On New Year's Eve we took a quick hike up to a waterfall. Turns out it was frozen! What a treat! The view from behind the falls.

This winter is the snowiest winter I've ever experienced in my life. I actually really like the snow, unless I have to drive when we're getting totally pounded and the plows can't keep up. One quick snow story and then winter wonderland pictures. I think the main goal of our school is to never have a day off because of weather. We could get a foot of snow before school and still not be cancelled. One day a few weeks ago it was bad enough that we actually had a two hour delay, so the plows could clear all the school parking lots before the kids came to school. Whoopee. Fast forward to this week, when we've been shoveling twice a day almost every day. We are getting buried! I went to sleep to a very snowy forecast with high hopes of school being cancelled on Monday. Monday morning arrived, and there in my email was another two hour delay notice! Yeah! Better than nothing, for sure. I told, Nate and the kids, and there was much rejoicing. Roughly an hour and a hal...

 We had a snowy winter this year and tried our best to embrace it. Playing out in the snow requires a huge expenditure of effort. Simply putting on everyone's snow clothes is quite a feat, not to mention dealing with them once they're dripping wet and trailed all over the house. But if you can forget about the before and after, the during of snow play has a certain magic about it that shouldn't be missed. Our biggest snowman of the year, Waldo. Man were those snowballs heavy! A snow fort. Nate and I went snowshoeing with our friend Mike. The snow was unbelievably deep and really, for me, it was more of an exercise in extracting myself from huge snow drifts once I fell over in them. But the scenery and company couldn't be beat. It started out in a wooded area, then suddenly got pretty exposed and icy and we were getting pounded by snow. At about that point, Mike got swept at least 35 feet down the mountain in a mini-avalanche. It was terrifying. So we turne...

We spent every Monday and Wednesday during the month of February at the pool for Addison and Bryn's swimming lessons. They are both naturals, I must say. Leah lived for Mondays, when Nate would take all the kids and swim with her during lessons while I stayed home to teach piano. Every time she'd see the swimsuits hung up in the bathroom, she'd excitedly tell me about the time she got to go "kick kick" with Daddy. Bryn loved her teacher, Lindsey, and was always very excited to find her in the pool with her swim cap on. Addison's lessons were 45 minutes long this time around, instead of the 30 they do in the preschool level, and he definitely got the chance to expel his pent-up, wintertime wiggles. It made for kind of a crazy month, and it was a pain to deal with in the cold, but there were definitely benefits. They both would get home, scarf down anything I'd put in front of them at the dinner table, take a bath, and fall asleep before their heads hit the...

Leah loves beans and rice. Dude. I totally did that french braid! Amazing? I think so. St. Patrick's Day leprechauns we made for preschool. We are loving the nice days that spring has brought our way. It's been lovely to dust off the sidewalk chalk, bubbles (which Leah thinks are hilarious), bikes, trikes, and scooters. We've even gone barefoot outside a time or two. This is Brother Grove. He is awesome and extremely patient with our rambunctious children. He's always got stories and sweets handy when we go to visit him. He was the youngest Naval Aviator in to fight in World War II (Yes, that makes George Bush the elder a lie. Nate did the math.) The age gap between our kids and him would be the equivalent of him to someone who fought in the Civil War. Wow. These photos are from our last sledding hurrah of the year. We had the whole park to ourselves. Leah ate snow nonstop and loved it.  And our chicks. They have grown! Here's soo...

Addison has been DYING to build a snowman, and we finally got our chance on Saturday. The snow was perfect - not too powdery like the last big snowfall. Addison was thrilled and gave me pointers the whole time. Bryn chilled in her swing while we constructed it and was mad in the picture because I made her get out. (And as I later discovered she somehow was soaking wet under her snow clothes). It was all I could do to keep Addison from eating the baby carrot nose before the picture. I actually had to remove it from his mouth and stick it back on the snowman. The second the flash went off, it was gone.