I’ve had this idea floating around my head for a while now: make each of the girls a fleece neck gaiters. There is no reason I shouldn’t have jumped on this project considering the following:

1. I found, and pinned, a decent tutorial on how to sew a fleece gaiter. The know-how was taken care of.

2. I had all the supplies on hand. The fleece came from a freecycle pickup a few years ago (read: $0), and the rest only required regular sewing notions.

3. I knew the girls would want and like them, AND they would save time and frustration as scarf replacements. So, thumbs up all around.

4. Once I did it the job only took about twenty minutes total. I definitely have had the time to fit a little sewing in.

But still, it took me weeks and weeks to get my act together. But today, I bit the bullet, pulled out the fleece and whipped up two of these little darlings for my little darlings.

(and now they can stop trying to steal mine every time the wind whips!)

I really like being an optimist. But today, as I looked out the window, I was confronted with a huge, soul crushing sight- the trash truck barging through the snowbank and filling in the path that I had painstakingly kept clean through the past few snowy days. Grr.

[In the photo above my wonderful path continued all the way past the stairs to the stop sign. Now it has been tragically cut short.]

Such is life.

Of all the great moments that come with parenting, I think that this might be my favorite one.

There is nothing quite like that moment when they try something new and you get the privilege of seeing the gears turn as they work and work and figure things out.

I was treated to one of those moments today as Esme attacked the low bar during open gymnastics today. It didn’t take her long to get up, hook her knees over the bar and hang hands free. An exciting day, to be sure!

(Some of) The fruits of my labors.

This snowbank is at least six feet high, maybe twice as long and three or four feet across. I’m proud to say that I created it mostly single handedly. But then, those that know me know that I like shoveling snow. It is long and arduous, but comes with a very satisfying end result.

Seems we have some more snow on the horizon to look forward to. Hopefully we’ll be able to find some space to put it!

Lovely house in the snow this morning.

We have had a great snow day. I got out twice shoveling and we had hot cocoa and warm soup and popcorn and silly shows on TV. We’ve had power for the whole storm, save the three seconds that it went out, and are generally happy campers tucked into our snowy little corner.

So many of or best moments these days seem to be centered around reading. Our car rides have gotten surprisingly quiet with each girl entranced in their own books, with just the sweet sounds of Esme reading aloud to herself from time to time. Bedtime reading has progressed from the Chronicles of Narnia to the Little House books and our non-fiction choices range from cookbooks to science texts to diy duct tape projects.

We were early to meet up with friends at the library today and as I was setting our things down I lost track of the girls. When I went looking for them I came across this little scene. I snapped the picture and turned on my heels, lest they see me and spoil the moment.

My favorite photo from our sledding fun today. Esme did make it a fair distance back up the hill, but her endeavors were cut short so that they could get a few more runs in before sunset.

“Mama, I love going to the Y with you. I’m not sure why, though.”
Short pause.
“Get it? Why/Y? Ha!”

Northfields neighborhood meeting tonight. It was great to meet and chat with many of our neighbors. We talked new playgrounds, block parties, folding cafeteria tables, and how to report potholes and uncollected trash to the city. Good times!

We have been enjoying the absolute best kind of mid-January home improvement.

After one brief conversation with my Dad about my dream of a motion sensor light switch in our entry staircase, I came home one afternoon to a very happy surprise.

For someone with:
a) kids who can’t quite reach the light switches, and
b) family members who forget to shut off the light, and
c) arms full of winter gear/swim gear/groceries/etc.,
it has come in very handy.

It may, in fact, be my favorite home project in a very long time!