Posts by Rebecca Simmons

posted on June 9, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Summer is here!

For the first summer in many years, I have not planned new ways to keep everyone busy for our MANY hours we will spend together during summer break. In the past I have recreated new play spaces, prepared Montessori inspired shelves of activities to keep toddler hands engaged, armed myself with new art supplies and timelines to keep our days rolling along smoothy.

This summer I’ve decide to just wing it. There are no Pinterest inspired projects and nothing major to report in terms of new play structures, or outdoor games or anything. It’s just simple open-the-door-and-go-outside fun happening here.

A friend posted this blog Top 1o Ways to Give Your Kid a 1970’s Summer and I love it. I’m more of an 80’s child (born in 1976) but so many of the classic things ring true of the summers I want my girls to remember. We have a rule at our house where all kids have to play outside. The trek from the patio to the fridge needs moping constantly! And there is always someone else’s kid in my yard. Love live the classic summer!

We have a bin full of “backyard swimsuits” in the basement that are available for play that results in grass stains and paint messes – with enough for sharing with lots of friends. In the pantry is a large mason jar full of popcorn for snacks and always a watermelon for sharing. The kids who frequent our house know where things are. They know the rules and most of them are now big enough to nearly fend for themselves (with a little help from older sisters around sometimes).

Here’s a few snapshots of what we’ve gotten into so far….

And if a giant slip and slide isn’t enough? A faux beach for fun and a big baby pool is still a people pleaser here.

When that water fun is done, there is the pool. All of them can actually swim this year so the real pool (where the shallowest end is 4 ft.) is actually relaxing for me this year. They all put on their own sunscreen and get ready independently. Therefore, getting out the door into the real pool is a finally a simple, fun task.

Instead of planning art activities, I discreetly put a new craft book on the art to able to be discover. My four-year-old took the bait and created a mask all by herself! Older sister helped her find some of the supplies and I only witnessed the very end of the creative process. Then I got the treat of seeing this mask girl sneak up behind me. Maybe it’s a little pay off after 9 years of intensive craft training with my oldest girl. (Yes I love arts and crafts.)

Books fill in all the gaps here for summer. I arm our home with books and limit the TV. Somedays I feel like a mean mom because I have not allowed my children to have any personal electronic devises of any kind. Then I see my oldest girl reading, literately, in every nook and corner in every second she can….and I think they are doing JUST fine this way. My computer is available to them if want to look something up or use it – but they rarely ask to do so.

We keep blocks and baskets of games and puzzles for easy access in our living room. Sometimes the littles need this down time and at my house they know where to find it. And they know I’ll probably ask them to clean it up when they are done. It’s part of the summertime fun and part of the deal when kids are around everyday, and including sleepovers.

The biggest news of summer is…Chickens are on the way! Yep backward chickens are really happening. The littles discovered the mobile chicken house recently delivered via mail, and pretended to be chickens.Building the real coop has been a long process but is so going to be amazing. The girls have asked to use it as a playhouse until we get the chickens closer to the end of summer after vacation time if over. They have been pre-orderd and will be delivered via mail. Strange – I know! But SO exciting.

The coop is getting close to being finished, after many weekends of work and two visits by my expert builder dad to who was essential in teaching us how to get our plan off the ground. But here’s a sneak peak. Any further summer projects are going to involve beautifying and planting yummy things for chickens in and around it.

Yes summer is here. And I DO love summertime.

posted on June 9, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

In the garden, with or without kids

In spring I have great ideas of what to plant in our small garden. And a plan that involves my girls helping, harvesting, learning and eventually getting them to eat more vegetables out of the experience.

I’ve slacked off this year on all of these expectations and adopted the garden as my place. Of course little feet wonder in and out and squeal at the joy of pulling beets and carrots out of the ground. But ultimately, it’s been my place to enjoy morning times watering the garden or the afternoon times outside pulling those pesky weeds. I’m always thankful for the time outside. With my hands in the dirt, pulling me way from chores and things I think have to get done when really….they can wait.

I started planting in early spring, with hearty greens and root vegetables. Since then I’ve moved in a succession method (learning from our CSA farmer) onto summer vegetables as the colder hearty things bolted as temperatures quickly warmed up.

The girls still claim a raised bed each for their own, with their favorite things planted in them. Basil for the pesto eater, tomatoes for one, snap peas for another and classic potato standbys for all – as well as carrots! The one vegetable they will all eat raw, a miraculous site for a vegetarian mom who strives everyday to create veggie loving kids (nearly an impossible goal I know).

