winter walk

Enjoying the beautiful snowy day.

snowy day

All dressed and ready to roll (in the snow).

Papa and Abby attempt to snuggle up for a pic and instead tip over - hilarious for Abby! - must be all of those extra layers.

Natester is surprised to see a white backyard when he rolls out of bed.

By this time Abby is well on her way toward eating her body weight in snow.

Abby still thinks pictures of her (or anyone else) blinking are hysterical.

Lots of reverse snow angels / snow eating while lying down.

Took a while for Nate to eat his breakfast and get bundled up, but he sure was ready to get outside and play with Abby!

The rarely seen toddler tiptoe pushup.

Race!

Wooo hoooo!

present box

As some blog readers know... we shamelessly bribe Abigail into taking a nap each day. Refusing naps became her fun new behavior that coincided with Nate's birth, and we had epic multi-hour tearful battles many days. Until we started using the "present box". If Abby takes a nap, there's something in her present box. If no nap, no present. "Abby, if you don't close your eyes and go to sleep there will be: Nothing. In. Your. Present. Box." Such statements are taken seriously by the nearly-3 year old member of our household. When she wakes up the first thing she says is "I want to open my present box!"

Luckily, it need not be a full-fledged "present" every day. We're starting to think it's more about the anticipation and act of opening the present box than what is inside (e.g. even a post-it note with "Abby and Papa go on a special mission to the grocery store!" written on it is met with enthusiasm). But even if the present isn't a "thing" it can be pretty neat. Witness today's present: play with snow in the sink!!

And so we did.

Oh food coloring, we love you.

Some green snow may have been consumed.

Meanwhile, in the other corner of the kitchen Nato happily bounces and tries to eat his blanket.

Oh yes, we used blue too.

Then Po arrived and things really got crazy.

It was Po's birthday! (Note: it is Po's birthday EVERY DAY, except when Po's birthday is TOMORROW!)

Abby made "ice cream" and "cupcakes" out of snow to celebrate. And she helped Po blow out the candles. And we sang Happy Birthday. Several times.

All in all, a lovely way to occupy multiple hours of this afternoon! Thanks present box.

still winter

In case anyone was wondering, spring is not here yet. We are hunkered down in the midst of the big blizzard which has been quite dramatic! Here's Abigail practicing singing "Happy Birthday to Grandad" before we Skyped with them earlier today! Hope you have a great rest of the day Grandad!!

Just peeking, and reading.

Snow drifts through the porch window.

Patio furniture and A's little backyard house, snowed in.

Abby goes outside with Papa to shovel / eat snow.

taking care of the trees

Snow, snow, snow! It would seem we've got over 2 feet of it so far.... After hearing stories of other trees falling over under the weight of the snow, Jamie decided that we should do something about it....like shake the snow off the branches. Here the trees are "before shaking":

And "during shaking" - the big one on the left still needs attention. There's papa heading that way.

Let's zoom in and take a closer look at the tree shaker.

All done!

Abby enjoyed watching this project from the cozy comfort of the porch with mommy.

"I'm going to touch the camera now..."

"Oh! You're taking my picture! I should smile and say cheeeeeeze!"

first snow

Abigail experiencing her first snowfall!Contemplating the white stuff.

"Is this a crawl-able surface?"

Yay! She loves it. Her midwestern roots shine through. Lucky for Abigail she'll get to see even more snow and chillier temps as we are off to Minnesota soon for a visit!

chilly days

Brrrrrr. Due to the chilly weather we have spent a large portion of the weekend so far inside chasing the cat and other similarly fun distractions.Abigail is proud of herself for making Booey jump so high!

She just wants him to come back and do it again!

We did bundle up and make a break for it to go out for an early dinner tonight . . .

Everything on the table must be placed outside of a certain someone's arm-length.

Enjoying a few cheerios - delish.

ready for winter

Abigail is ready for winter! (Thanks Grandma for finding this fun snowsuit - it fits perfectly, and we're ready for chilly trips to the playground and visits to snowy places!)