Here in Wilmington we get snow one day a year, if we're lucky. We live in a weird climate. In the summer its practically tropical. In fact, the famous Venus Fly Trap was discovered here, and only grows in the wild within a 100 mile radius of our town! See? Weird. In the winter, we have a strange humid, windy, chill-you-to-the-bone climate some days, then it'll get up into the 70's for a few. And as I said, snow is rare. Even when the rest of the state is getting their inches upon inches, we get squat. When it does snow, schools and businesses close up and there is a run on the grocery store for milk, eggs and bread. Its crazy!

We finally got a good snowstorm. It came overnight, and in the morning everything was covered with a nice thick blanket of shiny whiteness. This was officially Bodie's second snow, but the last time it snowed he was only 5 months old. Now he's 18 months and he was completely wonderstruck when he saw the snow. I opened the blinds in the morning and lifted him up to look out, he stared for a second and his eyes got wider and wider, then he said "OH NOOOO!" I laughed. "It's just snow, Bodie. Do you want to go outside and play?" He nodded his head vigorously.

After 15 minutes of bundling our offspring, they were all set to go out. Bodie initially took some very cautious and timid steps into the backyard, curbing his famous feisty bravado at first. Then he did a happy little jig, stomping a small circle into the 4 inches of white fluff, as if testing his footwork on the new terrain. After his rare moment of hesitance, he charged full speed across the lawn, squealing and whooping like a wild animal. Inevitably, he ended up doing a full faceplant into the snow. He fell pretty hard, and it didn't look good from where I was standing with the camera. I was thinking, "Oh boy. Playtime might be over before it even began." I didn't say anything to him as he sat up, knowing that any acknowledgment of his crash might bring the tears. If I act like its no biggie, then he will just shake it off, which is exactly what happened. He popped up, looked around, and kept going.

The snow was so heavy that it bent our loquat tree nearly to the ground, making a really cool snow cave for the boys to run through. Gavin and Garrett made snow angels, a snowman with a pickle for a nose, had a snowball fight, and of course filled up a bunch of tupperwares with snow to put in the freezer for later. Doesn't everybody do that? Now they eat the snow for dessert after supper. Simple pleasures!

Of course, it doesn't last long. Within 24 hours, the only snow left was the little clump of a snowman in the front yard, his oreo cookie eyes staring forlornly at the Carolina blue sky as the sun slowly terminated him. We'll miss the snow for sure. Maybe we'll get lucky and get a double whammy this year. I guess I should be careful about what I wish for...

Bodie is the most rough and tumble kid I've ever met. I thought my other boys liked to play rough with me, this baby actually flings himself at me like a projectile from a slingshot!  When I'm wrestling around with Gavin and Garrett, Bodie plows into the melee headlong like a bowling ball. In football, it's called spearing, and he'd get so many 15 yard penalties his team wouldn't even be in the stadium. If I'm not ready to catch him, I pay the price of 2 bruised faces - mine and his! He has no fear whatsoever (except for the vacuum, and I believe he's just copying his brothers when he runs screaming from it to scramble up onto the couch). Bodie is supposed to be our in-house model for these baby onesies, instead he's the in-house stuntman. His aunt and uncle bought him this helmet for Christmas, only 49% as a joke. They are seriously concerned about their nephew and his hazardous tendencies!

This baby is a complete do-it-your-selfer too. We can't turn our backs on him for one minute, or he'll be somewhere in the house taking an unnecessary risk. His latest thing is to pull a kitchen chair over to the counter top and get his hands on whatever he can. Here he is caught in the act - looting the valentine candy.

We try to keep everything back from the edge of the counter so he can't see it from the floor, but that doesn't make a difference. He knows there are things on the counter, and he will stop at nothing to get at them!

He doesn't wear this helmet all the time, just when he's really feeling dangerous. He sometimes brings it to me to put it on him, and I'm thinking to myself "What is this kid about to attempt now?" I'm sure someday soon he'll be stuck up in the top of a tree or on our roof. (knock on wood)

We thought babies were supposed to get easier, this one is a real challenge. In this picture he's enjoying the fruits of his labor, sporting his soaked and marker stained turtle neck.

