Winter fun

This was the first time for Daniel and Matthew to experience snow, and Sarah doesn't remember playing in the snow when she was one year old. They were so gleeful to run outside, the first time they went they had on only mittens and a hat-- no coat, snow pants, scarf, sometimes no shoes. They were so excited they didn't notice the cold. Gleefully Sarah and Matthew ran outside to make snow angels and build a snowman. They had told me for a month that these were the first things they wanted to do in the snow. The snow was so heavy that they could only make a small snowman, but they were so delighted with it. Matthew ran inside to get a carrot for the nose.

We took the children sledding for the first time. I forgot what an ordeal it is just to get dressed for playing in the snow. I felt like it would never end! There are so many layers I never even think about in Texas! It literally takes me 30 minutes to dress all three children, but it was very worth it.

The sled hill here is colossal. I've never seen a sled hill like it. It's so tall and slopes so gently at the end that the sledders would glide across the top of a frozen pond into the grassy bank on the other side. I've never seen Sarah so enthusiastic about an activity before. She absolutely loved it and was pretty daring. She loved going downhill on Uncle Andy's sled. Matthew caught a face full of snow after a big crash into a snowbank, so he invented a face protector by putting his hat on over his face, obstructing all view, but keeping out the snow. He was so proud of it! He was so delighted whenever we crashed into the bank and his face was still dry and warm. We all had a great time. I'm so thankful we had the opportunity to sled and share that joy with the children. After we came home, Nathan asked Matthew what his favorite part was. Matt replied without hesitation, "Going down!"

The ice on the pond was pretty rough on the sleds, so several sleds broke into pieces. Betsy, Sam, and Nathan all used the sled pieces to slide down and really had fun.

The weather had warmed up a bit, so the snow was melting one day. Matthew was so sad at the thought of the snow disappearing, so he took a hand shovel and filled several buckets with snow. He hid these under the BBQ grill cover so the sun couldn't shine on them, confident that these buckets would preserve the snow for another day. It was so cute!

Grandma Kingsley took all the children for a walk in the woods to see a frozen lake. They had lots of fun and the scenery was beautiful.