Snowbound

Sorry, sorry, sorry for the infrequent posts! I have been trying to make some sense out of the basement, where all the kid's playthings are, and the spare bedroom down there is where Steve and I are combining his office and my studio. It's not an easy task, considering that we had created a wall-to-wall built in cabinet system for the office in our previous house, and I had a bedroom all to myself to run amuck in with all my "creativity equipment". So we have two room's worth of stuff to cram into one space, and a fraction of the built-in storage capability to do it in. I know I can make it work, and I have a plan all worked out in my head, it's just been very slow going because I've been purging a lot of stuff and, well, any of you with young kids knows how laughable it is to try and work steadily and efficiently at anything with little ones underfoot! I think the longest uninterrupted time I've had is 37 seconds (okay, slight exaggeration, but just SLIGHTLY!) I promise to have pictures of all my furniture projects soon, I just have to get that basement figured out so I can find my brushes and focus on repainting/refinishing all the bargain wonders I've been acquiring via Craigslist.

So ANYWAY, in the meantime I'll share with you my kid's giddy excitement about the snow flurries we had a few weeks ago. It was Hazel's first time to really get out and play in the snow, and she LOVED it!

That little pink hat kept popping off her head, but we managed to keep her nearly bald crown covered up most of the time.

There is a swing in our backyard, kindly left by the previous tenants who, happily for us, moved just down the street and we are loving their family. Thanks, Donna and Mike, for all your help and your friendship! They have 2 girls who are about the same ages as Eliza and Hyrum, so it's been fun to have playdates with them.

Hazel loves the swing, she was cracking up so much when Eliza was pushing her that day! Hazel has the most infectious giggles and laughs, it's impossible not to laugh with her when she has the giggles.

"Hmmm, which mitten has more snow crusted on it?"

"Guess I'll have to lick them both to find out!"

My kids have as much fun eating snow as they do playing in it! There's nothing like a little touch of ice crystals mixed with equal parts of knitted fuzz balls...yum yum...

Here's daddy joining in on the fun, despite his aversion to cold white stuff falling from the sky. I must admit that, after spending several days trying to control the amount of melted snow (and mud from when they took cardboard boxes and slid down the little muddy hill on the side of the house) that got tracked into the house and onto the hardwood floors, I had a little different perspective on snow than I had romantically harbored all these years. The vices, as well as the virtues, of living in a climate where snow happens became a reality for me for the first time since having children. After about the 5th time (in one day) of helping them get in and out of their snow gear, and trying to control the drippage factor from all the snow getting tracked into the house (with nary a mud room or covered porch in sight), I was feeling a little less enthusiatic about the white stuff myself. But just a little bit, because I absolutely love the way snow blankets the earth and drapes the trees with elegant, lacy finery. It is one of the most exquisitely beautiful sights I know, to walk through a country landscape where everything is brilliantly white and glittering with cloaks of diamonds and sugar, and all extraneous sounds are muffled with the hush of snowdrifts.

This picture doesn't do much to reinforce the imagery described above, but I wanted to show you our great backyard. This is one of the primary reasons we chose to rent this particular house...we really wanted a private, wooded backyard space and this house fit the bill perfectly in that department. It was very hard to find in an area so (relatively) close to DC, added to all our other requirements and one that was within our price range, so we feel very fortunate to have found it. Plus our neighbors are great and the kids are liking their schools a lot, so it's working out very well for us.

Here are our 3 stooges again, wrapping up another venture into the snow before coming in for a cup of hot cocoa (one of Hyrum's favorite things in life).

Oh - it's kind of off the subject but I wanted to record a funny little thing Hyrum said the other day. Hyrum has a friend named Hugh, and he's always talking about him and asking if he can play with him. One day, after his usual request, he said very matter-of-factly, "Mom, Hugh means something else too." I asked him what he meant and he replied, "You know, when you are safe after something scary or dangerous happens to you and you say, HUGH! (phew) That was close!" It was such a cute little thing, I still smile whenever I think about it. It's so fun to get a glimpse of how kids perceive the things we say, especially the pronunciation mixups.