a HILL of a good time.........: January 2010

So when we started hearing "Ice storm 2010" was coming we began to make an exit plan. We did not want last year to happen again (7 days without power made us transients in two different households!)

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Here is a little recap of last year.....

Last year's ice storm brought some beautiful sights....

And some very sad sights... (this is our old neighbors front yard.. a 2 story Bradford Pear Tree snapped right down the middle. I had never seen one of these trees get this big.. tragic..)

This was when the electricity went out for the first time.. yeah it was fun to race down the hallway.. that was until we realized the ice was getting worse and the lights were probably not coming back on... so we bolted

First to the Lanes.. We set up shop and buttoned down for the night. They live on the other side of town (and conveniently next to the power company) so we figured we were pretty safe there.. Her sister, Brother in law and 2 nieces also joined us.. Did I mention Mike and Destiny do not have kids? I thought these few days may make them never want to have any :)

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So fast forward to 2010... Thursday Daycare closed early so I tried to wrap up at work in order to go get Chaz.. thank goodness for Ryan because I could not get out of the office... it really turns into may lay when everyone is worried that we will shut down the next day.. So around 4:15 I rolled out.. I got home and tossed as many changes of clothes in a bag and all the food that would ruin if the electricity went out... and we headed to Bentonville to my parents house.. Yes, I see that this sounds like extreme measures but last year we lost a lot of food....

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On our way to Bentonville we were rounding onto 540 and a large straight black piece of something came flying at our car..I swear it sounded like we had hit a bolder.. Ryan pulled over (note: there is an extreme amount of ice falling from the sky at this point) When he opened his door I heard "SSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH" Yep, within 3 seconds our tire was flat.. CRAP!!! Luckily my Father in law has pushed us every year to renew our AAA membership (THANKS JIM!!!!) Now to be clear both my husband and I are completely capable of changing a flat tire but 1) it was icing--so that takes me out 2) our tire is under our car and I think the stars have to be properly aligned to unhook it -- out goes Ryan with that one... Anyways the AAA lady was very nice -- considering at one point Ryan said "I'm not a moron I know how to change a tire" She was very patient with us :) She then tells us it will be an hour! AN HOUR?!?! Did I mention I have a 2 year old in the backseat who thinks every time the car stops he needs to get out.. ugh

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The next 10 minutes go something like this

Ryan jumps out of the car and decides to try and change the tire again.. no luck!
Chaz "roll down my window"
Mommy "no it is icing"
Chaz "I want OOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!"
Mommy "oh joy!"
I call my mom to explain where we are and what is going on .. didn't want her to worry.
Phone rings "Mr Hill a AAA rep will be there in 30 minutes"
Mommy "Sweet, down to 30 minutes. I think I can handle that"
I post the mini story on Facebook..
My Meme calls my mom to tell her I am stuck on the side of the road. She offers to come get us.. Bless her heart!
AAA rep calls and says he will be to us in 5 minutes.. Seriously??!?! SWEET!
Chaz "we have flat tire, got to goes to walmars" He thinks everything requires a trip to Walmart.
AAA rep shows up (looking a little to old to change a tire but who am I to judge) He had our tire changed in less than 15 minutes
Chaz "tank you man for changin' my tire"
Chaz "i go see gaga now.. wait i go to walmars" (it was never in the plans to go to walmart..this is just a normal everyday saying of his)
Less than 45 minutes from the time of the flat we are on our way to Bville..

I LOVE AAA!!!

So we make it to mom and dad's house and I jump on the computer.. Of course Chaz wants to help work so here we are :) I was so lucky to be able to have mom help me with the little guy on Friday.. I had a full day of work and trying to get everything accomplished with a skeleton crew at work is a challenge..

A little while later we decided to bundle up and head out into the snow. Chaz has not played in the snow since last year.. so he really has no recollection of snow..He could not understand why I was bundling him up like this and I really felt like one of "those moms" I have to say I had a moment where I thought "I am actually really happy he isn't potty trained" Because if he was we would have had the "mommy, I need to potty" right when we were heading out the door..

Baby feet in snow or sand or grass or anything else.. I love little feet!!

And then of course he wanted to get on the Rhino. As you many have noticed this is one of his favorite things at Gaga and Papa..

Then the snow really started coming down so we decided we needed a scarf around his head.. he actually didn't mind it at all..

