More Snow Days

Snow. There is a quiet in it's presence. A stillness that envelopes the jittery soul. A softness of touch and a ragged edge of bitter cold.
I loved loved these last few days of snow. The beautiful landscape that blankets our yard in a serene quietness and adds a layer of healing to my heart. It covers up all that is ugly and bare and jagged and gives the earth a stark beauty that brings all into sharp focus.
It's kind of like my life right now.
I woke up last week to snow covering the ground and the delighted squeals of my children exclaiming there was "no school today!"
I was happy. I felt that in a small way God heard my heart in my cry for family time and the need to JUST ALL BE TOGETHER in our own home and He gave us a small gift. Even though I am 33 years old, I have been homesick for family.
My parents came last week. My mom and I had a glorious morning on Tuesday with just the two of us while Good Lookin' was in preschool and Nater Mater was at home playing with Grandpa. We sat for 2 WHOLE HOURS in a little coffee shop talking and laughing and sharing our hearts.
But the rest of the time was a little crazy busy with children and other children and appointments and such and I had this feeling that my kids were not getting to spend a whole lot of quality time with their grandparents.
Then it snowed and the world around us ground to a slippery halt and I was secretly thankful. No allergy shots, no dentist, no one was sick, no one had to be driven anywhere or be anywhere. Our little corner of the country shuts down when the white stuff shows up and the children scream in delight at being freed from the classroom. For 2 whole days we stayed home and played in the snow. My kids have no problem being out in the cold and rolling around in the powdery cold. They stay out even longer and happier if one of us is out with them.

Yes, the swing set in the biting cold is a fun place to be as long as someone else is there to play with. Thank you Grandpa for swinging her.

Nater Mater decided that every surface needed to be scraped clean before he could play on it and was kept quiet busy with his little sand shovel in the snow. My parents had given him this adorable little pure wool hat that fits perfectly on his round little head and it looked so precious on him.

Grammy and Grandpa taught the kids and I how to play the game Fox and Goose. I'd heard of it and read about it in my Little House on the Prairie books and other old books, but had never learned the rules. It was fun! Good Lookin' and Mr. Smiles spent a good hour chasing each other around and through the circle and claiming and then chasing each other from the base. Thank you mom and dad for the hours you spent out in the cold with them.

We have hay bales fairly close to our house. They aren't ours and we aren't supposed to play on them, but I hadn't warned my dad about them, so when I went out to join them I took pictures of their playing before shooing them off.

Yes, our dog at times thinks she's a cat. She climbs her way up the sides and leaps from bale to bale in sheer delight after the kids.

My brother and his wife also came. These are his pictures that he took with his awsome camera.

Oh the imagination can soar in the great outdoors. Even in the cold or hot, I try to get my kids outdoors. (It usually doesn't take much coaxing). They are happier there without the gadgets and movies and computer where they can re-enact the stories they've read or heard or make up their own adventures.

My brother and his wife came to visit for the weekend. They had not been to our home since Good Lookin' and their youngest were just a year. Both will be 5 this Spring. It was wonderful having them here. Late evening conversations with the adults and hours of play between cousins who have hardly seen each other over the distance and years or living in separate countries. Video Skype has been one way to stay close.

My brother took 4 of them on a hike while I kept back Good Lookin' who was experiencing overload and Nater Mater who is still recovering from being sick and needing naps again.
It is quite the hike down to our little creek and I was impressed with how well everyone did.

Precious Jewel, Mr. Smiles and their cousin excitedly recounted their adventure saying that they kept expecting Mr. Tumnus to step out from behind a tree with an armload of packages or to see a lamppost sticking up out of the ground in the middle of the woods.

Mr. Smiles rather sadly stated that they didn't find him, but they were sure that this is what Narnia must have looked like before Aslan melted the snow and brought the Thaw and Spring.

Thank you God for little things like snow days that allowed us to just BE TOGETHER AS FAMILY.