Post-Christmas Snow

We've had storm after storm lately. Last night (Monday), in fact, I was trying to post this when we lost power in the latest storm. That's ok, though, because the storms have brought a lot of snow. This was at sunrise Monday morning.

The view from Henry's window lately. 

Tim, Granddaddy, and Madi went and dug out the chickens. 

Connie supervised, as always.

The chickens were appreciative.

Madi has had a lot of fun playing outside in all the snow.

Granddaddy and Madi.

Madi has been keeping Grandmother and Granddaddy busy.

Last Thursday we made meringue cookies for Tia Mela and family. Notice the fabulous new mixer which Santa dropped off at our house recently.

The Bates-Domenech clan came over Friday for Indian food and to exchange gifts. Here is Henry with Maria Luisa.

Scott, Melanie, Amy, Henry and Tim.

Henry has gotten really interested in books lately. He's actually been interested in books for a while, but now he wants to really look at what is on the pages and have you say all the words, instead of just flipping through at maximum speed.

Madi with Grandmother. Goodbye Grandmother and Granddaddy! Thanks for coming to visit us.

Christmas!

We definitely had a white Christmas! We have had tons of snow lately. This is the front yard the day before Christmas. We've been putting the snow to good use. Tim and I had fun skiing with Granddaddy on Tuesday.

This week, Madi got a great hat in the mail from Aunt Johnna and Uncle Greg.

Grandmother and Granddaddy have been having fun with the kids.

Granddaddy and Madi had a pull-toy parade.

Henry has been practicing his wrestling moves. Look out Stanley!

Madi and I made cookies for Christmas. She's still figuring out the sprinkles, okay?

For Christmas, Henry got some wrapping paper. We tried to give him some other stuff too, but he wasn't really interested.

Madi got Plunko, a very cute and snugly Ugly Doll. She got lots of other things, too.      

We had a great Christmas dinner. Our friends Sarah and Andrew came over. Among other things, there was roast beef, mashed potatoes, spoon bread, a really scrumptious horseradish sauce and a truly delicious tarragon butter (the last two made by Sarah of course). It was a fabulous dinner all around.

While Sarah and Andrew were here, we had yet another blizzard. By the time they got ready to leave, their car was covered in snow drifts. We thought they might end up staying for longer than they had planned, but they made it home after all.

Grandmother and Granddaddy are Here!

Thursday Grandmother and Granddaddy arrived from Florida. Good thing they got in on Thursday, because Friday we had a blizzard. They wasted no time getting out in the snow.

Grandmother and Madi checked out the goats in their winter quarters.

Madi thinks Granddaddy is sweet.

Grandmother and Granddaddy have been very helpful. Here Granddaddy packs some feed to the chickens. Good thing they got here when they did, because Friday I had the worst stomach bug ever on earth. I will not go into the details, because this is a family blog, you know. Let's just say we were glad they were here to help.

Grandmother and Henry, hanging out.

All four together, plus Stanley of course.

Henry has continued his eating exploits. Tonight at dinner he was so insistent that he wanted something off the table. We tried and tried to figure out what it was until we realized it was ... collard greens. He's getting in touch with his southern heritage. He likes it so far.

 

Here he shows off his top tusks ... oh, I mean teeth.

Henry has gradually been spending more and more time crawling with his belly off the floor. Over the last few days he has transitioned to mostly up. He is still not totally proficient, but he's getting there.

It Snowed!

The snow is really here now. We woke up Saturday morning to a world of white. It has continued to snow pretty much every day this week. We are excited because Beaver Mountain opens next week!

The goats have retreated to 'winter quarters' - a self-imposed 20 ' x 20 ' area around their shelter.

Connie is pretty open to the experience.

Tim and Madi love it, even though it has been gray and cold most days this week. As I write this, it is about 9 F (that's like, -13 C or so). Grandmother and Granddaddy arrive tomorrow from Florida. We promise to turn the heat up.

Madi has a great time no matter how cold.

She's getting really good with a snow shovel. Tim does not mind this development at all.

You can see how red her face is when she comes inside.

She loves to have a cup of hot chocolate after playing outside...

then curl up by the tree.

Henry Eats Everything!

Henry just loves his solid food lately. He seems to be able to down just about anything with no troubles. 

Pomegranate ...

Pears ...

Peas and potatoes ...

Egg yolk ...

He's into everything in the house, too. Here he shows his talent for investigating what's in the drawers. Now where did we put all of those child-proof locks?

Henry's New Perspective

Today we turned Henry's carseat around. When babies are really little they have to be in a rear-facing seat. Now he faces front. He really seems to enjoy it.

This evening we went to the holiday party for our department. We got to see Maggie and her family. Maggie and Henry were born the very same day in the same hospital. Maggie is a champion walker! It was really cute to watch. I wish I had a better picture but we forgot to employ the cameras. This is from Tim's cell phone.

We are getting excited around here because it is supposed to snow!

Finals Week

It's been pretty busy lately around work with finals week now here. Henry is still undergoing the teething saga. He has one top tooth through and another nearly through. The one that was coming in the the bottom seems to have stopped. So he has 5 1/2 teeth now.

Here he puts them to good use on a piece of brocoli. He liked it.

We had a good visit with Melanie, Scott, and Ceci. Henry loves his Tia Mela!

We also had a great visit with our friends Sarah and Andrew. They came over to our house and made dinner for us. I didn't get any pictures, but it involved a fabulous Bernaise sauce, cooked to perfection by Sarah. Mmmm.

Sunday we took a walk around the neighborhood.

Henry promptly feel sound asleep. Later we regretted it when he wouldn't take his usual nap and ended up cranky after dinner.

It was really a gorgeous day.

We checked out the ruins of a pioneer cabin. The walls must be two feet thick. The wind really blows hard around here.

Monday it snowed a bit. The animals were all a little taken aback, but we are ready for ski season to be here.

Grandmother had a birthday this week, so she gets a little birthday song!