2025 began with lots of snow in Virginia Beach! We haven't had any snow at all for years, and it was SO much fun.
Our first snowfall of 1.5 inches fell on my birthday! The girls and I played outside all morning, doing all the things.
I was greeted with snowballs as soon as I walked outdoors
Hallie made snow angels
And Emma...died?? I'm not really sure.
We built a snowman
And an adorable snow cat
The girls love jumping and sliding on the trampoline after a snow.
Some cold & hungry ducks wandered into our neighborhood, so they fed them bread crumbs.
Dan slept late and woke up when everything began to melt, but he was impressed with our productivity.
The sun melted everything quickly, and a couple of days later, this was all that was left of Mr. Frosty. A desperate snow hand, reaching up for help.
Dan and I drove to his parents' house to help shovel their driveway, since they got more snow than we did. Afterwards, we celebrated my birthday at 2nd Street Bistro in Williamsburg.
The ladies at work hosted a birthday party for me, too!
Emma was invited to her friend, Dasia's, birthday party and she had a blast with her favorite school friends.
We've had some roof leaks during heavy rains recently, and thankfully we don't need a new roof yet, but we had a few areas repaired in January. They replaced a pipe collar and removed a satellite dish from our roof where the leaks appeared.
Unfortunately, the roof guy accidentally cut the internet line while removing the unused satellite, and we had to call Cox to come repair it.
One of Hallie's favorite Christmas gifts this year was an "Aqua Dragon" set. It contained a small aquarium, a packet of miniscule shrimp eggs that hatched after you poured them into the water, and some food to give them a couple of times a week. She was also responsible to give them oxygen by blowing air into their tank with a dropper.
The girls love making Grandma Jester's Biscuits, with a recipe passed down from Dan's grandma.
I found this adorable BB-8 Star Wars droid jacket for Hallie. The hood zips all the way up over her face, but she can still see through the mesh fabric.
Not to be outdone, Emma did her best Emperor Palpatine impression. Ha!
Dan and the girls had the day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and he took them to Catnip Cat Cafe in Norfolk.
They had a room full of sweet, playful kittens.
Emma and Hallie were both in kitty heaven!
Later in January, we got to enjoy another snow day that shut school down for two days because of icy conditions! We had a ton of fun, and I got to work from home those days.
We got to the sledding hill early since the snow wasn't deep, and we wanted to make the most of it.
Hallie loved going down the hill with everyone in the family.
Emma preferred to fly down as fast as she could, face first!
She also worked hard to build up the makeshift teepee they found in the nearby woods.
Hallie didn't want to stop sledding when we got home, so she created her own personal hill on our front yard.
At the beginning of February, StoneBridge School had a Thursday and Friday off for Winter Break. Hallie was invited to Great Wolf Lodge by her friend, Fiona, that Friday. They had the best time, and we saw several other school families there.
After swimming and playing for hours, Hallie shared her magic wand with Fiona. There are magical items and pictures down each resort hallway.
When they waved the wand, the items made noises, lit up, and moved.
Since Hallie and I were away all day, Dan took Emma to visit a pet shelter.
She got to cuddle with this sweet pup for a while, which made them both so happy.
Dan drove to Raleigh, NC with his coworker, Andrew, one Saturday night in February to see their favorite band, Dream Theater, in concert.
We were shocked when the biggest snow of the year hit our area near the end of February!! Dan and the girls were off for another two days of school and everything in our area shut down.
We took the girls outside for a walk the first night to enjoy the beauty and silence of a snowfall.
Catching snowflakes
Making fresh tracks in the middle of the quiet streets.
We measured the following morning, and we had almost exactly 10 inches of fresh snow.
We heard about a trick where you lay down a tarp over your driveway before a snowfall, and then remove the tarp & the snow together to reveal your clean, non-icy concrete. Well, it may work well with an inch or two of snow, but we learned the hard way that there's no way to move a tarp with 10 inches of snow on top of it! So, Dan and I worked hard to shovel and clear the driveway that day. The driveway was very clean and dry underneath the tarp we laid down, so at least we didn't have to de-ice it.
More sledding!! We've gotten good use out of our sleds this year!
Happy school "kids"
Dan accidentally sledded himself into a freezing cold bank of snow.
More fun building onto the teepee
We had great icicles on the house
The girls loved eating them!
The trampoline was completely weighed down and had no bounce. The girls made it their snow fort.
We had such a fun winter with lots of unexpected breaks from the regular routine. The best part was that now that Dan's teaching, he has zero responsibility to keep the school facility safe and clear after a storm. In his previous job, he would have been working hard to clear sidewalks, pour salt, and hire snowplows to remove snow from the parking lots. As a teacher, he just got to enjoy the days off and let someone else worry about all the logistics. After relaxing over his 2-week Christmas Break, a 4-day Winter Break weekend, and almost a week of snow days, he's decided that he really likes this teacher gig!
