Snuggly Sleepers and Slippery Snow

Three days ago, it snowed here--a wonderful 12-inch (approximately...it was hard to measure accurately because of the drifting) snow that gave my boys HOURS of fun outside in it.  I was actually surprised by how long they wanted to stay out in it, because it basically kept snowing all day, and sometimes they don't enjoy it so much if the snow is blowing in their faces.  But the fact that our neighbors were out in it, too, made it fun enough that my boys were happily occupied for two loooong stretches of time--one in the morning and one in the afternoon/evening.

But before all of that, my oldest and my youngest, clad in snuggly sleepers, took a few moments to cuddle on the couch by the woodstove--a very cozy place to hang out.  :)

There is so much delight that fills the heart of a parent...

...when they see their children loving each other.  :)

My Josiah and my Moriah...

...are so very precious to me.

And to each other.  :)

One of Moriah's most-loved "games" at this stage is the Body Parts Game.

She'll pat her nose...we'll say "Moriah's nose"...she'll pat my nose...we'll say "Mommy's nose"...she'll pat/poke an eye...we'll identify it...and so on.

We do this every single day.  I usually don't mind, but when she was sick and vomiting yesterday, I wasn't too keen on her touching her tongue and waiting for us to say "Moriah's tongue," and then touching mine!!  I kept my lips firmly closed, much to her chagrin.  ;-)

Moriah wasn't the only one who got to cuddle with her biggest brother that morning...

...although Shav's snuggles with Josiah involved some wrestling, too.

Boys!!  ;-)

Towards the beginning of this post, I mentioned the drifting, and here's an example of it.  We were actually thrilled that the wind blew the snow off the bottom part of our sidewalk and piled it up beside it.

As far as we're concerned, the wind can do that every time it snows!  :)

In the afternoon, I took Moriah outside, all bundled up in the snowsuit that each of our children has worn when they're toddlers.  My parents got it long ago, shortly after we moved back from Israel; and I'm so glad they got a red one so that my boys AND my girl could wear it.  :)

This was Moriah's first real time playing in the snow, and I wasn't sure what she would think of it.  I vividly remember that some of my older children did NOT like the snow when they were about this age, probably because it was hard to walk in and was just so weird and cold!  :)

But Moriah seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, and we stayed out in it longer than I thought we would.

We watched Josiah sled down our neighbors' hill...

...and trudge back up again as Shav looked on.

 Tobin was there sledding, too.

Shav was mostly watching, trying to keep his footing, and eating the snow.  :)

Then we moved down the hill to where our neighbors had made a big pile of snow from using their tractor to clear their lane.

Their kids and ours had spent quite a long time making tunnels and carving out "rooms" in this quinzhee.

It reminded me of how much fun it was to do that myself, one winter long ago when I was a young girl, enjoying a big snowfall and the company of my siblings as we dug out the snow like this.  :)

They were proud of their work.  Rightly so.  :)

Meanwhile, Moriah was learning the delights of eating snow.

Our neighbor Wanita was teaching her.  :)

Simple joys.  :)

Finally, when Moriah's cheeks and nose were nearly as red as her snowsuit, I picked her up and slowly carried her home.

I think she would have rather stayed outside with her brothers though.  :)