Winter Happenings

Winter is in full swing here and I'm looking forward to spring.  When the Christmas tree goes out of the house, that really feels like the end of Christmas.  ((Crying)) Christmas decorations come down and I put up Valentine Day decorations.

Look how springy at the craft store.  If only.

Still so much winter to go!!

The living room with a sprinkling of Valentine decor. We have more in there for Christmas so it always seems a little bare and sad come January.  Anna says my decorations have the word "love" too often.  She has many opinions about my parenting and house keeping failures as well as suggestions for improvement.  I'm glad she has opinions but quickly grow weary of the criticisms.  Emma likes that there is so much pink!

Anna has cooking ambitions and made this cake on her own.  Very tasty.

We played some games we got for Christmas.  This was one of them- Googly Eyes.  

Emma drew her first mermaid and was very proud of it.

Grant built a bird house at scouts

We've had days where it was warm enough in the afternoon to scooter around.  John got a new scooter for Christmas and wanted to practice with it.

It's still cold and miserable but Scott and I have run outside together a few times

The next weekend, same run, different amount of snow.

Come on spring!

I bought this pot online to replace one that was damaged in our last move.  It was hard to tell how big it was on the internet.  So it turned out being much bigger than I expected.  I can use it to make giant batches of things I guess.

Some kids helped me do a post-Christmas pantry clean out.

And the sicknesses descended on us.  I got the flu in January, John got it, Emma got it and Anna.  Boo!!

Matthew went snow camping with his Boy Scout troop.   I was a little anxious about it and so was Matthew but he dressed for the weather and it ended up being a balmy day - in the high 50s, low 60s. So he didn't freeze.  I had just read a book about Mt. Everest, so its possible I was hypersensitive to the idea/possibility of frostbite.  Also I'm a mom and moms worry about things.  But it wasn't Mt. Everest type conditions and all was well.

Emma asked me how to draw animals.  I am not a drawing/art expert at all, but I showed her how to draw animals using ovals for different body parts and she immediately drew this great dog.  She makes many art projects.  And what a nice dog.  I think I was most amazed that my advice helped her.

My oval unicorn up top as an example and Emma's unicorn down below.  

She thought her unicorn ought to have more hair.

Grant was proud of this big bubble and wanted it documented

For the 100th day of school, John was supposed to dress as a centenarian.  We remembered about it last minute so threw an outfit together.  I didn't spray his hair gray or draw lines on his face as many of his classmates parent's did, but I thought he looked good...especially for being 100 years old.

Emma is my high energy constant companion except for the 5 or so hours a week she is at preschool. She wants to have my attention a lot and it is tiring sometimes.  Here we are playing Jenga one day.

Emma's preschool pictures

Pretty soon we will be signing her up for kindergarten!

Emma decided she wanted to save up for a Ninjago Spinjitzu toy.  It's a Lego spinning top.  Grant and John each have one and there is a girl Ninjago character (Nya) that she wanted to get so she could play with them.  It cost about 10 dollars and Emma did many jobs for me and resisted spending her sticks on candies so she could buy a spinjitzu toy.

She finally saved enough, we bought the toy and she was able to play with her brothers.  

She was so happy.

Good job, Emma!!

We got lots of snow at the end of January/beginning of February.

snow angel time

These look like snow hay bales to me

Grant's snow creations

I finally bought a photo therapy lamp.

 It feels very dreary and depressing some days.

Scott took the elementary school kids to "Dads and Donuts" at their school one morning.  He had to arrange to work from home that day to take them.  Here he is with Grant and John

Grant's friend joined their party too

And with Anna, who objects to donuts, but not to time with Dads.

Here we are visiting the Campbell's one day

Matthew and baby Clark

Matthew will be 13 in a few weeks and Clark recently turned 1

Cousin video game time

Matching coat girls

Emma and Norah have so much fun playing together.  They are only 1 1/2 years apart and will be 1 year apart in school, so I think they will seem closer in age as they get older.

Boy cousins!!

Grant, Owen and John - all within about 16 months of each other

John and Owen are just a couple weeks apart (Grant is the old one) and will both be baptized this summer

Anna and Lulu. They are only two years apart and have so much fun playing together.   Anna is always mad at me for not taking her to see Lulu more.  :)

Crossing our fingers that spring is just around the corner.