The first big snowfall of 2010 made Sydney's and Abigail's dreams come true! After almost 24 hours of snow, we had about 5-inches of accumulation, and, of course, the city was shut down. The snow around our house was frozen on top and dry underneath, so making snowmen was not possible. However, the icy topcoat was perfect for sledding (for people under 100 pounds - I kept breaking through and stopping dead in my tracks)! We enjoyed "the snow of the decade" and will hope for more in the next few months.

Nice peaceful morning at Radnor Lake today - we had about an hour of good family hiking time. The surface lake was still about 90% frozen, and the waterfowl was scarce. The girls were excited to see a Great Horned Owl - one of the rangers had it out for everyone to see - we also saw (in the wild) a few deer, a red tail hawk, (heard a Barred Owl), and some other birds. Sydney correctly identified the chirping of a chickadee - Me: "Girls what bird make that sound?", Sydney: "Oh, that's a chickadee!" Rebekah could not believe it.

I'm pretty psyched about our new purchase - a 4 man tent! The Big Agnes Big House 4 will be the perfect size for the whole family to enjoy camping trips for years to come. We are more than likely going to purchase the optional vestibule, which will double the square-footage of the tent (perfect place for a dog someday!) As you can see from the pictures, I was so excited that we set the tent up in the middle of our great room - it just barely fit - and, of course, I had Rebekah time my setup - I thought just over 6 minutes in a cramped house was not bad. It is labeled as a car-camping tent, but I can see us packing it up in backpacks for short trips into the woods, too. I've told the family that I'd like to go on at least 5 camping trips this year - maybe we'll go to a few of the Tennessee state parks like Frozen Head, Big South Fork, Cumberland Mountain, Natchez Trace, and Fall Creek Falls. I'll let you know how it goes!

Hello Friends and Family! Thanks to all of you who have held on through the drought of 2009! I've decided that a good New Year's Resolution will be to neglect the Glisson blog less this year - with most of our immediate family in town (or not far away), we've forgotten that others have an interest in our lives. And to be honest, our 4 year olds keep us busy enough.

So, look forward to at least a few blogs per month with updates on our lives. Also, for those that want a daily-dose, Rebekah has ventured into the world of Facebook!

I am not going to attempt a summary of the last 6 months, but here are some of the events that we haven't yet shared:

• Princess Party at Mia's
• First Day of Preschool (Year 3)
• Annual pictures with our friend, the talented Mary Alice
• 3-year birthday with cousin Jack
• Fall Festival with hayride and hot air balloon at church
• Halloween
• Sleepover with cousin Jack
• Building a gingerbread house
• Breakfast with Santa
• Preschool Christmas party and program
• Opryland Hotel Christmas lights, and, of course,
• Christmas (x4)

If you'd like pictures or info. about any of the above, just let us know and we'll post it. Enjoy!

Sydney and Abigail are masters on the computer these days. They both move the mouse around with the greatest of ease.

They are not on Facebook yet, but they do love the Care Bears game!

"Finally!"...that's what you are thinking right? Well, sorry to keep you waiting so long, but I had to deliberate for a while (almost 2 months) about what to write - kidding, of course.

With a magnificent Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake, we celebrated a big milestone in Sydney and Abigail's lives at the end of June - of course, every birthday is a milestone until you are over 21, right? The girls are now 4 years old! As Quincy of the Little Einsteins would say, "I can not buhleave it!" Time does seem to go by in larger chunks now in their lives with us - in months and seasons versus days and weeks - all part of aging, I guess.

Sydney and Abigail are becoming more independent of us and of each other. Just this week they proclaimed (after being separated from each other at night for playing in their room instead of sleeping) that they would like to have their own rooms and their own space - I guess I figured that they would want to be together always. We are still deliberating on whether or not they will get their wish. And this summer they have learned how to swim! They really can jump off the side of the pool, and swim to us with their heads underwater (future scuba divers for sure).

Until next time....

Updates coming soon...in the meantime, you can read about our adventures on another blog here.

Is it summer yet? It sure feels like it in Nashville where we've pushed 90-degrees the past couple of days. We are taking advantage of the nice weather and have spent much of our weekend outside. First, we went all over town to cheer on Aunt Amy at the Country Music (Half) Marathon - we were on both sides of Music Row (near the family giving away beer to the runners and near the praise band at Belmont Church) and tried to get to the finish line to see Amy. The traffic and mob of people kept us from seeing her cross the line, but we were lucky to meet up with her afterwards - there were way too many people down at LP Field! Even on a hot day, Amy finished well at 2:19.

Today, we enjoyed the weather at Grandy and Gigi's house and took inventory of their pretty flowers.

Enjoy the weather - see you at the playground!