Snow---Weather, We Like It or Not

Snow has been piling up here in New Jersey. We got a few snow storms in December and thought that winter might have exhausted its ferocity, but boy were we wrong.

Some flurries came and got us into a playful mood, after all, shoveling was minimal. So we built an igloo. Paul took charge and put us to work. The igloo went up in less than an hour, since we were working with a deadline- night fall and the dropping temperature.

Now we have a second house to hide away from the storm and worm up with hot cocoa (though I still prefer the first one with a roaring fire).

We had our fun and went to bed, waking up to this!

Winter Wonderland and it is beautiful, though I am starting to dream of Spring. It’s going to be a long winter.

Lydia is learning Strategy

We have a computer game that Lydia likes to play called JumpStart. The grandparents gave it to us two years ago, and we've bought the entire series of games to that Lydia can stay challenged. She hadn't played for a few months, and I noticed that her strategy spontaneously matured in games like tic-tac-toe. She now tries to block the other player from winning when the situation calls for it.

Vivian sounds like Laura

We watched an old video today of me and Matthew as babies. My mom is on their energetically trying to get us to bounce in the bouncer and play. You can't see her most of the time. When I asked the kids who's voice that was, Lydia said "Laura," (my sister). That's the same thing Larisa had noticed when she first saw the video.

Nyle will be a Kid

Tyler was excited to tell us all about how things will be when he grows up. "When I grow up I will be a daddy, and you will be a grandpa, and Lydia will be a mommy, and she will be a grandma, and Nyle will be a Kid!"

Record Snow

Last year we were told that our record snow storm was unusual.  Well, this winter is already setting records.  We just had the worst December snow storm in four decades.  Luckily it didn’t hit us too hard or stop us from having fun.  We got about 8 inches.  Five miles to our east got double that.