Snow (finally!!)

This is the fourth day in a row that school has been cancelled in the area due to awful driving conditions in the Dallas area. The first Superbowl ever hosted at Cowboy Stadium (or Texas Stadium for that matter) is on Sunday and a lot of people are blaming the snow on one of two things: (1) The Packers & Steelers bringing the cold weather with them or (2) Mother Nature hates Jerryworld (hahaha!). Unfortunately, we were supposed to go on a Youth retreat this weekend and it has officially been cancelled for this weekend and will be rescheduled to a later date.

Anyway, the roads were horrible but there wasn't even any snow on the ground - just ice!! If it's this cold, it would be nice to at least have some snow on the ground! It finally snowed this morning, and we decided to brave the cold weather and let Jackson play outside. For the most part - he loved it!

Here he is, telling me "Come on, Momma!" I thought it was so sweet. Lately, Jackson has been more polar in his desire for independence. Sometimes he really just wants to be on his own, and other times he really wants me to participate. He is not shy about voicing his opinions either. Sometimes I have to hide so Steven can change Jackson's diaper or read him bedtime stories on his own. We have a lot of fun together. I have said from the beginning that I love discovering Jackson's personality... and right now it is really coming through! My favorite thing he says is a very encouraging "right!" when I tell him what something is called. For example, he'll say "truck" and I'll say "right, that is a dump truck" and he says "dump truck, right mama!" Cracks me up. The things we do and say that come out of our kids' mouths later. No swear words yet, so I guess we're doing pretty well in that department!

Then last night while he was going to bed, Jackson started saying "Swiper, no swiping" and asked me to say it too. I said it and he goes "Wa-wa, Mama. Swiper, no swiping!" So I asked him if he was worried that Swiper (from Dora the Explorer) was going to swipe his water while he was sleeping. He said he was! I laughed at little and told him that that wouldn't happen. With all this snow, Jackson has spent a lot of time in front of the TV... probably an hour more than usual. We will have to get him interacting with real people again once this weather clears up!

In the picture above, Jackson is sitting in our neighbors' sled, being pulled by our neighbor through the park across the street from our cul-de-sac. I love this picture!! And I love having neighbors who will drop what they are doing and come play with us once we've ventured outside in the snow. Their sons came out as well and Jackson had a great time playing with the big boys until he refused to wear his mittens. We had to head inside, but on the way in, poor Jackson fell down in the snow and got his hands all snowy. I'm not sure if the snow was too cold or if he was just scared and overwhelmed, but he cried LOUD. So loud that Steven came outside to see what was wrong. We got him inside and warmed up by the fire, but that was the end of our snow adventure for the day. Still, for the most part he had fun and loved it! I did too... it reminded me of the years I lived in Colorado and the times I went to Canada in the winter.