Choir, Mustangs, Food, Crazy CRAZY weather, and
SNOW (yes, Snow!!!)...
meaning it's a verrrrry photo-heavy weekend recap!


Yep, those pictures above were from a very exciting portion of our weekend--it SNOWED!!! It almost never snows in Alabama (seriously, we went through like a four year dry spell one time with no snow whatsoever), and when it does snow people take it so seriously it's as if a blizzard has blown through. We even get excited if it "spits" snow (small flurries that don't even amount to anything). And don't even get me started on how people take snow so seriously here that people don't know how to drive, schools and other institutions absolutely shut down, and people feel like they have to stock up on groceries for a week.

On early Sunday morning (around 2 a.m.), it started snowing and didn't end until after noon on Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful snow fall, with large flakes and lots of ground cover. It was more than we've had in years...so, naturally, everyone was extremely excited about it!

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First off, let me show you two pictures from Delaney's participation in the Alabama All State Choir performance this past weekend. She went to practices on Thursday and Friday and then performed with the choir on Friday night at a local university. It was very impressive and we were SO proud of Delaney (only two students from her middle school made the choir).

If you look really closely, you can see Delaney on the front row at the very end on the right. (It's even easier to spot her when you see that she's the one girl on crutches. Yep, Delaney's on crutches...last Wednesday at softball practice, she was hit by a very fast pitch on her ankle. Thank goodness it wasn't fractured or broken, but x-rays showed that she has a deep bruise. She has been unable to walk without her crutches, even though the doctor said he thought it might be better by today. We're still crossing our fingers that her ankle will be better soon.)

The choir performed five songs (my favorite being a song from "Phantom of the Opera"). They were very impressive...


The night of the performance was EXTREMELY rainy (in fact, it rained cats-and-dogs all day Thursday and Friday), so we fought the rain as we came and went.

McKenna's boyfriend, Brett, went with us to the performance (I enjoyed hearing them argue about the merits and importance of sports vs. the arts. Brett is a baseball player, and McKenna is very artsy. I love BOTH of them, but it was funny hearing them spat back and forth about them). After the choir concert, I took some cute pictures of the two of them...

The original plan for Saturday was for Gary and I to split up during the day...me to go with Delaney down to an all-day tournament with her school softball team (even though she was injured, she was still going to be with the team) and Gary would be with Sydney for her parade and opening day for her softball season here in town. I was really upset about missing Sydney's first parade, but I knew that Delaney needed me too.

Well, remember the awful weather? It intervened again and saved us from running in separate directions. Delaney's tournament was cancelled, so we stayed in town to enjoy the excitement of Sydney being with her softball team.

Sydney decided that her team would be the Mustangs, just like big sister Delaney's travel ball team (Gary's her coach, so he let her pick the team name). For the parade, the girls were dressed up like cowgirls and Gary dressed up like a horse (believe me...Gary is crazy when it comes to these girls and we will act like a nut for them!). Sydney is SO excited about her team and I am so ready for the games to start this week...






Then on Sunday, came the big event...the Snow!!

We woke up to this sight through our windows...

And as soon as we woke up, we were outside in it...


I got a picture of Adrienne taking a picture of me taking a picture of her. LOL...

And of McKenna and Sydney making an impromptu sled out of a plastic swimming pool. I laughed SO hard at this, because they just ended up flipping on top of each other inside the pool...

Of our sad little attempt at a snowman (hey, it's more than we usually get!)...

Of some snowball fights...


Catching snowflakes on our tongue...

and of some of the beautiful scenery...


When we were outside, Adrienne mentioned that she was wanting to make loaded potato soup. That was all the motivation I needed, so I sent Gary to the grocery store for the ingredients and made a big ole pot of it (this is with it already half gone)...

and then spent some time in front of the fire...

Before the evening was here, the snow had all melted away. But for longer than usual, we lived in a Winter Wonderland and we absolutely loved it!!

It was a weekend jam-packed with wonderful activities and time with family. I couldn't ask for anything more.