snow play

What great snow we had this year!  

Three different kinds.  The first was a powdery dust great for sledding, the second was perfect for snowballs and men, and the third was icy and great for tracking wild animals using their foot prints.  

It turns out that while we all had snow pants, none of us had snow boots.

Plastic bags solved that problem.

But we also don't live near any hills.  I take that back, there's an awesome that looks like it's in walking distance, so I tried it with Diego one day.  The brush got so dense with pricker bushes and tiny trees, we finally had to give up and turn around.  Well, not until Diego's shoe fell off and he walked around in his sock feet on the snow.

Joaquin found a way to get around the no-hill problem.

Carmen with her feet bundled up.  She didn't like that too much, so she didn't stay out in the snow for very long.

Isabela was trying to prove how warm the snow really is.  Then Joaquin pegged her with a snow ball. There really was no escape.

Diego thought he'd try it out...

he hated it.

There turned out to be a way more fun sledding spot...

...straight into the street.  (The girls were the blockers to make sure he didn't go flying into traffic.)  I decided to give it a try, but quickly had to put an end to that fun after I went careening into Joaquin and carried him with me headfirst towards the street.  The kids are still mad I made them stop.

We also put out some black-oil sunflower seeds for the birds, and they were oh, so happy!  

We saw all kinds and colors of birds.

Looks like they all have a favorite branch.  And it's the same one.

I loved how the gum balls pop out in this picture.  Do you see the bird?

With the second snow, Joaquin was the only one that ventured out to play in it.  He built a precious snowman.

I thought he was all done so I stepped out to snap a few pictures.

Nope, he wanted to add a hat.

And then a scarf.  Doesn't he look like he should just come to life?

His carrot nose and grape features are currently decomposing on the lawn now.

Here comes spring!