snow and snow and snow

For the week leading up to Christmas, we went to Minnesota. We were delayed by a day on the way there (our flight was canceled after we were already at the airport, with the car parked in long-term parking, all the luggage and both carseats checked, and the four of us seated at the gate eating lunch). When we got to Minnesota, we found what we thought of, at the time, as a lot of snow. Plenty for me and Sam to make a snow monster:



and for Sam to go sledding even in the backyard.

Opa took Sam and J. downhill skiing, and Sam had a ski lesson:



Sam and I made a gingerbread house:



On Christmas Eve, J. stayed home w/Frida, while Sam and I accompanied Omi and Opa to their church to hear Omi play violin together with the young recorder-playing son of the church organist. It was the early, carol-filled children's service; Sam was much less into the carols (he sat quietly drawing monsters all over the paper program) but listened very intently to the story about "everyday angels" told by the pastor.

That night we opened gifts, per German (and Omi/Opa) tradition:



We were supposed to fly back on the 26th, but this time snowstorms in the Northeast delayed us for two days. One upside of this was that we got to see my friend DeNean and her kids, who returned home from their holiday travel the day we would've left.



Sam had his first Wii encounter, and Frida was charmed by DeNean's oldest, Grace (who was a flower girl at our wedding! but is now old enough to be a fantastic babysitter).



Then we got home to a bit of snow:



And then it snowed some more, and some more, canceling school about once a week all of January, including during the week J. went away for an intense writing week:



Those piles (pictured in the previous post) on either side of the driveway are towering 8 or so feet high, making it very hard to drive in and out; similar piles all over the city make it tough to see around corners for traffic and to find on-street parking (meaning a lot of folks park halfway into driving lanes, making driving tricky as well).

Sometimes it's fun to get out in the snow. Sam made a quincy with the boys next door and their dad, and went sledding with J:



But other times it's just "wintry mix" and rain/sleet/ice, so we've been doing a bunch of fun indoor stuff. Like folding all of the paper-alphabet-animals that Uncle Markus sent Sam:



or drawing, with the gorilla that Opa gave Frida:



I was very happy to find a family-oriented Day of Service activity to do with both kids on MLK Day, put on by these fantastic folks. Sam made a bunch of valentines for house-bound Meals on Wheels clients.

In not-fun indoor activities, Frida had her first ear infection, spending a miserable couple of feverish days before we figured out it wasn't a passing reaction to her vaccines.



Amoxycillin worked well, but then a week later she had an allergic response (Grandpa figured out what was going on-- we thought it was a rashy virus). Benadryl followed amoxycillin. She's fine now. (And can eat surprising quantities of cheerios with milk.)




She also got her first haircut-- just the bangs-- while Sam, for his part, decided he wants to keep growing his hair until it's long. Sometimes in the mornings it looks kind of wild:



Hope you're well amidst all the crazy weather.