Ways to spend the winter

Who said you need a snow covered hill for sledding?  We joined our neighbors for a bit of sledding  and the barren hillside didn't slow us down!

The snow has fallen plenty lately so this weekend may yield a bit more speed on the hills.

John discovered the grass was a resting place not a sledding place.

Anne manged a good jump.

To my surprise I found John, James and the neighbor boy snuggled in my bed watching a movie!  

The kids enjoying making their Valentine Cards for their classmates.  

I love our craft room.  Ample space for everyone's creativity all day long. 

I found that cleaning this room is simply an invitation for everyone to start creating again, so yes, this room generally looks something like this.  It's our happy space.

Christmas Delayed

We had some great visitors the week of Christmas and we didn't load these pictures until now. Aunt Becca, Uncle Daniel and Gordon all came for a visit. We had a lot of fun. Daniel and Becca got to go on a couple of dates while they were here and so did Jen and I. Grace and Anne's highlight of the week was playing with Uncle Daniel and Aunt Becca at the ice skating rink.

Daniel helped me finish part of their Christmas present. A coffee table to match the toy chest that I built for them. OK, so I mostly supervised and made him do most of the work. Back to work Daniel.

Robert liked climbing in the chest and so did Gordon. I hear that Gordon still likes climbing in the toy chest, after he pulls all the toys out that is.

Grandma Peggy sent us some awesome Grammy jammies again. We found out later that the boys pajamas glow in the dark.

Aunt Becca and Uncle Daniel brought some Christmas crackers. We all got to wear crowns for the day.

I think Aunt Becca's mustache was the best trinket from the crackers. But she thought her cozy blanket was the best present ever.

Our Family Circus

As a kid, the Sunday comics were fought over to see who got to read what first.  Family Circus was always a favorite.  I like following the trails of the little boy's adventures.  Last week we had three inches of snow. It happened to fall while my neighbor and Edwin were still working, which left me shoveling and shoveling and shoveling.  Before I could make to the garage in the back where the shovels are kept,  I found foot prints all over both driveways and yards.  John was blazing the trail!  Family Circus tracks were all over the place and I could only imagine what was running through his head.

John outside blazing the trails.

Robert is learning to enjoy the outdoors. 

 Little kids all wrapped up from head to toe in winter garb are so adorable!

How Robert helps me shovel when the weather is warm (yep, anything above 10 degrees F is warm these days). 

It only took me 4 hours to clear the drive way, and then I took a nap too!

Trip to Texas

We had a great trip to Texas visiting the Butlers and the Jones a Couple of weeks ago. We went to Brazos Bend State Park and saw some alligators.

Savitri and Aunt Susan came with us. Aunt Susan was too fast for the camera.

We went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

James got to meet the mighty T-rex and came away conqueror. The T-rex was scared stiff.

Anne out-fished her dad again and caught a great big red drum. Thanks for the great day Captain Dave.

Uncle Ben and Rohan came too. We all caught a few big ones.

We even had a nerf gun war at the park, after we all recovered from the stomach flu.

Halloween

 We've had some beautiful sunrises lately.

 A Ninja, Ninja Turtle, Maria, and Duchess visited our house recently.

 Some scary pumpkins made an appearance

 As well as some scary pumpkin carvers

The kids had a lot of fun raking leaves with our neighbor Stephen. He also threw them into the leaf pile and played tag.