winter snapshots

Just some pictures I've taken recently...love those faces!

playing in the snow

for the first time. Rosie started out standing in one place
not moving, of course movement may have been impossible
as you can see by the amount of padding and layers she had on.
She couldn't quite figure out the snow, hitting her face,
she kept blinking and trying to see what it was.
"Cold" she would say
Finally she found something "fun" being pulled in the sled was
the most entertaining part. This was the first time she had
ever played in the snow, last year she was too tiny, and
this year the kids have only been out one other time to play
and she had been sick. I think she liked it, now she drag's
her snowsuit to the door and points, telling me it's time to
go outside...she was doing that last night at 10pm.

Before....After

This is the view Friday morning at 11 am,

and this is the same view, Sunday morning at 11am.

Snow....

It finally started Saturday afternoon around 4. It continued to snow until around 11pm. It looked so peaceful, and quiet as the snow fell last night. No wind, no traffic...just the silence of falling snow. Of course looking out the window is a difficult way to tell just how much snow fell, the ruler is stuck in the snow that accumulated on the picnic table, yes that would be 7 inches of the white stuff. On Friday we could have sat at the table and ate lunch. It's started snowing again this morning around 6:30. I may have to update the ruler shot later :)
Josh had quite a bit more snow than us...by yesterday afternoon Austin had over 9". He also was without power for a few hours. Josh also was entertained with thunder and lightning. Of course no worries for Josh, living on campus means he doesn't have to move any of the white stuff. He mentioned how nice that was a time of two.
Beckie had snow already on Friday. She and her roommate Jen drove in snow to Glenwood where Jen's parents live. Friday was the beginning of spring break for Beckie.
They planned to fly out of the cities with Jen's family heading to Vegas on Sunday (today). Friday evening Beckie called and said the snow was falling horizontally. Last night she called and said she was hanging out in a hotel in Minneapolis. They had decided to take advantage of the lull in the storm to travel, she said it took a bit longer but it wasn't as bad as expected. She wasn't sure if they would be flying out at their original time of 7:30am Sunday morning, but she was hopeful they would fly out sometime Sunday morning.
So perhaps if it continues to snow, we may get a snow day tomorrow? That would be a good thing, I could use another day of putzing. Now if we get some wind....well that could paint a whole new picture. For now I hope the wind stays calm I love the peaceful, quiet, freshness that is new fallen snow...Everything looks clean, and new. Perfect weather to curl up with a book, or watch a movie, or scrapbook. So many choices...but I imagine the little people around here will have a bit of input in how I actually get to spend my day.

Ice

For days the forecast for this weekend has been dismal. I don't ever recall so much advanced warning of a system moving our way. 50% chance of snow Friday, 80% chance of snow Saturday, 100% chance of snow Sunday...that was the forecast on Thursday. I have to admit I was excited, enough of this little bothersome snowfalls, I was ready for a big ol' winter wallop. By the time I went to bed Friday night, no snow, a few sprinkles, a lot of thunder and some lightning. Woke up this morning thinking, we would be buried in snow...nothing. It wasn't even raining yet. By 11am it was raining, and beginning to freeze, naturally I had to capture some pictures. I am rather disappointed by this winter storm that was hyped to the max. Friday events were being cancelled hourly for the weekend...unheard of. Yet today, travel wasn't too bad, granted I wouldn't have wanted to venture out of town, but it was more bothersome than cumbersome. It's almost 4pm here and it is finally snowing...so perhaps we will get snowed in. Wondering what tomorrow will bring

Go Dog Go

I love Dr. Suess, Green Eggs and Ham is my favorite story. I had not been too familiar with Go Dog Go until Rosie discovered it in the book basket. We read it daily, hourly if I would give in. She giggles when she see's the blue dog, (no idea why, but it certainly makes her laugh) We don't read the book in a normal order, she chooses which page we read, sometimes we read the same page over and over, yes that page has the blue dog. If I happen to pause in my reading, she is quick to tap the book as a reminder to continue reading. I think I may have another reader in my family and that is so cool!

Do you see those adorable hair bows..

on Rosie? They seem to have gone missing. As in gone, missing in action, nowhere to be found. Of course we could have misplaced them, or the current house fairy could have borrowed them. I'm putting my odds on the cute little person pictured there to the right. I'm fairly certain she hid them or destroyed them removing all traces of evidence. She was so excited that morning when I said "let's do your hair" She tapped her head and said "yahaira?" which meant she wanted a pony tail just like Yahaira's. So that is what we did, of course I added the bows, just cuz' they were so cute. A note Yahaira won't let me put those kind of bows in her hair, she is difficult that way. So I finish and tell Rosie you look so beautiful, to which she smiles and nods her head, as tho to say of course i do. As soon as I put her down on the floor she runs to my bedroom to peak in the mirror. I glance over to see her reaction and she turns and looks at me and frowns, yes frowns! She then points to the bows signaling to me that she wants them removed. Remember she is 1 she has a few words, but not enough apparently to convey her complete displeasure with my choice of hair attire. Trust me she didn't need words, her face was telling me exactly how she felt. I tried to convince her they were cute, she didn't buy it. They disappeared within hours...no idea where they are. Of course the cute 1 year old isn't talking, and no one else seems to be willing to spill the info. Sigh I guess she doesn't do cute anymore.

yesterday

I blogged this, but forgot to post it...sigh! These pics represent what we did on Tuesday
yes that is us outdoors! The temp Tuesday afternoon was 41 degrees. So fun to get
outside, winter has been too long. Oh I know we could venture out in the winter temps...
but I'm fairly certain that isn't going to happen, for a few reasons, 1. you will get them all winter gear ready and be outdoors for moments when someone will need to go to the bathroom, one does not remove layers of outdoor clothing quickly, and 2. I have issues with the cold, namely freezing. So since I 'm the majority (translate the biggest) we stay indoors. So it's understandable why when we can go outside in February with minimal layers everyone is happy. Being cooped up in a too small space, getting on each other's nerves, (I'm fairly certain I manage to get on their nerves with some frequency) gets to be a bit long this time of year. Love getting out in the fresh air, feeling the sun's warmth on your skin...love knowing that spring isn't too far away.