Then it was mommy's turn to get in on the fun. NOTE: we brought all the food in the fridge but ZERO snow clothes. I mean seriously I am the queen packer and I failed us... miserably.. We have snow clothes.. we have hats.. we have snow pants.. we have gloves.. we have scarves.. shame on me!

...I ended up in some jeans of moms (about 2 inches to short for me, some red socks, Daddy's Carhartt coat (I probably would have worn this anyways as it is REALLY warm, and a baseball hat---stunning, I know!) Anyways the first thing I try to get him to do is eat snow.. He as "no mommy, dats gross"

The I broke out the classic snow angel..

Mommy's angel..

Then I forced the 2 year old to do it..He was not happy at first.. Then I moved his arms and legs to make the angel and he thought it was really funny.. I think this picture is hilarious as it looks like I just threw him down.. and actually I placed him down ever so gently..

Chaz's angel....

He had a blast just walking around and looking at his feet in the snow..

After Ryan went to check on a car in the ditch it was time for fun with daddy I literally said "I am cold so do something fun really fast and I will get pictures" Chaz charged at his daddy full steam ahead....

the standoff....

the takedown...

Daddy's attempt at a snowangel..

Chaz saying "you no do it right, mommy you do it" Apparently Ryan's angel is not up to par.

and a snowball fight.. note: the snow was not wet or dense enough to actually make snowballs at this point but chaz thought it was hilarious..

He would pickup a handful and toss it at Ryan... all of it falling apart before it left his little fingers.. and then scream "I got em, I got em wit a noball!"

And of course when we brought all of our food the 2 fridges quickly filled up so we remembered back to college ..... the easiest way to keep beer cold on a snowday? :)

After warming up around the fire it was time to make dinner.. Mom was in for a big surprise as Chaz is all up in your business when you are cooking.. Chaz grabbed his stool and up to the counter he went.. cornbread! mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then mr sassy pants decided Daddy needed to go to time out. Oh I wish I would have gotten this on camera.. It was hilarious!! None of us were even sure what (if anything) ryan did... but Chaz was annimate that he go to time out.

and then he made him say "sorry" and gave a hug.. sweet boy!

Papa &DaddyO built this really cool farm table (not quite complete) but chaz loves to use it for any and all things playtime.. here he is making stairs for the horses to climb.. what a good sport my dad is.. right down there on the ground playing "farm"

As you have probably seen in a past few posts Chaz LOVES to play with my moms old potholders.. The kid has an imagination because here is what I found.. he was in the pool table room on the floor with the potholders, blue plastic forks and napkin rings.. nobody know what "game" he was playing but he was happy and content..

So this has never happened at my parents house but ALWAYS happens at MahDah's .. the tupperware cabinet was emptied... he thought it was a blast.. everytime I tried to pick anything up he would say "no momma, i playin"

SO the next morning we got up and decided to take the Rhino down to my Uncle's house. He has a huge hill to sled down. We rode down there on the Rhino, mom and dad rode down in the Hummer (mom sat inside the car as she gets really really cold very fast) By the time we got to the hill Chaz said "I cold, I go in Papa's truck with Gaga" I guess he tought she had the right idea.. I could not let him get in the truck without at least one trip downt he hill.. He was NOT a fan of mine.. Of course with 8+ inches of snow we could not get the sled moving.. My dad kindly headed up the hill to "save" us..

Yes, I put save in quotes... let me tell you why.. well about halfway down the hill my dad lost his footing.. he fell and somehow managed to roll over Chaz and myself.. I was so happy mom was looking and caught it all on camera.. HA!! Wait you don't see us in the picture? Yep, that is because he is rolling over us!

So after the fall chaz was covered in snow and really wanted to get in the truck.. so Dad and I pulled him on the sled.. notice some costume changes today.. I lost the hat and discovered a hooded sweatshirt.. Chaz lost the scarf and discovered what he called his "ninja mask"

We then realized the camera was full of pictures.. Crap! What did you miss? Me, Ryan and Dad all riding down the hill on trashbags. Yep, trashbags!! It was a blast.. We created a path which we called the luge.. it was a blast!!

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After another warm up session in front of the fire my dad decided to show Chaz how to make snow icecream. Mom and Dad said we used to do this all the time as kids.. I have ZERO recollection.. Of course chaz wanted to help Papa make the icecream..