Winter day

Between the snow and the passing of Thanksgiving, we feel like we're definitely in winter now (even if the calendar says we aren't quite there yet).

We got out decorations from last year, and the girls had fun with Christmas books, coloring pages, and hats that they hadn't seen in a year.

They especially loved the return of the Christmas stockings!

We played outside at our house, making snowmen and snowforts (but mostly pretending, because they like the action better than the result).

Clara especially liked eating the snow!

G-Daddy even braved the outdoors with us - dressed appropriately for the 20 degree weather, of course.

Later in the day, we went to Caras park to take the girls sledding for the first time.

Two girls, ready to conquer the hill!

With Christina's sprained ankle, it was up to Steve to help the girls actually sled - and he absolutely rose to the challenge.  He kept them having a blast for a good hour.

They absolutely LOVED this.  If we had brought our video camera, we would have preserved for you the beautiful sound of their laughter pealing out as they slid down this hill.  An over-abundance of pictures (with poor exposure) of the girls on only slightly-snowy hills will have to suffice to get the idea across.  To reiterate - they LOVED this!

They even enjoyed watching Steve take a turn down the hill!

 Towards the end, they were engaging in some pretty dramatic flops at the end of their runs down the hill.

Which turned into snow-angel making.

It was so very fun!  We came home and had hot chocolate with marshmallows, and made some cupcakes to celebrate Nana Rose's birthday.  Then, after dinner, we watched some Shirley Temple movies that G-Daddy brought for the girls. 

They watched Shirley tap-dancing up the stairs a few times, then began tap-dancing themselves all over the living room!  It was a hard wind-down to bed, but a very, very enjoyable day and evening together!