I asked for snow...

and we got it. 

Huge, slow-falling, beautiful snowflakes for me and my boys to enjoy.

And enjoy it they did.  We busted out the winter gear and spent the entire day outside.

And snow means building a snowman.  And in Rex's case...that means eating a snowman.

And the snowman's nose.  Poor ole' Frosty didn't stand a chance with my little muncher.

These boys worked to make that man out of snow, and they were quite successful.

(This is Rex doing his victorious laugh).

After a morning of building snowmen and shoveling our sidewalks, we took a lunch break and a quick nap and then headed out to harvest our own Christmas tree at a local farm.  It couldn't have been a more dream-like setting.  It was still snowing, there were tons of trees, and the boys were beyond giddy.

They might have been more interested in the snow than picking the pine.

And then it was back home to just enjoy our little winter wonderland.

Backyard.

Front yard and view of the 'hood.

We ended the day kickin' it eskimo-style by building ourselves an official igloo. 

Shawn even tried to convince me it was warm inside.  I took his word for it. 

The snow stuck around for about a week and a half before it all melted off.  Embracing my new found winter-self, I decided to take the boys sledding one day while Shawn was at work.  We had recently purchased two sleds for the boys at Bed, Bath and Beyond of all places.  So we bundled up, loaded the sleds and drove a couple of miles to the giant hill at the park near by.  I had heard people talking about sledding there, and I wondered how hard it could be.  I think I had been once when I was little and a few times at ski resorts since then and remembered it being super-fun and kinda a no-brainer. 

So we show up at "the hill" and see a kid from Roanin's preschool class.  He and his mom have been sledding for a couple of hours.  They invite us to join them.  I explain this is my first go-round and giggled nervously.  The mom assures me it is a piece of cake...her boy loves it.  I notice that her son has a different type of sled from ours, but figure any kind of plastic on the snow should do the trick.  The hill is quite long and steep, but has tons of room at the bottom and only a few trees here and there.  At the top of the hill, both of my boys are practically drooling to get on and "go, Mom, go!" so I throw Roanin on the sled and send him on his way.  He went about 20 feet and kind of just slowed down and tumped over, turning back with a huge grin and excitement for round 2.  Great!  No problem!  So I grab Rexy's chubby little body and set him on his sled.  It should be noted at this point in the story, that we had moved over about 3 feet toward the middle of the hill before I sent Rex on his way. 

With a little push, I shout "here you go, Rex!" and send him on his first official sledding adventure.  Not 3 seconds after letting go of his little back I came to the horrifying realization that he was going to have a completely different experience than Roanin did.  He instantly began to fly, and was speeding faster and faster toward the dead center of the hill where it is the most steep and in line with the few trees mentioned above.  I took off in a dead sprint, following my little blur.  After a few seconds of the chase, I saw my window of opportunity and knew I had to take it.  It was either make contact to stop him, or he was going to speed out of my reach and I would have no control over his outcome.  And let's be clear: I am not a fan of no control.  And in my book, even mis-judged, mis-guided, and poorly planned control is better than no control.  So I did what any normal control-freak would do - I took a flying leap into the air, diving toward my baby and grabbed his hood which was flying behind him.  I grabbed that little hood and held on with everything I had. 

I think we all know how this turns out.  The psycho-controlling mother dive bombs her two year old and sends him into a back-flip which results in a dismount from his flying sled of death and major snow-rash all over his chubby little cheeks.  It wasn't pretty, people.  Not pretty at all.  To say he was traumatized would be a gross understatement. 

Needless to say, Rex and I shared a sled the rest of the afternoon and I will never buy plastic disk sled (aka:ticket to hell) again.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The First Snow

 It happened right after Halloween.  It snowed.  We had just finished lunch, and I had just put Rex down for his nap.  Roanin looked out the window to see huge wet snowflakes floating down.

 By the time Rexy woke up, it had just about stopped...but that didn't stop us from getting in our gear and heading out to check it out. 

 They were more than impressed.  They tried pitifully to put together snowballs with which to hit me with, and even tried to scrape together a poor snowman.  Although there wasn't really enough for all of that - it was fun to be out and welcome winter. 

It was so crazy...this snow.  Although we lived in Idaho, where it snows quite a bit, this snow was different.  It actually made me freak out a little bit.  And after fretting around and worrying if we are "winter ready" and stressing about whether I know how to do everything I do in the snow, it hit me.  This was the first time the full reality of us living here set in.  It was like the last 5 months I have been able to sort of limp along and exist like things have always been.  Without knowing it, I was equating the climate with my life.  With our lives.  It was almost the same, and so I didn't feel the overwhelming change that we had indeed been through.  But the flakes did it.  They made me think about the fact that we are in a different place.  Doing different things.  Doing things we haven't done before, with people we haven't known before.  We have closed a chapter of our lives and have opened a new one.  With the transition, we have lost a lot, and gained even more.  We are different.  I am different.  My future is going to be different.  Seeing all the snow led me to think of how I will learn to deal with a true winter.  How I will drive in 4-wheel-drive.  How you don't turn on your windshield wipers when it is below freezing outside (I broke one already).  How I will spend 30 minutes just getting the boys dressed to go outside.  How I will have to wear a coat...for like 5 months.  How we will shovel our driveway, and burn fires in our fireplace.  How my boys will grow up with the memory of white Christmases and sledding.  How they will have the knowledge of this life, like it is how it has always been.  But it hasn't always been this way.  It was different. 

And just like I will learn the ways of a Midwestern winter, I will also learn the ways of my new life.  The perspective I choose to take, the people I let in, and the path that is in front of me. 

And after I realized it, I was fine.  I was better than fine.  I was excited.  So excited about this life we are carving out and molding into what we want it to be. I was thrilled at the thought that we are taking charge of our family and our future and demanding it be all that it can be.

And with that I say....bring on the snow.

Da Da Da Da, Da Da Da, Da Da Da

 We had a theme going on this year for Halloween.

 Please note Aniken (true Star Wars fans are cringing at my awkward spelling skills) Skywalker's hairpiece.  It totally reminded me of the skaters back in jr high who rocked tails. 

 We did a little candy-snachin' with friends. 

It ain't a party if Princess Leia doesn't show up, am I right? Holla....

 Game faces - on.

 Who is that tall masked man and why does he have the impression that he hooks up with Leia in the end?

Hope your Halloween was as happy as ours. 

Now go back up to the title, and sing it to the Star Wars theme song.  Go on, you know you want to.