Snow Day AGAIN...

Here we are at the end of another day filled with snow. The wind chill was in the single digits and school was canceled again. That didn't stop us from getting out to play...baking pumpkin cookies...stopping at Starbucks...and having a great play date!





What would make this day a whole lot better would be having Daddy home to help us enjoy it, and opening up the roads so that he can come home!!

Snow Day...

...popcorn...lots of blankets...Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin...



...the perfect ending to a miserable snow day...

Another trip to the Pumpkin Patch...

Wow...has it really been 2 weeks since I have posted something new...Justin is reminding me that it has been.

Zach's Kindergarten class headed out to a local Pumpkin Patch. When I say local I mean about 15 miles north. Just far enough North for weather to be drastically different than what it was "locally." I'm not sure why we can't seem to get a break with the weather. This was our second time to a patch this year and despite having several nice days in between, both of our trips have been bitterly cold! Cold enough that I am too wimpy to take my mittens off and take more that one or two pictures.



"Soccer ball" sized pumpkins were all we were allowed today. I was thankful for that since I would be the one to be carrying them. Huge pumpkins are great when there is a man or a wheelbarrow handy!



Eli tagged along today. Despite his excitement when we arrived, this outing quickly turned sour when he realized how chilly it was. He had a chronic tear coming down his chilly cheeks, a drippy nose, and kept say "cold cold" when we eventually got back into the car.



Can we go home yet?

Actually the outing turned out well. Eli fell asleep on the hay ride and Zach trudged through a maze that had about 7 or 8 inches of snow in it! He loved every minute of it, that is until his shoes got wet! We enjoyed some sweet pumpkin cookies (I will share the recipe later), warm apple cider, and a very adventuresome ride home. Not to mention we have 2 small pumpkins to replace the 3 huge pumpkins that are currently rotting on my front steps...thanks again to our chilly temperatures!

A Blanket of Ice...

The plans of a promising weekend went south today as a cold front moved in from the North. Snow was in the forecast, we knew that, but we instead we have a nice blanket of ice which promises to get thicker as the night moves and temps dip into the low teens. As I looked out the window this afternoon I was struck by the dandelions that looked like big cotton balls - so I grabbed my camera to try to catch a little bit of this beauty!



A little heavy from the weight of the ice, this little guy sure looked beautiful!





These two were the lilac bush on the side of the house. We also have a big Aspen shoot that is frozen solid. It has been scraping the side of the house all afternoon!





What's left of our resident spider's nest...not sure if he has survived the cold blast!



Yesterday a big tree in our front yard had leaves on it...today they are ALL gone, frozen solid in the grass!

To our friends in the South I hope you are still enjoying some nice warm temps; and to our friends up North we hope you are enjoying your many inches of snow and your single digit temps. As for us...we decided to cancel our trip to the Air Force Academy football game. We stuck it out inside; making cookies, playing play doh and having a movie night! It has been a long time since we have been this cold and we are not sure if it makes us look forward to, or dread the upcoming Winter!

Faces of Fall...even more beautiful than the leaves!

I spent a little time getting reacquainted with my camera today (it's been in the shop for awhile). The leaves in the front of our house are a beautiful shade of yellow, and we just took a trip to a local pumpkin patch.

I tried and tried to get a shot of all three boys together. The combination of Zach hitting Seth, Seth pushing Eli, and Eli running towards me just didn't work out well. Here's what I did get...I am certainly biased, but these boys are so handsome, especially sporting fresh haircuts!

Estes Park Part 3...the Joy of Hiking with Three Boys!

I'm not sure if you can even call it "hiking," but we did! The first little jaunt was about three quarters of a mile, with an incline of ZERO. It took us about 2 hours to get around this little lake, stopping at every corner, looking at every rock, climbing on every stump, and picking up every stick. It was tiring for those little legs so by second trek Justin was carrying the youngest, and Zach was having difficulty carrying on on such difficult terrain. And what would this kind of trip be without an injury. Eli took quite a tumble coming to a complete stop on his forehead...that is definitely part of the joy of hiking with children! We can't wait to do it again!!