Christmas time is here!

 Two weeks before Christmas we got SNOW!  Lots of it.  It was light and powdery, and no good for snowman making, but the kids had a blast.  Tommy was too little to really go out in the snow last year, so this was his first time in a snowsuit playing.  The snow was up to his waist, and he really couldn't move around too easily.  Once we convinced him to stop taking off his gloves, he had a pretty good time.

Tori decided that slides and swings are even more fun in winter!

 And then it was Christmas.  This was the first year we stayed home.  I was really kind of bummed about it at first-we have some local family that we always spend Christmas with, and we decided that a 3 hour round trip with the kids wasn't going to work this year.  I told Wes we still needed to dress up and do Christmas dinner right.  So, we did, and it was lovely.  I made a turkey, prime rib, mashed potatoes, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, veggies, bread, stuffing, and a cheesecake.  Needles to say we were eating leftovers for days!

The kids had fun--Tommy's old enough this year to understand the concept of presents, and we watched all the Christmas shows together--Hoops and Yoyo Ruin Christmas being the favorite of everyone (except Wes).

 Wrapping each kid's presents in different wrapping paper makes life a million times easier.

 Tablets for everyone.  Totally cheap Droid tablets ($59 each) that will keep their grubby mitts off my Nexus.

 Santa did not have a goddamn clue  appreciate quite how large the playhouse was going to be--it is two rooms and takes up almost the entire playroom.

 We put on our Christmas dresses and had a lovely dinner.

It was a great day.

As we move into 2014, I'm feeling a bit inspired.

I lost another classmate last week--this time to a heart attack.  And another close friend has cancer.

As Gru would say, "Light bulb."

I'd like to start doing a better job of appreciating what I have--of making better use of my time--paying more attention to Wes and the kids when I'm home and drawing a better line between work and family, and taking better care of myself in the process.

Cheers. 

Snow angels.

We got our first measurable snow today. It was nice, wet and heavy, so perfect for snowmen. Dani and Tori have been so excited about the prospect of snow this year--and none really came, until today. They were already scheduled to go to Miss Ruth's for the day, so we packed their snow gear. I was little disappointed that I wouldn't be the one playing outside with them today...but Miss Ruth cheered me up by sending pictures to my phone while I was in court.They had a blast. This was Tori's first time playing in the snow, as she was just a baby last winter. They made snow angels, and rode on sleds, and probably consumed half their body weight in snow.

Dani told me she made five snowmen, but that one was a snow bunny and one was a snow Mickey (mouse).

I'm really hoping it doesn't all melt before Saturday so I can go out and play with them too!

Snow day!

Hurry up, mommy! You are too slow. We need to plaaaaaaaaaaay!!!

There are snow angels to make! And snow hills to slide down!
And snow to eat! Yay!

The snow is taller than me! I hope it stays like this forever!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Last winter, Dani was too little, and I was too pregnant to really get outside in the snow. But this winter, she's been talking about snowmen and such. FINALLY, we got some snow! I got home Friday and there were just a few inches, but I bundled her up and went outside, in my work dress no less, just to catch the last bit of light so Dani could play.

Here she is trying to throw a snowball I made. She helped me shovel the walk, and did not want to do in. In fact, I had to fireman carry a kicking and screaming Dani inside. She would have played outside for hours if I'd let her.
I promised her that we'd go out this morning, and overnight a few more inches fell. I think we had about 6 inches total. I pulled her on the sled, she ran around, happily falling, eating snow and clapping her snow-filled hands so snow would fly everywhere.
It wasn't great packing snow so we couldn't make a snowman, so we took a sled ride down the street, and then a short walk.

I wised up when I wanted to go inside today. I mentioned that if we went inside she could have a lollipop.

Surprisingly, she was also willing to share the lollipop with Tori.
Here's a short video of Dani that ends abruptly when I realize she needs help getting out of the sled, and I didn't want the camera to get snowy.

I'm already looking forward to the next snow storm!