My laid back view of getting the girls involved this year is partly due to them getting older and gardening is really the most fun for the pre-school ages. Once they discover it’s work, it’s harder to get them involved. But when it happens voluntarily, it’s fun, and the reward is so much greater. When they truly enjoy something they value the experience and the end result. Just like we do, naturally.

Gardening this year has been about the process, getting to it when we can, and me always being grateful when I do. Even if it was pulling greens out too late and feeding them to the school’s chickens because they turned too bitter before we ate them all. My little girl and I loved feeding those leftover stalks of arugula and mustard greens to the chickens while we waited for the big girls to be dismissed.

We are going from one season of vegetables to the next, one vegetable at a time. Along the way I did take a few pictures. And I do love garden pictures…

Like this one, of little hands harvesting spinach in early May. They gained a new understanding of how much spinach cooks down! That big bowl full doesn’t really make much. But it was great in our Spinach Frisbees.

These are few of the sites outside my kitchen door, greeting us home every time. Flowers are always wonderful, but it’s even better when I can eat what’s in the garden. The beets were harvested today – a lovely treat sitting on my doorstep, and seeing my older girls involved. Maybe they’ll eat those beats for dinner soon. With a side of herbs from the herb garden..

posted on April 15, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

CSA farm visits, now and then

Our vegetable CSA had a open house farm tour last weekend and we went, bringing home excitement and readiness for spring veggies to began.

I’ve written about “Farmer Megan” lots before – like here when the girls’ brownie troop visited the farm on a hot early summer day. And here after our first drop in 2012 – including tips on storage for spring greens. She’s a household name for us. She’s a friend and now I’m volunteering every Friday on the farm.

Last week we transplanted all these flats of kale, broccoli and lettuce!

The children, mine and other member’s families, always enjoy visiting the farm and seeing what’s growing. This time, the baby goat was the biggest hit.

All the children tried to get close. Those most determined, and patient, got their chance.
These roosters were left here after being pinned with hens, to make eggs that are now being incubated and waiting to hatch. There is big chicken talk at our house lately. I’ll tell you more later, after this weekend when I hopefully have some photos to share of our plan in action.
The children listen to Farmer Megan talk about how these tiny veggies get their start. Then one day this summer I’ll remind them when our veggies come to our house that they started right here. I FULLY believe kids eat healthier when they really know where their food comes from.
There are 60 chickens they get rotated around the farm living on one acre plots of land as they turn the soil by pecking it, and fertilize the soil with their waste. I can not wait untill we can watch chickens in our own back yard…. I can barely keep my own secret. The kids from our neighborhood visited the farm together, and then they’ll gather in our yard every Wednesday for our weekly CSA delivery. It starts up later this month and I’m SO ready for fresh produce that I don’t have to buy at the store. Farms just bring good, muddy, peace in the sun fun. While this girl got a piggy back ride around the farm…. I couldn’t help but think back to the days during her first visit to the farm, as a babe on my back. And how much all these kids, mostly our neighbors (and some school friends) have grow, together, and what they have learned since the first visit four years ago.

We might not live on a farm and my kids are not growing up on a farm. But they sure will KNOW about farms and how hard Farmer Megan works to grow our food. It’s becoming part of their childhood. And each season, they DO actually eat more vegetables.

posted on April 14, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Spring gardening and backyard shananagans

It’s been so long since I’ve blogged, I ran into someone this weekend who thought something was wrong with her Facebook feed because she wasn’t getting my blog updates anymore. I’m so sorry about that! Thank you to those faithful readers for sticking with me while I go through bouts of needing to write and bouts of needing to be silent. And bouts of wondering how much is too much to share here. It’s SUCH a tricky balance. All the while our children are watching….while we try to set examples of doing life with limited screen time.

Natural play is easy to do this time of the year. Outside is the only place we want to be right now – when I’m not sneezing from the 24 dogwood trees blooming at our house! We’ve been doing so much outdoor creating, digging, planting, and finding joy in our own backyard that it makes me want to share here, along with some stories I want to document and remember for my own mothering files. So I’m now in one of the bouts where blogging feels natural, and inspiration comes like a spring rain shower.

So that just might be how it works here from now on – a blog here or there and in spurts of when it feels right to spend time on the computer and when it feels right to abandon technology and just live in real time with my family. Being 100 percent, absolutely present for them and trying to keep everything else running in tiptop shape around here. Which sometimes just means putting all my energy into slowing down and keeping our little world on a peaceful axis.

