It’s not technically a snow day, since we were already on vacation, but it was definitely a day full of snow. OK, maybe 45 minutes full of snow, 40 of which involved someone crying and/or whining. To be fair, it was really cold and the wind on the sledding hill was vicious – I didn’t want to be out there myself – but when you’re 3 it’s hard to understand that you can EITHER be warm OR play in the snow. But once we got home to our yard both the boy and the dog had a fantastic time pushing snow around.

p.s. I do not know why Caroline insisted on the Tinker Bell backpack, but she did indeed INSIST.

p.p.s. I got Evan’s coat and snow pants from Zulily and they were pretty much the deal of the century. He loves them and they kept him totally warm and dry despite being covered in snow. Not bad for $40.

p.p.p.s. Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve:

Christmas Morning:

Christmas Day:

We had an amazing holiday, full of food and family and fun. The kids were – and are – insanely spoiled, both with STUFF and attention.

I made Bacon and Hash Brown Egg Bake and Blueberry French Toast Casserole on Christmas Eve to put in the oven in the morning and both were delicious. My plans for an actual Christmas meal were thwarted by total laziness (and maybe my “holiday style” hot cocoa starting at 11 am) and we just turned the ham into sandwiches instead. They were FANTASTIC.

My sister is here to visit for a few days and the kids are already madly in love with her. She brought champagne and chocolate and volunteered to babysit on New Year’s Eve so she can stay forever if she wants. I mean, I know her plan WAS to go to Hawaii for a couple weeks and then move to Paris, but I’m offering a very nice guest room, free food and the chance to hang out with two crazy ginger toddlers as much as she wants so we’ll see. It might be an offer she can’t refuse.

I hope you and your families had a wonderful and relaxing holiday. I’ll be on my couch finishing off this bag of candy Santa “forgot” to put in our stockings and Googling “miracle 48-hour juice fast lose 30 pounds today”.

I tried to take some Christmas card pictures for a friend on Monday, but trying to wrangle an uninterested toddler and a crawling baby meant I go almost nothing worth printing. I did get this one though, that makes me laugh every single time I look at it:

These (plus like 50 more) are for Caroline’s birthday. Now I just need to figure out how to photoshop snow onto everything.

We’re having some beautiful weather in Connecticut right now, much to my surprise and happiness. Between the time change and the onset of winter-like temperatures I had resigned myself to feeling grumpy and sun-deprived until at least April. The truth is, we don’t go outside more than we absolutely have to when it’s cold. I’ll bundle up the kids for a real snowfall so we can take a few pictures for next year’s calendar but as far as playground time, long walks and adventures go, I don’t have the energy or desire to wrangle two coat-and-hat-adverse children into coats and hats more than absolutely necessary.

So getting a few days of warm, early fall temperatures is like getting a surprise vacation – and not just because we’re not burning through our zillion-dollars worth of heating oil in the tank. We spent 3 hours at the beach park on Sunday, getting dirty and wet and salt-air covered. The kids slept last night like only kids who’ve been at the shore can. Today is less sunny but just as warm, so we’re headed to the park to collect pine cones and rocks for Evan’s treasure chest. If I’m REALLY lucky I’ll talk Caroline into her fairy wings to take some birthday pictures but I’m so excited to be outside and not freezing I don’t actually care if she cooperates or not. It’s a November Miracle!

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