January 9

Yay for Saturday! I was able to sneak out this morning and meet some ladies from our small group for breakfast; it was just what I needed.

When I got home, it was raining pretty hard, and the rain was just starting to turn to snow. Hooray! The kids snuggled up on a new faux fur blanket that I bought for photography purposes, cheesed in the bright, snowy light.

These two are so sweet.

This picture could have been really fun, if the kids were feeling a bit more cooperative. They weren't. 

Eli thought the whole situation was really funny.

Lily is obsessed with this little koala bear family that she got from Auntie Grace for Christmas. They are fuzzy, but not soft or squishy in any way. She doesn't care. She snuggles with them in bed, dresses and undresses them, makes up stories about them... it's adorable.

Those eye lashes.

Chris took the older two kids across the street to work on Caleb's Pinewood Derby car. While they were gone, I noticed that the thick blanket of snow was starting to melt. I panicked. My main goal of the day was to take pictures of Eli in the snow, but I had to act fast. I asked Lily to put some pants on, so we could play in the snow. She scurried off to her room, and returned a minute or so later.

She ran into the kitchen, threw her arms wide, and sang, "TA DA!!!" 

She put a skirt on over her (skirted) leotard, then tucked both skirts into a pair of pants. And boy, was she proud of herself!

She eagerly re-enacted the TA DA moment for me.

(Froggy potty in the background. Girl is rocking and rolling the potty training, and may even be ready to ditch the diaper during sleep! Next up: getting her to consistently use the big potty.)

Once Lily was dressed in her snow gear, I smooshed Eli into the bear snow suit.  It is size 6 months, but he had to wear it. Every one of my kids has worn this suit for their first snow, and I was bound and determined that Eli would, too, even if he is nearly one. I was afraid I would have to cut the feet off, but thankfully it didn't come to that.  He just couldn't really bend his legs, and the hat barely covered his head. And the snap at the neck might have been choking him a bit. But whatever. There was a tradition to uphold!

Eli's first snow! At first, he didn't know what to think. He just sat there, looking confused.

Then he tried to crawl. I don't know if it was the cold of the snow, or the fact that the suit was limiting his mobility, but he decided to stay put. He kept trying to shake the snow off his hands, which was funny.

There! Maybe the snow is okay, after all? Maybe he likes it?

Nope. Definitely not.

Once he decided he didn't like it, I pulled him out of the wet, melting snow in his non-waterproof, much-too-small bear suit. He didn't want to go inside, though, so I took off the wet suit and put on a (much-too-big!) waterproof snow suit. At least I got my picture!

I mean, really. This is pretty much priceless.

Then I got out the sleds and took Eli and Lily around to the front of the house, where we have a barely-perceptible slope to our yard. It is just right for beginner sledding, and we went up and down the hill, over and over.

He really liked it!