Winter '09 -'10 Recap

Now that Spring is finally here I figured I better post a recap of all the happenings in our house this past winter. We had one of the coldest and snowiest winters in the last 30 years (!) and enjoyed lots of snow-play related activities and lots of 'creative' indoor activities too.

Here's some pics of us 'sledding'. Since normally we only get one or two snows each year, I've never invested in a sled. This year I scrounged around and we ended up using the top to a Rubbermaid Tote. It was pretty ghetto, but it worked and we had a blast flying down our hill!

It's pretty safe to say that the only thing Rosie loves more than water, is snow. She basically goes completely crazy and runs around from here to there like a wild banshee (more than her baseline, that is). Her favorite snow-related activities include chasing snow balls and trying to catch the sled... which is what she was doing this day. It was beyond annoying.

Here's our fledgling attempt at a snowman. The snow was so powdery it was hard to get it to stick together, much less keep pebbles in it. So, we improvised with food coloring for the eyes and mouth. While it did result in some unintentional yellow snow, it came out pretty cute (though totally freaky looking once he started to thaw!)

Baby Campbell 'tolerated' the snow. I finally started putting plastic bags around her boots so her feet wouldn't get so wet and cold.

As with all things weather-related, the snow got old after a while. I was pretty much ready for Spring by early February and I was running out of things to do with the girls inside. Here we are making a miniature igloo out of snowballs on our deck. Please excuse the 'interesting' outfits the girls are wearing. Between extra laundry because of the snow (and not really having more than one outfit of snow gear anyway), and Ellie's insistence that she be continually dressed in a princess dress, I got to where I'd just throw on whatever warm clothes I could find and head outside!
Ellie looks like she could be the Bird Lady from Mary Poppins!

Old Rose Pose was pretty worn out after all that snow-ball-chasing!

After the snow finally thawed out (which took almost a month!), we found Baby Campbell's long-lost hat. It was frozen solid, having spent the last several weeks in a tundra. Ellie thought that was pretty hilarious.

Enjoying some "Hot Chox" by the warm fire.

Ellie had a Ballet 'Recital' (not sure that's exactly what I should call it since no two dancers did the same thing at the same time... still it was cute!)

My parents and brother came to visit and installed a new shower for us (to replace the cracked tub we found upon moving in... grr). No pictures of that yet because I'm a complete loser and haven't painted the areas that need patching yet.

As luck would have it, though, our kitchen sink sprang a leak about 1 hour before they had to leave! So Derek and my dad unloaded the cabinet in record time, did a lightning-fast repair job and it was good as new!

I got to meet Roy Williams at a book signing. He was SO very nice and friendly!

I should have blogged about this back in the fall, but I guess I got busy and forgot (not sure how I could do that, since it's like the coolest news ever!) We parted ways with our beloved Fwagon (or maybe I should say it parted ways with us in the form of repair bills totaling more than its worth!)

Daniel's dad got on it for us and found us a sweet deal on a van... he even drove it up from Florida for us! (I'm not sure if he's for-hire, so maybe I shouldn't be advertising his services here :)

Anyway, owning a van is pretty much the culmination of all my life's dreams at this point, so I am over-joyed!

Check it out! Isn't it sweet?? You know you want one.

Mom-mom sent Ellie an easel for her birthday and it was a great winter-time gift! She spent hours inside creating with chalk and markers.

Ellie also drew her first real picture! She's always loved to color, but this was the first time I could identify what she drew (usually it's just random scribbles). She told me it was "Mommy, Daddy, Ellie, Campbell, and Rosie"

For Christmas I had put "The Napping House" on the girls' Amazon wish list. Well, I accidentally linked to the "BIG Book" version and that's what got ordered. Oops. I had planned on returning it, but Ellie got such a kick out of reading a massive sized book, that we decided to keep it.

Daniel was able to put the girls to bed (read: fall asleep before they do) a few times.

All in all it was a great winter (though, don't get me wrong, I'm really happy that Spring is here!) We had our fair share of illnesses, so I'm hoping our immune systems will be stronger than ever now and next year will be no sweat. Daniel is finished with the toughest part of his intern year schedule (is that the Hallelujah Chorus I hear playig somewhere???), so I can see a little flickering of light at the end of the tunnel.

This Spring we have all kinds of things planned: Vacation (yay!), visits to family and friends, busy work schedule for me, a clinic month for Dan (double-yay!), yard work, and hopefully lots of nice weather to play in!