Snow and More Snow

We woke up to a white world. The kids went outside to explore right away, but it was hard to walk in all the snow, so they didn't stay out long.

Olivia and a couple of her friends were up for the day to play in the snow, and we ran into them while we were out for a walk. They took Mary and David sledding a few times.

We got a lot of snow with this storm.

The kids and I made a snow fort in the front yard with multiple rooms and pathways.

I love watching the sunrise over the snow.

Saturday morning we took the kids sledding, and Hannah got to try it for the first time. She thought it was pretty fun.

David loves to sled.

We were surprised and delighted to wake up to another six or so inches of snow Tuesday.

We tromped around in the snow for our afternoon walk.

The kids like to climb the big piles of snow left by the snow plow.

Early March

We got a fresh batch of snow.

The kids had fun camping in the living room after getting a camping-themed crate in the mail.

They built a snowman chef all on their own.

 David loves to ride his bike.

Winter Camp

The kids enjoyed seeing friends, eating meals at the dining hall, getting piggyback rides, and all the excitement of winter camp. One of their favorite things was getting to try out crawling through the laser field Katie was setting up for the night game.

Valentine's Day

 We enjoyed our traditional pink heart-shaped pancakes for Valentine's Day breakfast. Joshua and I also got to go out to lunch and we had Manhattan clam chowder in bread bowls for dinner, which was Mary's idea. 

Birthdays in Visalia

After a couple of delays due to us getting sick again, we finally made it down to Dad and Mom's house and had birthday dinner for Heather and David.

Dad, Mom, and the Trevinos got him a new bike. He had to go find it in the garage and at first wasn't sure what to think because he was so excited.

We had more cake with strawberries for dessert. After testing negative for a dairy allergy with both a scratch test and blood work, we were given the green light to give David a dairy challenge. We did it at Mom and Dad's house and he didn't have any trouble, so he's outgrown his dairy allergy! He got to have real whipped cream for the first time on his birthday cake.

He and Hannah enjoyed playing with his new mag tiles from the Nickells that have magnet dinosaurs.

Mary dreamed up lots of projects in the shop and ended up with quite the collection of furniture for her calico critters.

 We returned home on Thursday in heavy rain in time to welcome Joshua back from the CCCA conference.

Five Years

David is five years old and as active as ever!

He loves to climb anything and everything including the fridge, doorjambs, rocks, trees, and people.

He likes books and hearing stories.

His favorite places to play right now are outside, especially when it's rainy or snowy, and in the pillows and cushions from the couches.

He likes being silly and making silly faces.

Legos, little dinosaurs, and his bike are some of his favorite toys.

David likes to help make food or with any project.

 David is fun and sweet and full of energy.

David's Birthday

We had lots of fun celebrating with David on his birthday. He requested pizza with strawberries for dinner and a strawberry cake with strawberries for dessert. On the cake, we decided to put a dinosaur building a snowman.

He was very excited to open his presents.

Sunny Day Hike

New Year's Eve

We returned to Dad and Mom's house for the NYE party.

Natalie and I enjoyed making our traditional muddy buddies together.

We watched the ball drop east coast time, but even that felt late to stay up. 

We stayed for a few days enjoying time with Mom and Dad while Joshua did some work in town. David got to try out his new bat and tee, and we had fun playing baseball together.

We ended up cutting our trip short when Mary, Hannah, and I got fevers on Friday which turned out to be from the flu.