Here’s a few snapshots of how we’ve been playing outside this spring, while we abandon some of life’s indoor to-do piles until fall.

These are my greens I planted last month. They are much bigger now. I’ll be cutting into them to make a salad very soon.

Planting greens inspired a trip to our local herb farm where fairy garden supplies were 50 percent off. Which inspired this… which keeps inspiring more and more play. Mostly by my oldest girl, as all the old fairy play items get dug out of the basement to be seen in a different the light – literally. The “bonfire” is a candle dug into the ground. So much of this stuff is a pleasant reminder that keeping old stuff sometimes pays off.

This is my new herb garden. Lots of herbs didn’t make it back from our unusually cold winter this year and new landscaping displaced some of my old herbs from our backdoor garden. So across from the fairy garden, is my herb garden.

I’m volunteering at our CSA farm now and a stop by the local farmer’s co-op led to us planting beets, carrots, onions and potatoes. Gardening requires tiaras here. And gardening usually means digging for more worms than gardening, while wearing the tiara. And like always, this attracts neighbors in tutus who want to squish their toes in the dirt too. One of my best gardening tricks for seed planting is using a knife sharpener to poke holes in the ground. I joke – this is what a vegetarian does with a set of steak knives that was a wedding present almost FIFTEEN years ago. But it’s SO true. Those knives cut a lot of vegetable and no steaks. And the sharpener has planted a lot of vegetable seeds.

When my oldest girl decided she’s not a dirt gal and gardening is not her thing, I found just the perfect job for her mapping out the vegetable beds and recording what we are planting where. She took it very seriously! Every seed is documented on her hand drawn graph paper as we wait for those 15 rows of carrots to grow.

We started a few more planting jobs this past weekend. And it just so happened my youngest was wearing the same favorite outfit. I love it too! You might notice her hair is much shorter here. But more on that later…. 🙁 A bittersweet story.

These hanging planters were something the girls painted a few years back and I sell love them SO much. They make me smile.

We converted our play dome to a big play tent this weekend. The cat likes it best. Oh that cat – Fruit Punch!

This will be part of a next sewing project. But you’ll have to wait for that too. For now it makes a lovely photo.

posted on March 20, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Spring break is cold, but we have a new BIG sandbox

We are spring breaking this week, so to speak. Spring break comes so early for us that my girls can’t even bare to wear shorts yet. They try, they freeze and I say I told you so.

Then they beg for a campfire. Partly because it means eating smores. Partly because it’s a favorite thing to do at my parents house where we are staying this week. It’s too cold for the beach still, so Atlanta (or the suburbs) we went.

Before I left with the girls (leaving husband and dog behind – sorry guys) we kicked off the spring break week with impromptu fun in our backyard, with 10 kids, and one big “wing it” dinner alongside our new sandbox. It’s 10×10 feet and holds 40 bags of play sand. I had our landscapers build it earlier this month while they were working on a few other projects we put off last year, which were originally designed to coincide with our home renovations.

The girls quickly made the sandbox into “a beach” with blankets and umbrellas. And then their friends joined in, naturally. The kids on bikes and scooters just kept showing up – as you can see in the photo below that includes our new garage parking pad.

To show you how we roll in real life – this was the scene of the dinner that two families threw together for 10 kids and five adults. Just as I was thinking about making dinner that evening, my neighbors swooped in with arms of food took over my kitchen/patio. Suddenly we had a fish fry happening, with a big salad and scallops, corn on the cob, wedges of cheese, cantaloupe, raw carrot sticks and a bucket of olives (literally). When we ran out of food someone threw hotdogs on the grill. And that’s just the way we like it. Crazy chaos, and a home full of life inside and out.

The three boys went to another area in the yard to eat, in boy peace. However tables full of girls is usually the scene here.

My observer child is the one with the camera above. It suits her personality and learning style perfectly. I like her eye for detail and how she captures kid life. She took the following two photos.

The sandbox happily kept 10 kids busy while the adults enjoyed time on the patio. The zip line in our backyard and bounce house going helped too. But I LOVE a good classic sandbox, lots of kids, girls, boys, young and old – mixing it up. It’s attracting the neighbors over like I would imagine a backyard pool would do. A sandbox – so classic, so simple and so fun!

One more picture my middle girl is proud of..

