First Snow

Snow! Snow fell most of the day on Monday. The boys were over the top excited to watch the snow pile up. I had a newborn baby girl session in the morning and then naptime (preschool for Phillip) in the afternoon. The session went well considering the 3 youngers were playing the entire time. Evelyn enjoyed sitting on my camera or trying to look through the viewfinder at every opportunity. The kids went out for 45 minutes between school and ballet to play. They quickly got drenched with the heavy wet snow. Each kid went through two snow outfits while they played! Amelia helped the boys make snowmen before ballet. The boys finished the snowmen after we got back. I made a delish beef stew for dinner. It was so yummy this time around. Everett gave us a lesson for FHE.

Evelyn is haltingly making her way around the house on two shaky legs. She has a system down. First stand, then weave for a moment, out comes one foot, weave, then then other, weave, another step. The closer she gets to you the faster she walks. I still cannot believe it when I catch glimpses of her standing and walking around. Makes my heart hurt that time is going by so fast. I've worked on the next blog book installment this week, even a year ago the kids were so little. Now they look more and more like kids. My babies are growing up.

Tuesday after school we played at the park until sunset at 4:35. It was cold but not enough to keep us inside. The kids had a can of pringles to eat for snack on the merry-go-round. I still wonder how they did not throw up! After baths I notices Amelia's socks were soaking wet. I asked her about that and she told me about forgetting to take off her socks until the middle of her bath. She giggled hysterically as she told me about the faux pas. Silly girl.

Piano lessons are going well. Evelyn likes to help me teach! She discovered that the little step stool we have puts her at the perfect angle to play the piano. We get a kick out of her attempts to dance while Amelia practices. I finally got all my photo orders delivered and out of the house. This year was cra-zay.

For mutual this week we competed with the Pine Wood Derby. That meant I was in charge of all the girls. We made rice crispy temples and had a lovely judging contest. The girls ate their creations while we played charades, Ha Ha, and Zap! Phillip and Amelia came along to play with their friends at church.

Amelia was very excited that we got to babysit Ella overnight Friday and Saturday. Alison and Matt had other commitments early, early Saturday that were not kid friendly. Amelia was very, very excited to finally have a long playdate with her best friend. The girls fawned over Evelyn most of the time. Ella loves to babysit! I hardly saw the kids all weekend as they played and enjoyed their sleepover. Justin and I wanted to get out of Sidney for a while so we went to try out the Hot Spot in Peetz. I see it each time we go there for Visiting Teaching. It is a bar...non smoking of course since it is Colorado. The bar has a section for family dining as well. The kids enjoyed dancing on the stage area while we ordered and waited for dinner. The Hot Spot is well-known for its scrumptious BBQ. It was amazingly delicious. Since we were in Peetz I stopped by the Betony's, who were not home, and Sister Petry. I finally got to introduce myself to Marcia Petry. That was a miracle. I was able to update her address, phone numbers, and email.

Saturday morning I had 5 more mini-sessions. I am done now. Phew. This week I have one more newborn session this week. Then closed for the season. Time to put busy season down for a long, long nap. My house, husband, kids and I need a break from photos for a while. I mentored a sweet budding photographer in town while I finished the mini-sessions. She has a lot of talent! Just needs to get her camera off auto settings. Yay! The kids were getting bored after lunch so we took them to the nearby school park. The corner of the school has a sheltered area. It created the coolest mini wind cyclones ever. Justin showed the kids how to throw the leaves into the cyclones so the leaves would tumble up into the sky. At home I set to kids to making paper plate turkeys with paint, glue, construction paper, and such. Phillip made a shark-alien-turkey.