Inside and Outside

Our section of Wisconsin experienced a small taste of the massive winter storm that made its way through the plains and Great Lakes region this past weekend.  Although we didn't receive the record snowfalls of South Dakota (where Matt's parents got close to a foot of snow!) or Green Bay (where they received almost TWO feet of snow!), we had rain, ice, and/or snow Friday through Monday.

About a month ago, Ethan and I planted broccoli and lettuce seeds in the basement, where they have been languishing for the last week now.  The poor seedlings were able to get outside for some real sunshine a couple of days last week before it turned cold, but now they are confined to the basement for the foreseeable future.

With the crazy wet weather predicted over the weekend, I took advantage of the relative warmth and dry conditions on Wednesday and tilled up half of the garden.  My hope is that when the weather finally warms up, I won't have to wait an addition week or so for the soil to dry out enough to till before I can get out there to plant potatoes, onions, and broccoli.

Before the weather hit, the kids (and adults) in our house took full advantage of the opportunity to be outside.  I don't think any of them came indoors until dinnertime on either Wednesday or Thursday.  Here's a video of one of their modified driveway races from that afternoon.

On the worst of the weather days lately, the kids have still found plenty to do inside.  Everyone likes to take a picture or two of their favorite creations before taking apart and cleaning up a set of toys.  If this is all the motivation they need to willingly clean up, I'm okay with it :)

Here's a few of Anna's train set-ups she created on Friday and Saturday.

We picked up a Lokko Shape Set at our awesome local toy resale store recently and the kids (and adults) have loved playing with them.  Any kind of building set that offers an outlet for creative minds is usually a hit in our family.  We especially like the ones that provide endless opportunities for building, but don't require as much fine motor skills as are typical of a 10 year old.

Anna just usually likes to build for the sake of building.

Kate's creations often have a specific purpose in her imaginative story telling.

On Sunday, the weather cooperated enough to send the kids outdoors to play for awhile.  I LOVE the fact that Ethan can get himself completely ready to play outside in the snow now!

Anna's getting there, but she still needs a little help with the whole process.  However, she can (and is willing to) play outside in the snow independently finally!

Now, please, let the snow melt and spring finally arrive!  In the meantime, I'll continue to appreciate how I re-framed the last several days ... an opportunity to do some of the "spring cleaning" that hasn't been done here in years :)