Our winter without a winter?

This winter has been very abnormal here. December was cool and rainy, but with very little snow. January so far has been sunny and warm, or at least warm for a Wisconsin January. We'll take what we can get and make the most of our days, I guess.

Last Friday afternoon we went to a park and played for at least an hour with some friends. No one was too terribly cold by the end even! Saturday we were going to go for a family hike in the afternoon, but changed our minds and ended up going swimming at the high school indoor pool. I forget how much Kate and Anna love being in the water, especially when we haven't been swimming in awhile.

Sunday we went on our family hike. Poor Kate wasn't too excited about the ordeal, I think she was just too tired, but Anna loved every minute of it.


We saw a marsh, grasslands, forest, a drumlin (a big, glacial hill), Indian mounds, beavers, footprints, and frozen cattails, among other things.


Today and tomorrow are supposed to be bright, sunny days again so we'll see where we end up after preschool. This morning the girls had their faces plastered to the back windows since our big elms in the backyard are finally getting taken down.

It's a bitter sweet experience to see the trees go. Missing their shade in the summer months will be worst, but we'll also miss their sounds when the breeze blows, all of the green they give to our yard, and the birds they attract. However, they were both very old and were losing many larger limbs with every storm the past few summers. Plus, their structural integrity was in question, especially after the lightning last summer. So we'll probably sleep easier in windy weather knowing that they aren't hanging near the house.

As I write, the background noise includes chainsaws and big "thumps" of large limbs hitting the ground.

Anyway, I wanted to share two silly stories that have happened recently. First, the girls have fun sometimes going back and forth with mock bickering. Here's a sample of their conversation yesterday in the car:

Kate: Anna, here's your duck. (a stuffed animal that was brought along)
Anna: I don't want my duck!
Kate: Then I'll throw it at you.
Anna: Then I'll take it and throw it out the window.
Kate: Then I'll jump out of the car and get it and give it back to you.
Anna: Then I'll put poison on it and give it back to you.
Kate: Then I'll take the poison off and throw it at you.

and on and on.

Matt and I were laughing pretty hard as it kept going.

Also, I don't know if anyone else's kids are like this or not, but for some reason our girls get more and more energy the fewer clothes they have on. In the winter we have been known to let them run around naked for awhile just before baths, but last night they started early with taking their clothes off. First the shirts came off and they ran around with just pants. Then the pants came off and they decided to turn off most of the lights in the house. They proceeded to run around with just undies and playing some kind of game where they were rats skittering around. What can we say? They're just crazy :)