We are looking around the corner to spring. Because March 22 is really around the corner! I’m most excited to get some greens in the ground in our newly created four raised vegetable beds that were part of the landscaping project.

I didn’t grab a picture of the new garden beds yet but I will soon, as we plan what to plant and share more about our plans. Basically it’s taking the space of what was our little back door garden, and expanding on the concept.

The vegetable beds are made from the same stone as the sandbox and sit in my side yard right next to out sidewalk. Which makes it feel like urban gardening. The garden placement on our property was solely determined by it being the only place we get enough sun to have a garden.

My little urban garden reminds me of living on 10^th Street in Midtown Atlanta where I had tomatoes growing in our front yard and the homeless people ate them, sitting on the retaining wall bordering the sidewalk where my black ally cat perused the perimeter. Neither the cat nor me cared. I figured they needed those tomatoes more than I did and she got a little attention from the deal.

We still have the cat. And yesterday I drove by that old house during a spring break trip to the city, and my old stomping grounds. It looked very different but seeing my old Midtown friend was just the same. We laughed, talked, and lunched, and shared the same sandwich we did while pregnant together 10 years ago. Which seems like forever ago, when I could never have imagined being surrounded by SO many kids all the time.

Now my girls are getting older and they will each have their own vegetable bed to grow, and cook the food they harvest. All of this will produce more chaos and parties to come. I’m sure of it. Just the way I like it.

And while they are getting older, we still have the matching sand box to keep the little kid days going. And a BIG baby pool in the backyard to come, as soon spring gets here for real.

posted on March 10, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Weekends and a few words on change

All the days come and go. It’s guaranteed to happen. Monday comes, it’s back to school and back to tackling things that need to be done. Because it’s a another day and that’s what we do.

Thankfully we have spring to look forward too, and the time of the year when moms can just say, “Go play outside.” And things can be that simple. Kids play, bike, stroll and are creative in ways only kids can dream up. They are free. They are together with impromptu gatherings with neighborhood friends of all ages. I love to see children from age 3 to middle school mixing it up all together, digging holes in the dirt for fun. I can not make this stuff up!

No one wanted school to come today. I didn’t want the dread of making lunches, or school pick up lines. And so it starts…. we are looking forward to summer, a blissful time of no schedules and leisurely trips to the beach.We all love a good classic summer here.

But for now we are gearing up for spring. Sprucing up and cleaning out strawberry patches, vegetable beds and having new stone put in so we can enjoy more outdoor dining without the mud.

This weekend I didn’t take any pictures. We were too busy juggling the work, the kids, the bikes, and playing tag with other parents taking constant head counts to make sure they were all accounted for or seen in the recent past. So I’m posting a few pictures from last weekend, with same classic old school fun of how my girls spend the weekends.

Sometimes I have to say, as the parent I feel a bit unaccomplished, spending the day counting kids and getting bandages, doling out snacks and refereeing all the toys on wheels. And yelling, “CAR!” We are not in the country. This is urban outdoor play with a twist of Mayberry. But I’m thankful my girls are growing up like this. Where weekends mean running over to a friend’s house to see who is playing in the backyard and end with grown ups sharing drinks on a porch.

Eventually things get done. Monday always comes, the laundry always gets backed up, the floors are left muddy, the homemade popsicle supply is gone from the freezer, there are ballet bags to pack, after school snacks, black beans to soak before dinner, piano to practice and a peaceful bed time to plan for.

And then it will be Tuesday. Then summer will pass. And one day my girls will be grown and I’ll be at home in a quiet house, with a stocked fridge, clean floors and no need to keep a to do list because everything gets accomplished.

It’s a tug and pull these days as we appreciate the now times, being pulled into the future with kids who roam further and now take the dog for a walk while I make dinner. I still long for the days where we sit on a blanket and play with a baby in the sun, all in one spot with no need for head counts. I don’t want to think about the quiet times in my house and a fridge that stays full. But my mind goes there, as they get bigger, go further and get faster.

At the same time I try to enjoy these weekends…. where we are at right now. With growing kids, savoring the days and appreciating the classic weekends in Mayberry.

Under her “peace tree” with her cat Fruit Punch.

Her pinecone collection, aka “shopping for pinecones.” I love her young spirt and I hope it never leaves her!

Riding home from the park barefoot. Because she accidentally peed on her shoes being one with nature (there is no bathroom at the park). She refused to wear them home and I refused to carry her and push her bike.

