First Snowman of the Season

We got some snow last week. Madelyn and Paige felt the need to make snowmen.

Steve's Sunday Afternoon

Winter Fun Photos

Katie and Steve competed in a robotics event Friday and Saturday. Madelyn and I drove them there and spent the two days with the team. We had a great time and really enjoyed the competition. Everyone is exhausted and my little ones need some mom-time. I'll post more details about the event and some photos tomorrow.

In the mean time, here are some winter photos of the kids sledding at an area hill. The hill is within walking distance. There were few days that we've had snow when the kids haven't walked to the hill after completing their school work.




I'm way behind on my blogging. Here are some photos of the kids sledding at an area hill. The hill is within walking distance. There were few days that we've had snow when the kids haven't walked to the hill after completing their school work.

The Princess and the Tree

Amy took all the kids sledding at a local park for me this afternoon. I used the time to pack up some boxes and worked on the laundry. After they had been gone for about 1 1/2 hours, they returned with bad news. Allie needed a trip to the emergency room. She had ran into a tree on her sled. The tree won. Allie needed 6 stitches. According to the emergency room staff, her face will be a mess for 7-10 days. She was such a big girls throughout the whole episode, Mike fixed her strawberry smoothies as a treat when he got home from work.

Fun in the Snow

We had our first significant snowfall last week. Schools were closed for several days and the neighborhood children were outside playing. Joe, Steve and Madelyn made a huge snow fort in the front yard. It was about 30 inches tall, with a diameter of 8'. I couldn't figure out why they put the fort right next to our driveway, until I spotted the 12" tall, 2' diameter fort on the other side of the driveway. The forts were facing each other and obviously a major snowball war had taken place with the neighbor boy.

The backyard is sporting a huge igloo, that all of my children can enter at the same time. Paige made a snow lawn chair on Saturday and spent hours sitting in her snow-chair.

Sunday after supper, Paige and Allie realized that they hadn't made any snowmen this year. They raced outside to build snowmen in the dark. After 30 minutes, they came inside searching for "large carrots" to use for snowmen noses. I was declared the Best Mom Ever because I always let them take carrots when they make snowmen. It always amazes me when they make similar statements. Giving the kids a few carrots when they make snowmen seems no big deal to me, but it's very important to my 5 and 6 year olds.

Madelyn and Joe spent several hours outside playing with friends across the street. Their friends have a long, steep driveway and the neighborhood kids went sledding. The friends don't own sleds and we have 7 or 8, which were shared with various children. There were many shouts of joy and tons of giggling.

I really enjoyed watching all the activity outside this week. Most of the time, my children are the only ones who play outdoors in the winter. This snowfall reminded me of my childhood, when neighborhood cliques were broken down as all the children caroused in the snow together.