...have all the snow you could ask for and more.
We had a great many plans for Little's birthday this year. Enter: snow storm. Exit: all of my plans. This wasn't your average Virginia snow storm (where they cancel everything for one snowflake). This was a wake up with the power out, use flashlights until 10:00am, snow everywhere, trees falling snow storm. It was a Utah worthy snow storm. Everything was cancelled of course, but this time it was actually for good reason.
Though the storm ruined all of our plans, it still made for a fun-filled birthday extravaganza. Little woke us up early with an exclamation of, "Oh my laws above!" which usually means it is going to be an interesting day. Turns out it was just because he had to go potty, but still... Upon discovering the power outage I grabbed a flashlight and that turned out to be one of the highlights of the day as Little carried it around "helping" me with it. I eventually had to take it away because I'm pretty sure we used all the battery power in a couple of hours, but it was fun while it lasted.

Once it was light enough, we immediately headed out to play in the snow, and by we I mean Bryce and Little, but I joined in for the last part. There were snowmen, an attempted tarp sled, plenty of snowballs (thanks to Bryce for teaching Little that it is fun to throw snowballs at mom), and lots and lots of layers.
When Little decided it was too cold, we came in and lounged around until the power came back on. After which, I hurried as fast as I could to cook the birthday cake/brownies just in case the power decided not to stay. A cake which turned out fantastic, if I do say so myself. (Sorry for the naked Little pictures, but I'm ridiculous and decided to dress him in a white shirt even though I was making a chocolate cake, not to mention the fact that he refuses to wear pants these days as he says he is "too busy to wear pants," so he ended up in his underwear and apron eating cake. Pick your battles, right?).
Little decided that he wanted a bulldozer cake and I'm pretty sure he asked me 1,200 times if it was time for his bulldozer, but when it finally was, life became a bit traumatic. Mostly it was because Bryce had the nerve to cut a piece out of the cake and Little--obsessive perfectionist that he is--was not having it. Bryce definitely was in big trouble for defiling Little's cake. We finally convinced Little to eat some of it, but it took a whole lot of time and effort, and it was only allowed after we agreed to let him have the whole cake in front of him so he could take bites out of it without threatening the structural integrity of the whole. I love that Little is so intense about stuff like that, but sometimes it can be problematic. Hilarious, but problematic.
Other than that the day was filled with bird watching, playing with Daddy, and being his usual silly self. I guess it was a good day though because around 5:30 Little looked at me and said, "My head is fuzzy." and informed us that it was time for him to go to bed. This coming from a boy who usually fights with all his might to stay up and bargain for that two more minutes of play time tells me that he was more tired than I have ever seen him. I guess that is what happens when you pump a child full of sugar and then let him run around like crazy all day long.
I'm so proud of my little man. I feel like he grows up more and more every day and I'm just so happy to be his mom. He's got a kind little soul, a huge heart, and he keeps us laughing all day long. I love his whole self and I can't wait to see what he becomes. Seriously, could there be a cuter child? I think not.