Every Day with Eli: February 5

When we woke up to six inches of snow this morning, I was worried that I might have to cancel our playdate with Amber and her kids.

When Chris left for work and called me halfway through his commute to tell me that the neighborhood was "rough", I grew even more worried.

When the streets hadn't been plowed at 9 am, the deal was sealed: no playdate.

Since we couldn't go have fun with friends, we made our own fun here. Lily slept until 9:30 this morning (shocking, I know. I have no idea what is going on with her and sleep.), and as soon as she woke we put on snow clothes and headed out. Normally, I would never entertain the idea of taking the baby out to play in the snow with the big kids. But I guess I was feeling frisky today. Either that, or sleep deprivation is causing me to make some questionable choices. Whatev.

Regardless, it ended up being a great idea. We had so. much. fun!

Here's a window-reflection selfie of our snow getup. I wore Lily in the Ergo on my back so that my front was free to play with the big kids. I know she looks floppy and bored in the picture, but she actually loved it.

(Don't worry, Mom. She had three shirts on, two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, her bear suit, a hat, and mittens, and she was strapped to me. She was fine.)

I didn't get pictures of the best part: sledding in our across-the-street neighbor's front yard. They have the perfect hill, and were delighted when I called to ask if we could sled on it. While we sledded, they sat at the window and watched and laughed! Caleb rocked the sledding, and as I attempted to help Daisy sled I discovered that my snow pants were slippery enough that I could sled down the hill on my bottom! I hadn't intended to let Lily sled, but she inadvertently got several trips down the hill on my back! We all thought it was pretty funny.

This boy is like a Siberian Husky. He's in his element in the snow.

Picking up a snowball.

Eventually I took Lily off my back so that she could "play" in the snow. She was completely unimpressed.

Then I put her on our little baby sled, and she was much happier!

I ended up pulling her up and down the sidewalk, and she seemed to enjoy it. Then I attached strings to Daisy's sled, and pulled both girls up and down the sidewalk. Caleb didn't understand why I couldn't pull him, too!

Daisy called this "snow mountain". I suppose it was nearly as tall as her.

Caleb found another clump of snow and carefully placed it in this branch. He always has a plan or a story going in his mind when he does silly things like this.

I just think this picture is funny. Daisy is a jumbled, tangled, snowy mess, and I love it.

I think Lily looks regal in this picture, like she's the queen waiting for her team of horses to whisk her away in her carriage. Or she's tired and cold.

Caleb insisted on shoveling the sidewalk with the big shovel, but actually ended up shoveling the front yard. Oh, well.

Later, after Lily took a nap and while Caleb and Daisy were still napping, we had another milestone for the baby book:

Lily's first time emptying the drawer of kids' dishes!

She was clearly miffed that I'd been keeping such a treasure trove of goodies away from her.

Mmm. Plastic.

We're slowly trying to move away from using plastic dishes with our kids, but seriously: emptying the drawer of dishes is kind of a birthright, isn't it? Every child should get to do this, and I certainly can't let Lily loose with a drawer full of glass cups and plates!