Winter Love

One good thing about having a baby in the winter months...

Snuggling.

Need I say more?

No.  But I will.

Ever is a tiny (but growing) ball of fluffy warm, limp baby pudding (see above pictures). 

Owen is mostly just pent-up energy these days...but whenever I can squeeze a hug out of him I do (every 45 seconds or so...).  He's a solid mound of toddler squishy (if that works).

And Jon is, and always will be, my personal heater of choice.

Between the three of them I can usually find someone to feed my need for heat.  

My odds of surviving the winter look good.

 

Winter

The end of fall was celebrated with a visit from Nana, 

darling little baby H (who we all loved cuddling),  and

two feet of snow - appropriate to announce the beginning of winter.  It did however scare Gina to warmer climates as she's now vacationing in Florida with her 'real' family.

School was wrapped up with a nice little bow just in time for Christmas Eve festivities

Which darted in then out - probably chasing all the little ones - 

Including out own. A little whirlwind

Interviews have come and gone - new job starts late January - my own little whirlwind.

Our days are now spent playing, napping (Owen), braving the wind for swing time (a small reminder of coming warmer days), counting the extra minutes of daylight as they accumulate, and trying to catch up on life during small moments of peace.

Oh - and prepping for the new year.

2010!

117 - going green.

Today I harvested this from our little garden.

Yes, today, as in December 7th.  I figured I should pick the last of them since, oh, you know, it snowed this weekend.

Why are my amazing tomato plants still producing these shiny green gems?  And seriously - there are still flowers as well.   Should I thank global warming?  GMOs?  Baltimore's arsenic and chromium laced soil? My mom??  (the plants were a gift from her)

I just can't get over how many there are. 

(hint - it's in the title)

Anyone know of any good green tomato recipes?  I hate to waste these beauties.

Oh, and thanks mom!

Ice, Ice, Baby

And now...three random things.  

It snowed this week.  And then it rained and froze which created this ice sheet on our driveway.  You can see little foot holes where Jon cut out spots for me to step in as we...

..went on a date!  I don't have any dating pictures...just this one of me looking happy BEFORE we left.  It will have to do.  We went to see Slumdog Millionaire and eat hamburgers.  Both were great.  I'd recommend that date to everyone (except you can't have Jon and that's really the best part)

And finally: Zoe continues to actively seek out inappropriate places to sleep.  Like on my pillow, in my face, in the sink, on the baby's changing table, in the fresh laundry, etc.  Here she is looking guiltily away because she knows that, even though I am taking a picture of her, she is a bad, bad cat.  

Oh well, what's another load of laundry in the big scheme of things?

Ice and Snow

Lately I've been taking long walks on the canal.  I can't begin to describe how beautiful it is in the winter months.  The trees are bare and offer a stunning view of the partially frozen river.  The air is still and, except for a few brave runners and bikers, the path is just as quiet.  I love walking down there, thinking, praying, contemplating both little and big things.  It's refreshing in many ways.

This year its been cold enough that the canal has been frozen solid for a few weeks.  Jon and I went for a walk yesterday and saw this - kids and adults playing shinny, or pond hockey.  (Shinny is some Canadian word for it - according to Jon!)  There were a ton of people - more than it looks like in the picture.  The ice was really hard - it looked much better than even the rink ice around here.  What a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  

It's also the time of year when Zoe catches up on her heater worship.  She'll sit staring at the glowing space heater for hours.   Cute little fat fluff-ball.