Cookie decorating

 I promised the kids we make gingerbread cookies and decorate them.  We ended up making shortbread cookies because Daddy likes them better-and saves some for him with no decorations.  Also, the kids had to wait a week, 'til we were in holiday mode and I was up to helping in such a colossal effort.

 We used honey and icing as our "glue".  The honey had been crystallizing in the jar, so after I loosened it up. I thought it would harden again on the cookie.  I was wrong.

 We had lots of decoration material and cookie shapes too choose from, so it was lots of fun designing them, I think.  I only supervised this year, and made sure they didn't gobble up the decorations instead of using them!

Snow!!

 Is this cold white stuff what everyone is so excited abou?  This is called snow?  What is it for?  Why does Mommy make me wear mittens so I can't touch it?

 Yay, we can finally shovel the driveway! 

Melanie found the front of the driveway wasn't big enough, so she started on the far side, where we never drive, but the kids play-and it got shoveled.  And they did not forget the deck!

"Pile up all the snow over on that side guys!"  The kids, under Nathan's direction used his wagon (which he took the wheels off and put the skies on himself!) to load up with all the excess snow from the driveway and deck and heaped it up on the side of the driveway.  We've had a bigger snowfall since, which took them even longer to clear.  But we have the biggest and best snow pile on the block!!

Daniel had trouble picking up the shovel with mittens.  He refused to try pick up a smaller more manageable shovel.  Eventually he got it though!

Jennifer had trouble driving her car in the snow.  She ended up tipping it over and losing her cool.  But all things considering, she still is our youngest child to enjoy the outdoors.  She puts up with mittens and all the other paraphernalia relatively well, as long as she gets to be outside for a while.

Indoor winter activities

 Painting with water and a brush-mess free!  Finally Mommy found a painting activity for Jenifer-and she loves it!  (Too bad the big kids used most of them, so I only have two pages left) 

 Matthew got to have a turn with Daniel's finger paints.  It was just as fun as it looked!

 Daniel likes his paints-though I dare not let him do it by himself, since what he really wants to do is take the lids on and off-which, of course is too hard for him to do w/o spilling.

 Ironing beads are not easy for a three year old either, but it's okay as long as Mommy helps finish it off.  Which means, she might end up doing most of it!

 Melanie decided to share a necklace set she got for her birthday with her brothers.  They spent half a day putting jewelry together.  The best part was that all the boys but Daniel made theirs for Melanie!

 How do these knots get tied again?  Let's see...

 To keep Jennifer happy while making pizza-she was in too wiggly a mood to be safe sitting on the counter, I let her try her hand at baking.

 She didn't end up making anything we could eat...but she was happy for a while.

Notice how "tight lipped" she is when she plays something new?  She will not peep, and holds her mouth in such a concentrating way.  But she will make up for lost noise blabbering and screeching later with her siblings, as the center of noisy wild attention.

Winter with no snow

 Since we have no snow, the kids have made their own snowflakes.  They did an amazing job of decorating their rooms.  I suggested paper chains, and they went all out-it kept them happily busy for two days!

 Jennifer didn't get to make anything.  But she did get to cuddle.

 Daniel and Jennifer like to watch me while I make dinner.  As long as they don't wiggle too much (I'm afraid they'll fall one day!) or grab my knives, they are allowed to sit up, and even help a little!

Daddy is hardly outside, so no snow doesn't affect him too much from behind the computer-except that it can change the lighting in the daytime. ;)

And Melanie wanted me to take a picture of her big snowflake, next to her usual sized one, so that everyone can see just how big it is!

Eating apples

 Eating apples is what you'll likely find us doing as soon as morning school is out, or halfway through, if we're running late.  We add a few nuts, and sometimes a clementine (or if we're lucky a mandarin!).

 

I think apples and winter go very well together. 
So would snow...which we're still waiting for. 
The kids have stopped asking when it is going to snow-so I guess they have given up hoping!

Three n' Thriving!

If you were to ask Daniel how old he is, he'll probably still say he's two.  And he'll smile at you in such a fashion as to say "You're just joking" if you insist that he is three now!

"There's candy inside Mommy!"

Daniel loves to share, so he wasn't the only one to enjoy the sugary insides of this gift!  

 You can tell when a gift is an instant success, there's no pretenses at age 3!

Cupcakes were requested this year, and Daniel really wanted the pink one with the hippo plastic ring on it.  After all, if you're the birthday boy, you can have what you want!

Daniel is such a lot of fun.  His imagination is fantastic, and when he pretends he is someone else (for example, Emily) he will not answer to the name Daniel!  He can be so sweet and gentle with Jennifer, and loves to tell me about the baby growing in my belly.  He must remember the big change when Jennifer came, since he, of all the kids, talks about it the most!  When asked to do something Daniel will usually "I don't want to."  And if you repeat, in a "do this" fashion he'll say again "But I DON'T want to."  After which, he will likely say "No!" and require a fair bit of effort to induce cooperation.

PJs and sibling time

 

Jennifer got very cute pjs delivered.  They were just what she lacked-a set of warm winter pjs, just in time for the cold.  And wouldn't you know it, she looks adorable in white and red!

Book reading is funner in company.

 Nathan refuses to enjoy reading books (but often forgets and is reading/looking at books for a while) and here he is helping Jennifer enjoy her book by being a commentator-speed is of essence if Jennifer is turning pages!  Daniel just likes the company, and the upside down literature.

Nathan and Melanie tried very hard to keep Daniel interested in this puzzle while Matthew quickly added some finishing touched to his homemade birthday gift for Daniel.

Barefoot in October

 Assuming the date stamp on these pics is accurate, these were take on the 22nd of October.  Both Daniel, Melanie and myself are barefoot!

Matthew likes to be sure that I am also photographing his handsome self!  If you were as good looking as him, you would too!

This fall, I only helped cleaning up the last big batch of our leaves, and all the other bags and bags, the kids did themselves!  The ones I did do, about 12, they helped with too.  I'm sure they did at least 12 too, just over a longer span of time, cause the first leaves take their time coming down!  A few of our yard waste bags suffered mild damage due to being worn as scary monster suits, and one old rake gave up the ghost--but I guess we can't have it all. ;)

Science class for the month

 We don't normally bother with formal science lessons, but when this bird died on our doorstep we took it in for further examination.

 It was weighed and measured and examined, and we have come to the conclusion that it is/was an immature Cooper's hawk.

Cause of death was not obvious, and we refrained from performing a biopsy for further clues.  Maybe if we find another dead hawk when the kids are in highschool...

spoiled

Even Matthew helps to keep our most demanding family member (besides Daddy :p) content.  He had to "read" really fast to keep the pages turning for Jennifer.  Good thing he knew it well!

After a year or refusal, Jennifer finally permitted our family friend to hold her.  Even for half an hour!

Happy faces

 of the cutest kids I know!

They are all growing up so fast!