One Last Snow Day {I hope!}

As much as I'm looking forward to Spring and warmer temperatures, we've had so few days to play in the snow because of the frigid below zero days.  This past weekend, we had a heatwave in the 40s and it was perfect to head outside for one last playing in the snow day! Lily loves to play in the snow and I really just love her excitement about most everything, so I bundled the girls up and out we went.

Violet hasn't yet mastered walking in snow and gets mad that she can't, so I put her in the sled, pulled her into the middle of the yard, and she was happy to eat snow and watch Lily build her snowman!

Lily said she wanted to build Olaf, so she did.  She carefully piled up her snow, searched for rocks for his mouth and buttons --making sure to tell me that there were 3 not 2, finding just the right sticks for his arms, and choosing his eyes and the nose out of our snowman kit.  She was very proud of herself!

Snow angels were up next and then a little swinging! Lily wanted to push Violet in the swing and unfortunately gave her a big push but was too close and the swing came back and hit her in the mouth. She kept saying, "My tooth hurts!" and sure enough when I looked in her mouth, one of her upper teeth was bleeding, but not loose thankfully.  Violet really loved being in the swing!

My beautiful girls had a great time and it was perfect on the Daylight Savings Time change because they slept so good that night!  I really treasure this time with them. They're growing up so quickly and I am savoring all the moments of their lives.
Here's hoping this really was our last snow day!

The First Snowfall

I have been working on keeping busy this winter, trying to avoid the winter funk that inevitably sucks me in.  Sunshine makes me happy and definitely something I need. So this past Monday when the temperature was in the high 50s, the kids went to the park to play!   

Just two days later, the temperature was in the single digits with negative windchills. Nothing like winter showing its ugly face all at once.  

My sweet Lily loves the snow! She has been asking for months if it was going to snow for her to go outside and make snow angels and a snowman.  We may have not had enough for a snowman this week, but there was definitely enough for a few angels. :)

While Violet napped, Andrew, Lily, and I headed out for a short time.  It was wayyyy too cold to stay out for long, but the joy on my oldest daughter's face was absolutely worth it.  Andrew is such a great brother and pulled her along in the sled down the driveway a few times.

Next up was a little snow throwing! Andrew took Lily's little snow shovel and tossed some snow at her and she retaliated doing the same, though most often she hit him with the actual shovel. He's a good sport!

 Lily has spent a lot of time talking about deer and hunting with her daddy.  Last year she went "shed hunting" with him to look for antlers that deer have shed and it's one of her favorite things to do! She can't wait to go again.  When she found a branch from a tree that looked like antlers sticking out of the snow, she was super excited! "Oh Mommy! I found some antlers!" and spent some time playing with her "antlers."

Very soon afterwards, Andrew had decided it was way too cold and he was ready to go inside. I agreed with him! Brrrrrrrrrr! Lily was convinced with the promise of hot chocolate!

The weather hasn't yet warmed up, but the sun is still shining! Only 20 weeks until summer!

Snow Day x 2

For our first snow day, Andrew was off galavanting with his dad traveling from Tennessee to South Carolina and Florida, so when he came home, he was looking forward to some snow time with the Lilinator too.

It was a lot colder the week he came home. Like 6 degrees in the morning with highs in the teens and twenties, so we knew our time was limited outside with Lily.  This time as we headed out, she knew exactly what to expect and was super excited!

There were more snow angels going on...as soon as Andrew laid down to do one, Lily headed right next to him and plopped down to do it.

Andrew and Reagan had a snowball fight that started off pretty tame...

...but when they fell to the ground defeated, Lily laid down right with them too.

Lily went back to her favorite activity shaking the snow off her mittens just like she had done the week before only this time she shook just a little too much. :) Although, I love that the snow sat on top of her crazy long eyelashes!

 

 

She was still not interested in posing for pictures and I'm guessing that's just going to be par for being two.

I looked at our neighbor's house and saw these crazy icicles hanging from his house, so I took a picture to share with my Arizona folks! I loved the ones hanging from the bushes underneath.

George was the one to come in early this time and fix hot chocolate for everyone when we came inside. It was definitely needed this day because it was still in the 20s that day and it was windy on top of it.  It was a nice non-typical afterschool activity! And seriously Lily sleeps so good after playing outside in the snow that I almost wish it would snow all year. not really.  We still have to make a snowman this year though. ;)

1st Snow Day

Andrew flew off to Tennessee the day after Christmas on a 6:30a.m. flight and about 5 hours later it started snowing and pretty much did not stop. Many flights were delayed or cancelled and although it wasn't any fun getting up at 4:00a.m., I'm so grateful he had that early flight otherwise he would not have gotten out.

Last winter we only really had one snow for Lily to go out and play in. This winter so far, we've had snow since the day after Christmas and although I'm hopeful much of it will melt later this week when the weather warms up some, I'm loving Lily's excitement about playing in it, walking in it and just being outside to "play the snow, Mama."

This picture was early in the day, as we were heading out to get Lily some snow boots. In the meantime she wanted to wear her current favorite footwear...her rainboots. Her face cracks me up!

After we'd run our errands, we were ready for our first play in the snow!

She loved playing--going down her little slide, pushing snow off of everything, learning to make a snow angel with her daddy and him pulling her on the snow shovel.

 

 

 

Her favorite thing that day was simply shoving her mittened hands into a pile of snow and shaking them off. It was pure joy to watch her!

 

 

 

She was not interested in posing for pictures.  At.All.

 

 

 

 

 

It started getting dark and a lot colder, so Lily and I went inside to warm up and make some hot chocolate for George and Reagan.   We had a great time playing and simply watching Lily enjoy a simple joy. Perfect reminder of simplicity and childhood innocence.