Winter Wonderland

Andrew's birthday is coming up on the 5th of Feb! His birthday package came in the mail and I realized I didn't have any masculine wrapping paper so I had to get creative and use the brown paper that was sent as stuffing in the package. Instead of just going with the plain ol' brown I decided to let the girls dress it up a bit and paint it using fun boy colors. Of course the girls loved painting and I loved letting them do something artistic. They had a good time, got really messy and now Andrew has some very fun wrapping paper for his gifts. Too bad we have to wait a week for him to open them!

 I went to grab my camera for only a second, when I came back I found Lily using the paint brush to paint her cute little round tummy. Good thing the stuff washes off easily, otherwise Lily would have a beautiful sage green stomach, and hands for that matter, for weeks.

 My parents flew to AZ and CA for two weeks and left us home in the dead of January winter. Fortunately the weather hasn't been too bad. It's either really foggy or really sunny. The other night it was really foggy and the next morning it bright and sunny. When that happens everything get's beautifully frosted.  I had to run over to my mom's to grab some bills so I took my camera along for the short walk.

 The snow is so high this year, you can tell it's high when the snow goes clear up to the eves of the cellars. I think I'll take my girls out and let them slide down it like Zack and I used to do.

 Notice the willow trees have been trimmed on the left side because of the power lines. I think the power company went a little too far though, it makes them look very lop-sided. Off to the right you can see the huge mound of snow that my dad and Andrew have created with the snowblower. It keeps getting bigger and bigger, pretty soon we won't be able to see my parent's house from ours.

 Frosty is getting buried, poor guy. It's like his snow "hair" is covering his face, kind of like Justin Beiber. :)

 I climbed up quite a ways beside the center cellar and could have climbed right up on top of the roof. The icicles were beautiful, but also looked like teeth from some deep sea creature.

I think I've noticed this year more than other years the shadows in winter and the color blue that comes out. Summer shadows are not quite as colorful.

 This is sure a winter wonderland. I love driving to town when the trees are all frosted, it's really a sight to see and all I keep thinking is what an Ethiopian would think of my beloved wintry Ashton.

 Even though Andrew comes home smelling like smoke, he tends to my parent's furnace fire that keeps their house warm.

My girls love walking from the back door to the furnace because they get to walk on the cool "paff", the snow on the sides of the path are piled higher than their heads and I admit if I were 3, I would think it was cool too.

 The lilac bushes took a beating this winter, I think when we came home from Ethiopia the damage had already been done. I just hope they bounce back in the spring.

I did not edit the color of these photos, the sky was amazingly blue that morning, such a good contrast from the white. I love these trees!

If anyone would like to come up for a visit you are sure welcome. We can provide you with beautiful snow, snowmachining, sledding, tubing, tunnel making, hot chocolate and good company. If your schedule doesn't allow it then I guess that's okay, I'm sure you can enjoy my wintery blogs up until..... I don't know... APRIL?