Mid-winter

We were, thankfully, able to spend a few afternoons outside last week. I convinced Anna that we should go on some "adventures" around the yard to see what kind of animal evidence we could find. With Kate in the backpack and Anna in the sled, we trekked around the yard a couple of times looking for deer and rabbit tracks and, Anna's favorite, deer poop. One afternoon Anna was up very early from her nap and so she and I got to spend a good hour together outdoors while Kate slept. In addition to adventures that afternoon, Anna and I also did a bit of sledding :)

Because of the "warm" (can we call it that?) weather, we even went for a family hike on Saturday afternoon at the Arboretum. We (meaning Anna) didn't last too long, but both girls had huge smiles and lots of fun tromping around or being carried.

When we can't get outside (which is most of the time), here's a glimpse of what happens in our home. Matt and Anna thought it would be fun to use an old mattress to bounce anything and anyone who was willing to be bounced. Anna thought it was hilarious!


For the most part, though, we're well into our winter routines ... play group at church, music class, Bible Study, food prep and clean-up, naps, etc. It's really nice that we're not as busy as we were last year during the winter so there's a bit more free time to do silly things like have "adventures" in the yard. Still, I think I'll be thankful when we're past January and February.

Kate, however, is making the most of all of this indoor time. She's mastered crawling in the past week and can pull herself up on just about everything. It's been a lot of fun for Matt and I to watch Kate go through these early crawling stages since Anna was a scooter instead of a crawler. Anna is getting a bit frustrated, already, with her sister getting into all of her stuff, though!