Another snow day

We got quite a bit of snow this week, and while Maria and Daddy went out to sled and play in the snow, Anna found other ways to have fun.  If you remember from my other snow post, Anna isn't too fond of playing in the snow, maybe she takes after her mom?  So, I did something that I had done with Maria a while back(when she was less than a yearold in fact!), and brought the snow into her.  She had a blast eating and playing with her dishes in the cold stuff.

That evening the girls and I made ice cream smoothie/shakes...can you tell that one of the fruit we used was blueberries?  Yummy!  Never too cold for ice cream.

the wonder of each day

Mom and the girls, story time.  I read a condensed version of The Secret Garden to Maria over several days.  Anna was listening.  Later we watched the movie, it's always been one of my favorites.

 The girls received The Magic Tree House (books 1-8) on audio and Maria has been listening to it quite a bit lately.  In one of the books the kids travel to the moon.  So on this particular day the girls got ready to head to the moon, putting on all their snow gear.

 Can you tell Anna likes to roll play about eating, she sure has enough practice in real life.

We have plenty to praise God for; the wonders of each new day.

working on birthdays

Well, I know we just had Christmas, but the girls will each have birthdays before we know it.  I think in the future we may do very minimal gifts at Christmas, maybe a game and some books.  We really want to focus on the gift of Christ and not the gifts anyway.  Since they have spring birthdays, April and May, it seems like they just got gifts, and what could they really NEED already?  Anyway, I'll have to revisit this again in the fall and evaluate as a family what we want our holidays to look like.  So, I decided to work on part of the girls' gift list, which will be mainly handmade items.  I had seen this monkey pattern a while back and decided that I have made several softies for Maria, but Anna doesn't have any yet.  So here is gift #1.

This pattern was SO easy(and free!), it literally only took me a couple of days from cutting out fabric to finish.  I somehow missed the pattern piece for her shoes, and it was from fabric of my mom's so I'll have to get that when I am there again, and the hat needs a bit of trim, but not sure if the hat will be left off for now anyway, since most accessories are just lost around here.  I like the lighter fabric that I used, but the original is cute too.  There are a ton of others people have made and posted here.

Christmas from a child's view

Maria wanted to take some pictures of the family gathering, so here is what things looked like from her perspective.

 a surprised sister

a speaking Grandma...she caught her mid-sentence

 a happy mom

 a serious Joshua

 a silly grandpa

a sulking Zach...he has just gotten reprimanded.

 a joyful daddy

a contented aunt and uncle

Christmas Round 2

Sunday we headed to the Larry's parent's house and had yet another Christmas gathering.  We feasted on Roast Leg of Lamb, and it was GOOD!  The cousins had fun playing as best as 1 and 3 year olds know how!

 Anna "helping" grandma in the kitchen...I am sure she was just there to find something to eat!

 the cousins

 watching present opening in anticipation

 "hiding out" under the piano

 peek!

 hey partner...I forget exactly why they kept saying that, but then they would hand you a green stick and then want it back...the mind of a three year old??

Uncle Justin entertaining the troops

Christmas at home

 trying the new bottle that came with her baby

 opening the gift Maria made us at preschool

 a handtowel with her handprints on it, that form into an angel

 showing off the new pajamas they got from family

We have plenty to praise God for; a real reason to celebrate, Jesus Christ.

a snow day

We broke in the girls' Christmas sled and took a ride around our yard and down the hill at the playground across the road.  It was the perfect size for Maria, and I didn't have to help her up the hill each time.  Anna was having nothing to do with sledding, or in fact much to do with the snow at all.  

 She had a blast!

She looks like she is having fun huh?...not so much!

Here is the video to prove that she was not a fan of snow today!

The girls wanted a tent to play in, yep, fleece blankets are lightweight and work well, but also make a very electrifying atmosphere.

It was a great hiding place from the witch(Daddy).

We have plenty to praise God for; easy ways to entertain.

Merry Christmas to you!

From the Saunders Family!

The Friendly Beasts

Okay, I know Culver is small, but 8 deer in our yard at 10:30pm, seriously.  I was sitting on the couch and our the side window I kept seeing a shadow pass by the window.  I am sure that since we are on the edge of town, by the ball fields, which are the closest thing to the woods on this side of town makes the deer feel a bit safer.  But we did drive down our street the next morning and noticed deer tracks all across town toward the other set of woods.  I had fun watching them out the window, and couldn't believe when I finally counted that there were 8 of them.  They were eating what they could of the community garden corn stalks, a cauliflower plant in our garden and from the looks of their tracks some of our bushes, which shouldn't hurt them too much as they are in need of a good pruning anyway!  It was a nice treat, especially since I grew up in the country and never really saw many deer that close to our house(too far from the woods and too many dogs.)  The videos aren't great(and I wish I had a way to splice them, my software refuses to do that!)...I need a night vision camera or something, but when they went under the street light you can see them better.