A Snowy Day in January

Ok…. if Mother Nature hadn’t done a complete 180, I wouldn’t feel so compelled to post today. But, since I JUST posted about how beautiful the weather was two days ago, I couldn’t not post today, when we got our first real snow of the season. It was T-shirt weather yesterday, hats-and-mittens weather today!

There was probably less than 1/4 of an inch of snow on the ground, but my son insisted on us making a snowman. I tried to tell him there wasn’t enough snow, but his Grandma whipped up a small snowman for him a week or so ago with just a dusting on the ground. So, the sly little guy wasn’t accepting “no” for an answer.

Before we got to making our snowman, we scoured the house for the items we would need, besides snow. We found three black buttons for his coat, cut a small piece of carrot for his nose, and cut up some dark chocolate for his eyes. Next I took the handle off of a Christmas gift bag to use has his scarf. I thought we were all set, but then Declan said “We need a hat!”

Hmmm… where do we find a hat for a 6-inch snowman? We walked around the room of our house that since Christmas has been a toy-frenzied mess, looking for a small hat. I asked him if any of his toys had a small hat that we could use. With my back to him and our Christmas tree (yes, it’s still up!), I heard him say “I know, Mommy! We could use this for a hat!” I turned around and he was pointing to a little red crocheted bell that hung from the tree. It was perfect! What creativity and resourcefulness! That’s my boy!

By the way, Lightning McQueen has nothing to do with the snowman. I just liked the pic. 🙂

A Gorgeous Day in January

It amazes me that it was below freezing a few days ago and today it reached 70 degrees outside! Unbelievable. We enjoyed the unseasonal weather by spending some much-needed time outside, just goofing around. (Well, Shane was working on building some shelves in the garage; I was goofing around with the kids.)

We played on the swing set and in the sandbox for a while. Then I tried to take them for a short walk along our street. However, we only got as far as the neighbor’s house two doors down. I couldn’t pull them away from the hill in front of the house. Delaney kept climbing it and Declan kept rolling down it. I overlooked the grass stains because I couldn’t get enough of the giggling. Plus, do grass stains really matter? Not really.

I was carrying my camera around while we played outside because I had visions in my head of some photos I wanted to get. Those didn’t really work out, though. But I’m pretty happy with some that I did get. If it seems like I’m favoring my little girl, it’s because she kinder to the camera these days. She’s young enough where I can get her attention or catch an innocent look on her face without too much effort. My son, on the other hand, either blatantly ignores me, makes some hideous face when I’m trying to take his picture, or just moves too fast. Trying to get the two of them to do anything specific for a photo is impossible. But if I just keep taking photos, I’ll get a handful of really good ones, and then I can just trash the rest.

We weren’t the only ones enjoying the beautiful weather.