Experimenting with no training wheels. Getting SO big.

The girl who hides behind a book, and a window.

The watch dog.

Where we started the Saturday morning, taking the little girl and a friend to a local radio show to see kid music. I fought back tears half the time I stood there, at the thought of not having anymore littles to take to a kids radio show.

I love my growing kids, but moving past the baby days and accepting these changes is hard too.

posted on February 27, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Displaying kid art in the kitchen without the clutter

Back in the day we had 1950’s metal cabinets and they were covered in art work – all the time. When I got a new kitchen I welcomed a clean, clutter free space that I designed and claimed it as mine. I know the kitchen belongs to everyone. But I’m the one working in the kitchen for what feels like my whole life sometime, feeding all these people healthy meals. And I like it neat. It makes me think more clearly and feel more peaceful. When everyone dumps their things on the counter, it tips my rocker.

However I missed all the girls’ art work around me to go with the constant flurry of life these little loves bring into our home. Slowly I started taping things back to the walls around me, in small orderly doses. The same plaster walls I watched contractors painstakingly sand, scrape, paint and make so beautiful I never wanted to cover them again. Over Christmas I hung up a temporary chain with hooks to display Christmas cards and well – it stuck. It’s staying. And now it has become my place to hang art installations by my children.

Today I cleared out the last of winter, the paper snowflakes, the valentine art and put up new art, grouping their styles of work together. Which is possible because our kitchen art mostly comes from school art class where projects are similar in scope for all my girls. The basement art is a totally different scene.

These ideas and this post is SO simple it’s almost silly, but for now – this kid art in the my kitchen is making me smile. Because it doesn’t require framing, or a great expense or having a fridge covered in what soon feels like clutter to me. It’s just clipped and taped (with double sided tape on oil-based paint).

So I guess what I’m saying is, today, do something small that makes you happy. It worked for me!

posted on February 17, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Passing the time of no school days

There was a burst of warm weather here today and the girls made every point to spend time outside. It was as a good thing, because there was no school today and tomorrow is a teacher work day. Totaling the time spent having snow days and traveling and Presidents day, my kids will have had four straight weeks where no one went to school for a full five days. Needless to say, I’m ready for a routine again.

But instead, today there was leisurely waffles and hot chocolate for breakfast followed by rollerskating, scooters, bikes, pogo sticks and even ME on rollerblades – reliving a bit of my youth. It was a pleasant discovery when every girl had a pair of skates that fit- a combo of hand-me-down roller skates and inline skates that have been down the gauntlet of fun here. Sitting nearby in the garage from a recent basement clean out were my rollerblades I bought shortly after we got married, around year 2000! So when I say I was reliving my youth, I really mean it!

I used to zoom through Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta on those things, with my dog. And I even commuted to work via rollerblades during the year I served as an Americorps volunteer. It wasn’t that exciting today. But the girls did convince me to go around the block a few times as I chased behind them on bikes. Or pushed!

Those recent skiing days came in handy while the rollerblades felt like ski boots as I traversed up hill pushing my four-year-old on her bike. Sorry there was no one around to take a photo. Maybe next time!

The hours rolled on and no one wanted to go inside to get ready for dance class, which was still being held despite the holiday. And given our hit or miss attendance the last four weeks, we needed to show up.

Tomorrow we still have those pesky dentist appointments I scheduled six months ago not realizing there was no school. Good thing I was thinking ahead to book the three appointments during after school hours.

It’s raining tonight. And the pitter patter of it on the house sounds strange after we have gotten more used to the silence of snow. But it says spring is coming. Even though I’m sure we’ll be tricked and could still get more snow. Winter does that and I can remember it snowing on Easter here. The catalogues of spring clothes are arriving, and I find my mind looking forward to the beach this summer.

As for tomorrow, there will be more hot chocolate by the fire, new puzzles for the morning (a surprise that will hopefully keep the TV turned off) the dentist, and the chore of getting four weeks of laundry put away that will have the girls begging to go back to school.

If I can only find the lunch boxes…because it seems like’s it been forever!

posted on February 13, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Homemade Valentine’s Day

I’m a sucker for Valentine’s Day. I really am. I don’t love all the comercializaion of it. But it’s a fun a way to break up the doldrums of February – a hard, cold month with not much excitement going for it otherwise. Unless you count snow of course.