Dinosaur Excavation...

Anthony received a kit for Christmas that had a book on Dinosaurs and
dinosaur excavation kit. It came with a big block of "stone" and a chisel,
hammer, and brush. Of course for safety there were these funky safety
glasses. The premise was to chisel away at the stone to uncover dinosaur
bones...so cool! so fun! Actually not sure who had more fun Cassandra or
Anthony. Watching the members of my household try to assemble the
"found" dinosaur bones was in a word hilarious. At one point the dinosaur's
legs were on backwards and his head was upside down....sigh good thing
they aren't archaeologists. I finally helped assemble the bones much to
Anthony's delight, he has carried the dinosaur around with him since Saturday.
Yahaira...she just wanted the hammer.

Piles

that was the photo assignment for yesterday. I don't do piles, it causes my brain to
shut down and not function correctly. So as I glanced around my home for something
that could possible qualify for this pic my eyes landed on this pile...a pile of scrapbook
layouts just waiting to be assembled. That is my optimistic hope that if I stack them
I will actually complete them since I don't like piles...I'm happy to say it worked. The
pile along with two more are now history as of 10 pm last night... The completed pages
filled two albums. Cassandra's books are currently up to date...and that is a very good
thing..

this would be...

her alternative attire to her mermaid outfit. When I suggested to her the other day that perhaps we
should give the mermaid outfit a rest (I lost count the number of days she actually wore it in a row) this is what she came down in, you can't quite see it but under that sundress is her swimsuit. I believe the day this pic was taken the temp was -3. I guess the boots were a nod to the cold temps. My answer to this? She's two. So do you suppose in July she will wear all the jeans and sweaters currently residing in her drawer? One can only wonder. I have to admit she was a ray of sunshine bopping around the house that day..how can you not smile at that cute face and those bright fun colors? Maybe we should all wear our swimsuits in February to remind ourselves that summer is coming........then again maybe not.

Book Fair...

Last night was the annual Book Fair at the Elementary school. Love going to these things. Love that buying books helps out the school, and love that we get to add new books to our library. Anthony and Alonso joined me, so fun listening to them decide on the perfect book. The book Anthony is holding in eachof the pictures was his choice, in fact it has yet to leave his hands...he is so loving this book. Rosie was so excited when she saw all the books..I think we read most of them last night, each time I finished one she would quickly replace it with another...If I pause or get distracted she will tap the book to remind me to continue reading...what a fun way to spend a cold winter night, snuggled up with little people reading books.

the last dance.....

Senior year is full of "last" moments. The last Homecoming game, the last game or match, the last prom, so many last's you can get caught up in the sadness and not see all
the amazing moments that senior year can bring....and we wonder why our kids get so moody and difficult during this final year of high school. Cassandra reached one of those sad lasts on Tuesday night. Her final dance performance. The mood behind the scenes was more mellow than on other performance nights,all the girls knew it was the end. For the underclassmen it was the end of the season, for the seniors the end took on a completely different meaning. Cassandra said later "It was the last time I will ever walk out on that floor and perform, the last time" She made it to the end of the dance, but the tears found her as she walked off the floor...most of the seniors did not leave the floor with dry eyes...backstage, complete meltdown. It almost felt intrusive seeing these girls say goodbye to something that had been a part of their lives for the past 3-4 years. They
practice together 2-3 hours a day almost every day during their season which runs from
September to February...it's rather hard to not develop friendships, of course they will
still be able to be friends, it's just going to be different. I think letting go of the routine
you share is perhaps harder than finishing a season. Her last dance was an amazing
routine... she did a great job.

Happy Valentine's Day!

28 days

A photo a day for the entire month of February. This is the idea behind a class I am taking this month. Each morning in my inbox is an email waiting. Inside the email is the "assignment" for the day, it simply tells me what to take a picture of that day.
As you can see by the pictures it has been a mix of locations. A mixture of places inside and outside my home. Most I have been excited about, realizing I had yet to capture places and things that are such an intricate part of my day to day life.. a couple made me pause, the one of the refrigerator, well I wondered how photo ready the inside would be, that email did come with a caution, no cleaning allowed before the picture, so what you see is what I see every day. One email has me a bit stumped, the assignment "a picture of a place you would like to go but haven't visited yet" with an added condition it needs to be local. Sigh, I realized on Saturday as I drove down main street that there isn't a single store I haven't been in, not a one. Stretching it a bit to non retail locations didn't prove any more successful. So for now that picture remains untaken...still hoping to discover some location in my town that I haven't visited.
The three pictures shown are 1. something I use every day. 2. my refrigerator 3. my mailbox
Truly having fun with this class, and the album that will come together at the end. What a great peek into the day to day things that are such a part of my life. I am enjoying the picture a day routine..thinking I may continue with this in other areas of my world...(like I need to take more pics )

Backpacks

Anthony and Alonso both have preschool in the afternoon. Lately their backpacks have
grown due to all the winter gear now packed in them. The other day as they both were
trying to navigate down the stairs to go meet their bus I had to laugh, it looked as tho one wrong move and they both would have tumbled to their backs. The backpacks aren't heavy it is just snow pants and such, but just bulky and thus awkward...add that to the puffy winter coats and any movements seems to be exaggerated. Winter is just so fun!