Dust Storms v. Snow Storms

A few minutes ago I was looking at the post I made a couple of days ago....."A Year in Review". I noticed something about the snow pile in that particular post. That picture was taken last January, after a couple of the big storms rolled through. The snow plows came through and made huge piles of snow every where.....that one in the picture from last year was taken right by the kids' bus stop. But it just pales in comparison to this pile in our parking lot this year. I mean, doesn't this pile just look twice as big?! You should see the piles in the Sam's club parking lot. They are as tall as the buildings.


Yep, that's me with snow up to my knees.

Just a few silly pictures from our backyard yesterday.......Jaron gets a little grumpy out in the cold snow........

but we were having so much fun, he just couldn't resist!

Um, I think I will take crazy snow storms any day over the dust storms of West Texas.

Sorry, Texas, you know I love your sprawling farm land, gorgeous sunsets and Mexican food, but I despise your tormenting dust storms. You just can't make dustmen and have dust ball fights. And forget about trying to catch dust ball flakes on your tongue.

Snow?!?!?!?

Yesterday and last night brought twice as much snow as initially anticipated. This is a prime example of the meteorologists being WRONG. Poor Chris, when he got to the train station last night, he had to dig out his car in blinding, blizzarding snow. Then he had to make the trek home, which as many of you know, is usually a very short drive. I am talking 3 minutes....5 if you get stuck at the light. What should have been a short drive home turned into over an HOUR of fighting against terrible roads and swirling snow. Thank God that He protected Chris and got him home safely. So, in order to answer the questions that I know all of the grandparents have:

We got about 16 inches of snow yesterday.....on top of snow we have already had.
Yes, school was closed.
Yes, we are fine....plenty of food, blankets and heat.
And yes, the kids got to play in the snow a little...those pics to come later.

The birds seemed to weather the storm fairly well. They were up this morning bright and early in the bird feeder. And the sweet cardinal came to visit this afternoon. He just makes me so happy.

Welcome to New Jersey.

A Year in Review

It's fun to look back through the pictures we took this year and remind myself of some of the things that happened in our lives. So I wanted to post some of my faves for you! Enjoy!!!!

January.......we had to say goodbye to some really good friends :( but we had fun celebrating their time with us!

We also had a million snow storms.

February.....more snow.

March.........we almost got to watch a rehearsal at the Metropolitan Opera.......

....and we ended up going to the Museum of Natural History.

In April we had the best Easter egg hunt in the world!


And in May we took advantage of the beach.

June was a very important month........Jaron graduated from kindergarten,

Jordan turned eight,
and Granny and the McNutts came to visit. These are not the same people from the year before....they are an uncle, an aunt, cousins and grandmother who fought a battle against cancer and WON.

July brought Georgia to our minds (ha, ha! good one!) and more precious time with precious loved ones.

August.......we just had lots of fun doing whatever we wanted to do.

And September was another important month.....Jaron turned 7,

and we got to meet Mo Willems (eek!).

October was a blast with all of the Halloween festivities, especially the Phantom party.

And November was spent with our favorite Georgians and antique dealers ;)

That brings us around to December......celebrating Christmas and the birth of Jesus.

We had a very, very blessed year. It was blessed by the presence of so many people we love and care about. And it was blessed by the hand of Almighty God. If it weren't for Him, we would have nothing. No hope, no joy, no peace, no future. We are thankful for each other and all of you!!!!!

Metropolitan Museum of Art

One of the good things about using Bank of America is that you can get admission to a number of museums around the country for FREE the first weekend of every month. I have been trying to take advantage of this for months....finally we made it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art last Sunday!




First stop was the 19th and 20th century European art.

Cypress Trees in a Wheat Field, Van Gogh

Jordan has studied Vincent Van Gogh in her art class, so she really appreciates his pieces. I love that she already has an appreciation for fine art.....and she is truly a wonderful artist herself.

Roses, Van Gogh

Self-portrait with a Straw Hat

Irises

Van Gogh's paintings of sunflowers have always been some of my favorites....this one most especially.

Water Lilies, Claude Monet.....another favorite artist

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat......anyone know the technique he used for this most famous of his paintings?

I can't speak for anyone else in my family, but for me the piece de resistance of our visit was this wonderful sculpture of a ballerina by Edgar Degas, Little Dancer of Fourteen Years.

Look closely to the detail of her dress....the neckline, the buttons........

and the skirt........

Now look carefully at this photo of the Phantom ballerinas...click on the image to enlarge it if necessary. Do you see similarities? You should....these Phantom costumes were inspired by the very numerous and famous ballet paintings by Degas.

The Dance Class

Dancers in Blue
Rehearsal on Stage......this one might be a little hard to see, the lighting in the room wasn't very good. But I wanted to take this picture to show the kids that Ian Falconer used it in his story, Olivia.

Jaron was dying to see the Egyptian art, so before we left we walked through real quick. Remember, he LOVES the sarcophagus at the Princeton University Art Museum.....is this sarcophagus not just huge?
And he loved the bottom of it with the hieroglyphics.

We walked through a very cramped tomb :/

And saw several more sarcophagi.....is that plural for sarcophagus?


Just look at these hieroglyphics.....can you believe someone alive in Ancient Egypt actually carved these into stone?!


Last stop was the gift store, but we only went to the basement for the clearance stuff!! We found a set of magnets to add to our collection and I discovered this canvas bag with a Degas painting for only $11....it was meant to be!!!

My next "cultural enrichment" activity will be a trip to the Museum of Modern Art. They have free admission on Fridays from 4-8pm. So very soon we will make that short trip and see Van Gogh's Starry Night....Jordan's favorite.

In the cab ride on the way to the museum Jordan said, "Maybe one day I will have a painting in the Museum of Modern Art."

What a goal.........and I wouldn't be surprised if she does ;)