Ice Skating.

It's sort have been boring around here... It's definitely feeling like winter has been going on for at least 9 months now. And it's getting to the point of coldness that our home is starting too resemble a slightly more flattering prison cell. Really, only true Minnesotans can understand what the months of January and February do to a person.

We have been trying to keep busy with weekly trips to the children's museum, library, doing pinterest projects and getting outside when we can (which hasn't been often).  A couple weeks ago temperatures soared to 37 degree (be jealous) so we decided to take the kids ice skating for the first time. Harrison had been asking for weeks to try it. Our lake rents out skates which is an awesome added bonus since his feet are still growing.

When we got on the ice....Harrison didn't want to try skating anymore. This didn't surprise me. He is the kind have kid that gets so pumped up about things and then when they actually happen he is reserved or doesn't even want to try. I call this behavior "need a kick in the butt." He really does...he would never try half the things he does if we didn't push him to at least try and by "trying" I mean actually put effort into it. Once we got past the point of "I can't do it," the rest of skating was enjoyable. The first thing he asked when as our evening ended was, "Can we come back again?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hot Chocolate.

There is just something about a true sign of the warmer days behind us when the first cup of hot chocolate is served for the season.

First Snow Storm of 2012

You have to get the first time they are all bundled up like marshmallows ready to play in the first fallen snow of the season...

The first flakes of the year flew on December 9th. I'm not sure how many inches we got from this storm, but it was enough for Harrison and Doug to build a snowman. I was a little belated getting photos of the snowman but I did however capture of few shots of the snowman being tackled by Harrison before the he melted away.

But don't worry, it will be a white Christmas; it's blizzarding right now. Chance of snow = 100%

The dogs enjoyed this white fluffy stuff too:

 

Black & White

If you haven't noticed...I am a huge fan of color photos, but sometimes that black and white just blends a photo so perfectly I can't help but LOVE.

Before temperatures in Minnesota plummeted lower than in Antarctica (true fact I learned this morning on the local news) we played outside.

Honest to goodness truth Harrison isn't wearing any socks in these photos and not by my choice I must add. When I buckled him in his car seat to leave daycare that afternoon I noticed he wore his fuzzy Croc shoes without any socks. Hmmmm, strange I thought... a lot of things go missing at daycare, but I must say this was a first without any socks.

When we arrived home I unbuckled him and set him down next to me and proceeded to unload my bags when I heard a shriek of excitement and he ran and jumped into the snow bank at the end of our driveway. He was sock less, glove less and hat less. I tried to convince him to come inside and he made it as far as the porch and sat down---protesting going in. I grabbed his hat, mittens, boots and the camera. We made it as far as the hat and mittens, but the boots laid next to the door as he ran back to heap of snow.


Someone needs to tell this child that winter has came to Minnesota, he insists on mowing the snow. Fisher Price needs to get a move on designing a snow blower.

Whitney dog enjoyed some rolls in the snow too.

 They really are best friends.