After many days of below zero weather, I took the kids to see if the river had frozen over. I knew it probably was not, but was still hoping 🙂 The only time we have seen it completely frozen was in 2014.
Megan thought the ice was fascinating. She made a snow angel and admired how the river looked through the ice. Then she just sat quietly and watched the geese for awhile. I wonder her reaction if the river had been completely iced over.
Nora, my niece, came over to play today. It was the perfect weather for making snowmen.
The kids often find new ways to all sled down together. Sometimes they race individually or as teams. As they grow bigger and stronger, they enjoy trying to go down all together also.
Finally catching up with some pictures I took over the holidays.
It has started the same way for years. After sledding, Mark climbs to the top of the snow pile the plows made cleaning up the parking lot. Before long, one of the kids attacks him and a fight starts.
Eventually, someone makes it to the top and becomes the King (or Queen) of the Mountain!
Until the next time sledding….
We always celebrate our family Christmas after Christmas. We do not have a set day, but “Santa Claus” stops by sometime as he heads “out on his vacation”.
Last night, after opening our presents, we enjoyed finger foods, spiced apple cider the kids made and froze this fall and home made egg nog. We also watched old movies with a projector the kids pitched in and surprised us with.
We enjoyed celebrating Christmas at Oma and Opa’s house this year. Each of the younger cousins were given a sock monkey similar to the monkeys their daddies received from their aunt when they were younger.
Have a wonderful day celebrating our Savior’s birth!
We usually wait until mid December–once it is cold and snowy out–to go look for our Christmas tree. This year we decided to look while Mark was still home for Thanksgiving. It was so nice when we went that jackets were optional!
We always look for a tree that is at as tall as Mark. At first we thought we would not find a good tree again this year. Many of the trees were lopsided or dry looking. However, Megan and Adrian found one!
Megan was excited to discover that Santa was around. She enjoyed being able to ask for snow and then was given a candy cane. She managed to persuade all of the kids to come talk to Santa.
When “Bob, age 18” (Audrey) asked for snow, Santa said “snow is already taken” and would not let the kids ask for it again. She replied with “something better than coal?” Santa told her that she had to work harder to get that. Adrian asked for wider chimneys while Mark requested taller door frames. Andrea asked for ice cream.
They informed Santa their goal was to make him smile and they hope that he had a wonderful day. I think the children succeeded.
While I don’t enjoy it getting dark so early, I love the extra time to experiment with ideas.