF a part of your week, my friends!!