Winter Comes and Winter Goes

Doesn't this make you happy? Alden has been going through a drawing phase. He put these up on his wall.

Celebrating Valentine's Day is a family event. I really enjoyed writing little notes of encouragement each night in February leading up to Valentine's Day for each of them and sticking them up on their doors for them to discover in the morning. They loved them too!

Then we got dumped multiple times by ice, snow, and more snow. That in conjunction with being sick with flu or stomach bugs made me feel like I was in a weird twilight zone where society had come to a standstill. 

I just love Lenten roses. They bloom starting in winter all through Lent, and just remind us that new life has come and is ours and that life will spring up again.

Now it's really snowing. 

Chowing down on snow icecream. Cold!

Building is a necessity on cold winter days. Alden kept asking Wally if he thought he was a master builder, and since Wally hadn't seen the Lego Movie yet, Wally said, "I don't think there is such a thing." Well, now you know, daddy, now you know. 

Then more snow.

These kids didn't mind a bit.

Snowball fight!

Anything that is falling or flying in the air, Pippin feels the compulsory need to try to catch with his mouth. Catching dust and hair floating in the air is his main form of entertainment most of the day, so he was thrilled to have Rhi knock snow from the bushes. 

Alden determined to make a big snowman. 

Rhi joined in. 

Thankfully they did not make it so big that I couldn't lift the things. Wally was waylaid somewhere en route from Pittsburgh to here. 

He thinks he'll get away with Olaf's nose. No no, Sven!

Well, if the snowman falls apart while making it, improvise and make ducks.

Aunt Hannah braved the winter slush to join us in our snowfest.

Our cute bird snow sculptures. 

Aunt Hannah and Rhianwen trying to clear the way for sledding. 

Uncle Christopher came out from his work related calls to do the heavy lifting that the women folk could not manage.

Each child made their own personal snowman to knock down with Aunt Hannah's help. We also made a snowfort and pretended to fight some kind of creatures. Corwin made sure we had a nice supply of money and was upset if it was stepped on...since it looked a lot like snow, it was hard to avoid it.

That evening Wally made it back! We were so glad, and the next morning, we got to play in the snow with him. 

We took a morning hike through our woods and fields. I love the sparkle of it. 

Sledding back in the woods. This is a tradition that the kids insisted Daddy keep. The hills are so much steeper there, and I always forget to open our gate before a big snow, so that cuts our yard's sledding hill in half.

I could not stop them from gobbling snow. Is it any wonder they all 3 got stomach bugs the next week? Well, it likely was unrelated, but I had told them that I would not feel sorry for them if they did get stomach bugs after eating all that snow. Yes, not the best mommy moment.

Speaking of mommy moments, Corwin was upset about the fact that the other 2 kids wanted to play a game instead of just play with toys with him, and was yelling at them about it. I said pretty impatiently, "Corwin, do you think you are the most important person in this house?!" and he wailed, "YEEEEES!!!". Of course, I couldn't leave it at that and said, "Well you are not! Everyone else is just as important as you!" The next day I read the chapter in How to Really Love Your Child that talks about focused attention, and how important it is to make sure you provide times where each child feels like they are the most important person in that moment....yep, thank you God for pointing that one out so clearly.

A

More Alden drawing. I love drawings because they reveal how their minds are working, what they think about, what they love to imagine. 

And finally, warmer weather is here. Time for seed starting, soil preparation, and thinking towards spring.

Getting ready for church.

Buttoning his shirt on his own. This picture reminds me of the story We Help Mommy. It is still one of my favorites.

As you maybe can tell, we have completely busted through every footy pj this year. It's been a cold cold winter, but we are thankful for the many signs of spring. The kids already wanted to run barefoot, have watergun fights, go shirtless, and go to the pool after our weather turned warmer.