Simon gaming

Simon talks to the video games when he plays. I surreptitiously took this video of him playing Mario Kart on the switch. It's not the funniest version of some of the stuff he says, but you get the idea.

 

Second Snow

 Our second snow came a week later. They closed the schools Friday because it was initially predicted to start snowing sometime Friday afternoon. Later the forecast changed to Friday night, but everything was already closed.  So Friday night when I went to bed, it had just started snowing and looked like this:

When we woke in the morning, we indeed had a proper snow. We spent much of the day outside. After breakfast we went sledding on the field across the road with the Weimers. We also tried sledding down the hill into The Gardens of Wellington (pretentious Facebook name for the patch of land under the power lines down between the road and the creek that they're developing a community garden in). After a while, we were cold and hungry and all adjourned for lunch. After lunch, I took a walk. Simon went out playing with the Weimers, and Alice did something in the house. Later, I invited the Weimers over for a fire, thinking we'd stand outside and freeze for an hour or so. They ended up hanging out for quite a while and we didn't go in until around 7pm. It was a really fun day!

Not much snow left the next day, but Simon and Zac managed to scrape together this snowman on our deck.

Legos

 Now that Simon spends most of his time indoors due to the cold weather, he's turned his attention more towards legos. He and Zac tried to find the peices to a previous lego set (we still have all the assembly books) and build another plane.  Simon builds pretty good things on his own too.  Not sure what's going on in the second picture.

First Snow: mostly ice

 We had our first snow of the year come through Saturday night. It was mostly little beads of ice.  By the time we got outside, around 10:45am, it was already turning to freezing rain. The kids tried to sled, but only lasted outdoors for about 10 minutes before getting too cold and bored. We stayed inside the rest of the day. I did laundry and Zac made gingerbread cookies with the kids.

This is my museum exhibit I keep in the laundry room of the stuff I find in the washer and dryer from the kids pockets.

Painting Butterflies

 I got the kids these wooden butterfly things that have a light in them at the dollar store for Christmas. The timing was finally right for them to paint them.

Lego World Map

 Last year Zac asked for the Lego World Map for his birthday, but they were already out of stock when I tried to order it. So I got it for him this year. The plan is that he will painstakingly put together this insanely large map, then hang it in his office at work as wall art.

Alice's "To-Do List"

Alice made her own job list for the day.  Please let this be the version of Alice that triumphs.

Local Woods Hike

 On Sunday afternoon, Zac took the kids out for a romp around the woods behind the greenway.  Looks like they found a fort and some fun.

Hemlock Bluffs Hike

 It was very cold on Saturday, so I hadn't planned on a hike, but Natasha texted and asked if we wanted to hike at Hemlock Bluffs, and I can't turn down a hike! Jess and Anna came too. It was short trail loop, just two miles, so of course it took us two hours. The kids mostly played well together, climbing fallen trees and digging in the "dung hills" created by the roots of fallen trees.

Zac's 43rd Birthday

 Zac turned the ripe old age of 43 on Friday. I decorated his cake with the leftover frosting from the Christmas cookies. As you can see, I completely made it up as I went!