Once you have children, Valentine’s Day if for the kids. I never expect anything romantic about it and I surely don’t want to set those expectations for my daughters. It’s just a fun excuse to decorate with doily hearts, make banners, treats and get a little sewing in.

Speaking of sewing….this is what my girls will be wearing to school tomorrow. The first two skirts were made from a bundle of fat quarter fabrics, cut equally and sewing together with an elastic waist. The fringe decoration was extra fabric I had, cut in a one inch strip and basted through the middle to form a ruffle affect – then sewn to the skirt. To make them more Valentine’s like, I did a matching appliqué heart on old shirts we had at home.

My oldest daughter has been taking a sewing class from a local textile artist on Saturdays, to feed her desire for fashion designing. She made the below skirt in class, designed from her own sketches. I did the quick appliqué shirt to match.

And yes – while most of the area is out of school still due to snow – my kids will go to school tomorrow. THANK GOD! We have had a lot of snow this year and the wussy, cancel school for a little bit of slush or the threat of a snow flake is well…..I really shouldn’t go there. I’m just thankful my girls go to school where a little snow never scares anyone away. So off the school they will go, where Valentine’s Day is the best day of the year.

Valentine’s Day at school is at the annual bake sale and the children are over joyed by the excitement of getting to have sweets at school (which otherwise never happens).

Also at the bake sale are homemade gift items. My Eucalyptus Bath Salts are such a huge hit here (literally one of my most popular posts) it gave me the idea to make lavender bath salts (by just switching out the essential oils). Doesn’t Lavender Bath salts for Valentine’s Day sound lovely?

Here’s the full display I took to the sale.

The big box store affect on Valentine’s Day can be nauseating, but with a little creativity, a home made Valentine’s Day is really fun. I had wanted to do a post on all my favorite nature inspired and homemade Valentine pins on Pinterest, but with all the snow and travels we’ve had lately it just didn’t happen. However, if you looking to do a little perusing for ideas for next year – and cute banners (oh my!) here’s my Valentine’s Day Pinterest board. So check it out! Even if you don’t acually make anything!

And have a lovely Valentine’s Day.

posted on February 13, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Winter Adventures

It seems the snow just keeps coming here, and has been dictating our days for weeks. We like that – we really do! And that’s where I’ve been, playing in the snow with my family. And by that I mean skiing in Colorado with my brother, sister-in-law and niece. But before we left we had three snow days at home. Then we got snowed in there and had an extended stay totalling nine nights. Then we brought the snow home with us – literally the same storm that snowed on Colorado made it here yesterday – dumping six inches of snow on us at home.

So no mater where we’ve been we’ve had days full of winter adventures – big and small. Skiing with my girls and brother’s family was a big and amazing adventure. I was so proud of my girls, loving to ski and not making a single complaint about being cold or unconformable in bulky snow boots and gear that is somewhat foreign to them. Even my four year-old loved it and begged to take her skis home with us on the last day when she refused to take them off and stop skiing when the mountain was closing and the moon was rising.

Yesterday was my birthday and as the snow fell, it was peacefully perfect, in a small wonderful way. I took two night walks, had cake with my family, drinks with friends and ended the day at midnight alone in the park with my dog and snow falling everywhere.

There are so many ideas in my head everyday I would love to write and do and share here. But in the end, moments with my family and time off the computer seem to trump what we do. These days, creating time for adventures, making memories, spending time together, enjoying the squeals of children sledding, and just taking in a peaceful snowy walk are the important things.

When I see my girls follow my lead and find the joy in those things too, it makes my heart smile.

Right now they are on the third round of drying, thawing it and heading back out for play. As it melts I am watching out the window, then I must feed them, and help dry, and get ready to do it all over again. Even after being in three feet of Colorado snow, they are still up for more winter adventures big and small.

Here’s a few shots from our big Colorado adventure, and skiing at Snowmass. Thank you SO much to my brother, sister-in-law and niece who host us, borrow cars for our big family, help cart our 10 skis and boots around, find lift ticket deals for us, teach us how to build igloos and SO much more. Without the local hook up and family hospitality this trip (which we have done before) would never be possible.

The making of the BIG Igloo…. It was so big that we all fit inside it! It was built by using coolers to make blocks of snow, and stacking them up. It took about three hours to make.

My midnight snowy birthday walk, filled with peace and love in more ways than I can say for more reasons than I want to explain (something to do with this).

And then I woke up to these guys being so thrilled about more snow…again! Including more days filled with outside play, chili and hot chocolate. Who could get too much of that?