Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Birthday Snow!


OK, so it's not officially my birthday anymore (it was yesterday), but I do celebrate my birthday month. We awoke to a good couple of inches and it continued to snow until about 3pm. Anna Jane and I headed out after the Inauguration of Obama/Biden. We needed to watch this historical moment. After several hours of tormenting her by making her watch the snowy day from the window--we finally ventured out. We met Lisa and Tyler and Anne and JD. The kids had the most fun on Lisa's inflatable tube. This snow was dry and not suited for the old fashioned sleds with the metal runners.

We came back to the culdesac and continued playing for a bit with Isaac, across the street. Lisa whipped up some scrumptious hot chocolate and I tried to make maple syrup snow candy--it did not work and the kids ended up eating the maple syrup flavored snow! I don't think they minded at all.

I know several kids, big and small, who will sleep well tonight!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

All in our big, back yard!


This post is a bit dated, but I wanted to share our new get away. Anna Jane received this swingset for her birthday in November. It includes a tire swing, two belt swings (each is rated to hold 300 lbs--so it is adult friendly!), a slide, climbing wall, picnic table, elevated playhouse, adult swing (like a porch swing) and monkey bars. It's hard to see some of the items in the picture due to the trees and the angle, but I still thought this was a great shot. In the foreground is the sandbox that Otis built the first summer we lived here. You can also see the birdfeeder that traveled with us from our old house (with a post painted a lovely Martha Stewart color!) We've managed to spend some quality time on this even in the cold weather. Can't wait to serve picnic lunches to Anna Jane and friends during the warmer weather. We've enjoyed swinging together on the bench swing. What a great place to hang out!