That's the other thing he does - he can turn the water on in the sink and play in it. He covers the faucet with his hand, spraying everything within a six foot radius. Unbelievable! Too young to put on the "Naughty Bench" , we just verbally reprimand him and redirect. I don't think most of his exploits are actually acts of naughtiness, I just think he's exploring his own capabilities. He's an Indiana Jones and Crash Test Dummy all in one 28 lb package!

I took the boys to see 'Where the Wild Things Are'. It was a bad idea. It turned out to be way too scary for Gavin. I was more worried about Garrett, being the younger bro. The shaky camera shots, loud booming bass, and the dark undertone proved too much for Gavin's senses. He has autism, but he can handle certain situations a lot better than others. This event fell into the "others" category.

He was uneasy from the very beginning, before Max even reached the place where the wild things lived! I felt bad for him, but I wanted him to try to tough it out. He had been so excited about going to see this movie. We had watched the trailer on YouTube about a thousand times (which, by the way, barely hints at how dark and scary 75% of the movie really is) and I was sure Gavin would be fine. He wasn't fine. He clung to me like a spider monkey, his eyes wide and watery, nervously munching popcorn and asking me if there would be any more scary parts. He would say "Daddy, if there another scary part, I will never watch it!" Then, inevitably something "scary" would happen on the screen causing him to shout out "I will never watch this! I have to get out of town right now!" He was very concerned that those huge monsters might try to eat Max, which was a valid concern since that subject does come up in the book.

"Daddy, are they going to eat him up?"

"No Gav. Remember in the book he goes home to his mom and has a warm supper?"

"Okay. I will shut my eyes for the scary part," he said nervously.

Garrett was the complete opposite. He barely seemed to notice the movie at all. It was just a side show to his main event: Skittles. He has an incredible sweet tooth, and after I gave him that giant box of Skittles nothing else mattered to him. He sat in his seat slowly savoring each single Skittle, one at a time. He goes into a trance-like state when eating anything like candy or cake. In the dark of the theater, he couldn't distinguish the colors of the candy so he frequently had to ask me. It was pretty cute. His little hand would hold each piece up to me and he would whisper "Daddy, what color is this skiggle?" I had to reply "I can't see it either. Taste it to find out." So he would pop it in his mouth, then about thirty seconds later he would say "It tasted purple."

We made it nearly to the end of the movie. I really wanted Gavin to see the end, because Max does make it home safe and sound. I wanted Gavin to at least see that it was all okay in the end. However, just as Max is leaving the island to escape the monsters, he is forced to crawl into one of the (friendly) monster's mouths to escape the others - very freaky. That was the "over the top" moment for poor Gavin. He jumped out of his seat and yelped in a shaky voice "I will not stay here! I have to get out of town right now!" So he started down the dark theater steps toward the exit, and I turned to Garrett who was by now fast asleep, his tiny hand still stuffed inside the huge "Skiggle" box. I  plucked him from his seat and we made our way down the steps. Gavin was at the bottom waiting for us, his face a portrait of terror. "This is not a good movie! I will tell mama it was not for kids! I am angry at mama!" I heard chuckles from several of the other theater patrons. Gavin is always very forthright and blunt with what's on his mind. I'm glad he can express his emotions like that, especially in a high stress situation. He used to just scream and completely melt down. To me, that's another milestone.

So in the end, we escaped the monsters, nobody was eaten. Unfortunately for Gavin, the experience was absolutely spine-chilling. His greatest fears for Max actually came true. To him, the movie ended when Max was sitting inside the monster. I still want him to see how it really ends. I guess we'll get the DVD when it comes out.

The only real victim of consumption was the box of Skittles, as evidenced by the rainbow of colors all over Garrett's sticky face.

"I thought the movie was really fun," he said enthusiastically.

"What was your favorite part, Garrett?" I asked.

He looked at me like I had two heads. "The skiggles, Daddy."