Last week was a crazy week weather wise.

One week ago this morning it was 37 degrees below zero here at Twin Oaks, with a wind chill 55 below zero.

CRAZY!

We survived that scary cold, and are even thriving through these winter days here at Twin Oaks.

I doubt any of you are surprised when I say that we all LOVE to be home!

At the end of January we did get out and took a nail biting drive to the airport in a snow storm to drop off Addie Mae who was headed a bit farther south to visit the sweetest friend!

She had the BEST time – even through all of the travel troubles she dealt with because of the weather – mostly on the way back home!

We missed her SO much!!

There has been a ton of snow, which almost all melted believe it or not!

But it is snowing again today!

The snow plow guy took our mail box clean off its post as he plowed our road one day.

We rigged it up for now, and will have to replace it in the spring!

Since it has been so snowy and terrible cold, I figure it is still ok to have garland and lights up?

Are there rules about this in February?

The lights are SO pretty though!

Our food choices around here have been matching the weather.

I am trying desperately to think of the last time I ate a salad!

Yikes!

It has been soup, soup, and more soup!

And warm comfort foods too!

I did make the kiddos a chunky monkey the other day, even though we might have had to wrap in blankets after eating it!

Chunky monkey knows no weather though!!

The weather kept us from our favorite people for MUCH TOO LONG.

We enjoy our days together more than I can put into words.

How do you explain the deep love you have for your grand babies, and their Mama and Daddy?!

In case you were guessing that Briar looks JUST like Kayla – here is a photo of Kayla at this same age.

GAH!

Our pups even survived the cold, but were probably the least happy about it.

Poor girls!

They are SO spoiled!

These are Sadie’s “please stop reading that book and give this pool ole girl some attention” eyes.

I caught this photo to text to Addie while she was away!

It’s rare to find them like this!

I love them both SO much!

Don’t tell Blake about this one, ha!

Ruby is settling down more and more everyday.

She is cuddly more than not these days!

This photo is from the Saturday morning that Addie Mae was gone.

I had some guys go after grocery late Friday night in the absolute freezing, freezing cold – and found the dry goods waiting to be put away the next morning.

Small house problems – it would have been too noisy to put them away the night before!

I have a lot of school photos I will save for another post – which is what fills our days to the brim right now.

We just enjoy being together so very much!

Especially these two!

Tate hit is head SO hard one afternoon – scared me to pieces – and left a good bump there too.

That rice sock he is holding was a gift from our sweetest neighbor, who happens to be a nurse and maybe knows us too well?!

She made two of them for us and I put them in the freezer the same day we received them!

I am happy to give our nap time report!

NAPS ARE DONE!

It was a slllooowww transition for Eliza, but she has conquered it!

This photo was several weeks ago, and I haven’t had the opportunity for one since!

Our cherubs are doing AMAZING, as usual.

The Lord has been so gracious!!

Do you see Eliza’s burrowed brow here?

Her feet rubbing together?

Her fingers flicking each other?

These are signs that she is struggling.

I love how the Lord clearly shows us!

We run for our oils, some deep holding time, some therapy of some sort, or a hot bath with four drops of lavender oil – and then she is ALL better!!

Just look at that smile!

It is important that I start our day by filling up their love cups!

They still love to be held – even though I need a bigger lap these days!

Some mornings look like this.

Eliza has never been our early bird!

When she first came home, I would wake her up at 9 a.m. to start her day!

Look at Lane’s yawn too!

This guy.

I guess a pasta bowl of cereal is what you have for snack when you are almost 6 foot tall and growing an inch every night while you sleep.

Help.

Speaking of growing – look at Tate!!

He still sits on his feet to reach the counter though.

I love it so much!

We are still enjoying every sunrise and sunset, and our afternoons filled with games, playing, and just being together.

I started a new journal over a week ago, which is worthy of noting here, because that simple thing brings me SO much joy!

Those crisp brand new pages….

To close this post, here is a photo of my guys who show up right at lunch time most Saturdays – but then they do the dishes for me after I fill their hungry bellies.

Isn’t that just the BEST!?

They are keepers for sure.

Time to wake up Grant who is taking a quick snooze before he heads out to plow snow all night.

NO, his Mama does not love the fact that he is driving around in a snow storm!

But it’s great money and he loves it, so I just pray protection and safety over him – A LOT.

The snow is beautiful, once again!!

Hope you all survived the cold if you had it, and are enjoying your winter days too!!