Snow, III

I brought some snow inside for the kids to play with, as it's freezing and I didn't want to go out: 

James requested a candle for his snow: 

And here's Leah with a (butter) knife!

I put some blue food coloring and water in a spray bottle, but warned them that they couldn't eat the snow if they sprayed it, since the bottle had soap in it at one point. Leah opted to forgo the blue dye and keep sneaking tastes of the plain snow. 

It looks like I got the pictures in reverse order, somehow. 

Here's a photo & link to what I think is the first time we did "inside snow" - back in February of 2015.

 

This is from a different day. Leah's generally content to go out on the back porch without me. 

And yet a different day, watching the snow from inside: 

This is a recent picture - I remember because James was doing school on zoom while Leah got to go outside and he was very grumpy about it. (James is usually done by 10am on Wednesdays, though.) 

Here's Amelie tromping around in the snow at around the same age (and in the same coat, snowsuit, and boots!) 

Spark's spot by the frosted-over window. I took this the day before he busted the window trying to eat the mailman. When it got so super cold, I'd been thinking we should winterize it and am kicking myself because he probably wouldn't have broken it if we'd have covered it up before now - and it won't be a cheap fix. Of course, all the commotion occurred while the kids were on zoom school. (The dog is fine, the window is not.) 

Snow, II

(These are all catch-up photos - none from the recent frigid temps when we've been pretty much just cozied up inside!) 

The kids were so excited about this tiny bit of snow that they made snow angels in the dusting that stuck to the driveway. At first, James watches: 

 

Then he joins in: 

James tagged along when Sam went to go do some nature/winter photography - this is just at our neighborhood park. 

Pre-haircut snowflake catching. 

James and Leah in their snow gear: 

We've just been sledding twice so far this winter, and there was only barely enough snow to do it. I just brought the camera the first time. 

Amelie's sledding story in four parts. Part one: 

Part two: 

Part three: 

Part four: 

Coda: 

Album cover: 

Leah and I went home and let the big kids stay longer. 

He did at least have both gloves on in the other pictures. 

Arts & Crafts & Miscellaneous

We had a similar plan for our sad pandemic super bowl as we did for New Years and just had a little party with snacks amongst ourselves. I made these chocolate puff bars and Sam smoked a bunch of wings with the smoker his folks got him. Then we made popcorn later, too.

Sam's also been doing a lot of work on the basement getting it set up just right for music and tools and work-from-home.

 I read The Paper Bag Princess to Leah and then conveniently her grandparents brought the kids a plethora of Valentines Day gifts in none other than a paper bag, so she had to make her own costume. Unfortunately, I didn't get a clear photo before the bag ripped, but it was fun while it lasted.

The small glass jars I'd been saving from jam and salad dressing were overtaking the cabinet, so Sam thought we ought to make some candles. I ordered 9 pounds of wax and a spool of wicking and 24 wick clips from Michael's.

 

We did three tester candles to start after Leah had gone to bed (and then when she woke up, she was very interested in them). 

We colored them with broken crayons and used things from the pantry to scent them - the white is fresh rosemary, the pink is star anise, and the red is ground cinnamon with two whole cinnamon sticks. The containers are also all things from the recycling bin - a small tomato sauce jar and two cute square plastic containers from the above-mentioned Valentines presents. However, a friend noted that she'd put coffee beans in a homemade candle and they ended up catching fire! So I might cool it on some of the other stir-ins I'd planned, or at least do some research. These need to finish drying out and then we can test them. 

Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Joe sent Star Wars Lego kits for Christmas that James had asked to do. The kids had two days off of school and Amelie finished one - she had a good time following the directions! It's much nicer having everyone home and off school than it is having everyone home and trying to facilitate zoom school. Leah "helped" and then James started a somewhat more difficult one but didn't finish it.

Here's Amelie and Leah playing with play dough:

And Sam makes an appearance in the background (probably cooking breakfast?)

Leah also loves cardboard boxes: 

And apparently cardboard oats containers, too (similarly blurry):