Wintery

Here's what we've been doing to amuse ourselves in the chill of January...

We started the new year with the ritual destruction of the gingerbread house.

Long, dark evenings call for the invention of new forms of entertainment.

I set up a table in the corner where the Christmas tree was, and we've been sitting there a lot, looking out at the snow and doing our crafts. My kids LOVE to do any kind of project, so I keep trying to think up new ideas.

I decorated a onesie for our New Year's Day baby friend, Dahlia Franklin.

Superman made a couple of fly-bys.

This morning, four inches of new snow... just enough for a two-hour delay at school. Which, for us, means no preschool for Agatha, and just one hour of it for Henry-- enough for me to take trip to the grocery store and the wine shop and then pick him up again. This time I was mentally prepared for the lost morning of work, so I've been enjoying being home with the kids. This morning, Henry got up and was going about his business, searching for lost Bakugan cards, when all of a sudden he noticed the snowfall outside. "Emergency, emergency!" he suddenly shouted. "There's twenty-thousand-one-hundred-forty-eight inches of snow outside! Snow pants! Snow pants!" He choked down his oatmeal and got outside as fast as he could.

Agatha has a cold, so the snow day is good timing for her, too. She just wants to be near me when she's not feeling well, but even when she's healthy she's a love bug. Some of her most frequently uttered phrases: "Hold-a me, Mama. Mama," she'll say, calmly, holding out her arms, "I need you." Or more insistently, "Mama, I need you right-ass minute!"