or some of our wintertime adventures.
We've gotten a bit of snow so far in the new year. The kids play a lot in the snow, even though we don't have a lot of snow gear here. We don't have any snow pants or boots here and I don't want to buy more because a) we have some in storage and b) we're moving to California. So their shoes, socks and pants are always soaking wet after the snow play. John and I built this little snow man. John wanted to break the snow man up soon after this (Grant style).
Grant stole the late snowman's carrot nose.
He loves carrots.
Our little sled run went through various stages of snowiness.
The kids still had a lot of fun with it.
John was upset that I pushed him down the ramp before he was ready (I thought he was ready!) He never quite recovered from this perceived slight.
He was upset after that...and cold. So he came inside.
Hot chocolate is the cure-all for any winter related sadness.
The more marshmallows the better
And guess who is a new sunbeam? John!!
On his first day of class he cried a lot. He cried when I dropped him off but his teachers helped him feel better. When he went to sharing time (when all the primary classes meet together) I tried to peek in to see if he was doing better. But he saw me. Then the tears started again. :( I was debating whether I should go in because I could hear him crying, "I want mommy!" But Matthew went right over and sat by him (with the other sunbeams) and put his arm around him. And John felt better. Matthew sat with him for the whole last hour. Big brothers rule. Thanks Matthew!
And new year...new after school activities.
Anna started a new dance class. She loves it so far and has been having a lot of fun.
Matthew started basketball. He's enjoying it and learning a lot I think. Anna also wanted to play basketball, but the league for her grade happened in the fall when her arm was still broken. :(
Here he is showing off some moves at basketball practice. Matthew and Anna have also both joined the choir at their school and are excited about that. And they are both taking a chemistry class that goes for a couple months plus a computer (coding) class. Matthew is still doing cub scouts too. So we've got activities galore right now. I hope I can keep up.
John's latest obsession is the car shopping carts at one of the local stores. Any time we go shopping he wants to know if he can ride in it. While we were at Target the other day he asked me repeatedly, for the entire trip, if we would be going to the store with the car shopping carts next. He wouldn't take no for an answer.
One night after dinner I took all the kids to that store to get ice cream. John abandoned his cone pretty early. Matthew took it over for him. Another big brother save!
The kids took turns in the beloved car shopping cart.
John was happy to share it.
Grant on the way to school! He loves conquering that snow mountain in the front yard.
Grant earns many treats at his preschool class. The other day he came home with two bags of Skittles he had won. He wanted to make Skittle cookies with them. I'd never heard of such a thing, but we tried it. The Skittle part started to melt and made the cookies really hard and crunchy after they cooled. They tasted good though.
Grant is Mr. Mischief these days. Lately he's always trying to jump on my back when I'm least expecting it and then he'll just laugh and order me around while he hangs on for dear life. He'll try to trick me into sitting down so its easier for him to jump on ("Mom, come sit by me!" or "Mom, I want to show you something."). Sometimes I humor him and carry him around for a while after he tricks me. He thinks its hilarious. Here he is taking a selfie while catching a ride on the mom train.
Oh, Grant!!
And Emma is growing so much. She enjoys looking at books and taking care of her baby dolls. She's getting more of a sense of humor and likes to play peek-a-boo type games a lot. She wants to do what the bigger kids are doing.
And she's walking pretty well now. So grown up.
More winter adventures to come.
