Heading for the hills

This afternoon, the four of us went out to the big hill in our pasture for some snowmobiling, sledding and sliding.  The winds have blown a big drift with a cornice up at the top of the hill that makes for a pretty steep slope!

Mike takes the old machine for a cruise!

Trying to make it up the steep climb.

Pretending we're in the mountains.

Looking to the north you can see Mike's parents' place. 

And to the west is our place.

 Action series of Dane:

Ready...

Set...

Go!

And then the stop at the bottom!

 Here are a few more outdoor pictures from the past couple weeks.

Two kids with rosy cheeks and Rosie cat.

Love those freckles!

We had some very cold weather last weekend.  On my drive to the airport to head to Florida for a quick conference (70* and 4 meals outside in less than 24 hours), I saw these sundogs.  They were so clear, they looked like they could almost meet and form a big rainbow.

"Waves" of snow.  We are looking forward to ocean waves in one week!

The princess and her brother

Just to give you a little idea of what our little girl thinks of herself:  Today she was skipping through a store as our family shopped, singing quite loudly, "I'm a princess, I'm a princess..."  She also frequently likes to remind me that she is my baby when it's convenient.  She is quite independent most of the time, but she uses the "baby" card when she feels she needs a little extra attention!

Every princess needs a crown!

Her get-up this morning included a summer shirt and skirt along with her rain boots.  She doesn't care that it is very cold outside, she loves to wear "cold sleeves" (short sleeves), or possibly a swimsuit to prepare for our upcoming week in Hawaii.  Also, she is rarely seen without a baby in tow.

Meanwhile, Dane is still enthralled with Thomas the Tank Engine.  He loves to look through these collector checklists that came with different pieces of his train set.  He has been working on reading the names of each engine by sounding out the letters in their names.  You can't see it, but these pieces of paper are each taped multiple places to hold them together!

From the Great White North...

The snow keeps falling, the the winds keep blowing here.  It doesn't look like the weather will change anytime soon, but we're content.  I haven't updated in a while, so here are a few random pictures. There are occasionally times when the kids aren't picking on each other!

 This cute little coat was worn by my mom and her sisters when they were Nora's age.  Isn't it adorable?

 We have some visitors that I watch out my kitchen window.  Apparently, the cottontails like our birdfeeders too.

In two days, I will be headed to Florida for a quick work conference.  I won't get much chance to see the sights since I will be there less than 48 hours and will be in meetings during all daytime hours.  It will be my first nights away from both Mike and the kids in over 5 years.  Then we get to head to Hawaii for a week in early February with a large group from my mom's family.  It will be nice to thaw out for a while!

A bluebird day

Happy 2011!  We had wonderful holidays here, but our cameras were relatively inactive.  We spent Christmas with Mike's siblings and families, eating, laughing, skiing, eating more.  We had to fight some weather to get to our destination near Redwing for the weekend.  We were planning to head to my parents' to see in the New Year this past weekend, but plans were put on hold due to 1) an awful stomach bug that I fought for 24 hours and have been crossing my fingers since that nobody else catches and 2) more blizzards.  We stayed cozy at home, braving the outdoors from time to time to play in the snow.  To get a little idea of how much wind and snow we've had over the past couple of weeks, take a look at the picture of our house in the previous post.  Those two snow fences in the foreground are nearly covered, with only about 6 inches showing above the drifts.

Today, I decided to pull out the camera again while I stayed home with the kids.  (Actually, I ended up using my phone for almost all of these photos.)  The morning was beautiful, although very cold.  Yes, the thermometer says almost -20*.

 The kids spent the morning playing while I cleaned house.  I thought this was a pretty funny combination on Nora: her pretty "princess" skirt along with Dane's play work goggles.

 Playing a "duet."  Dane has actually taken a liking to the piano recently and will sit and try to play instead of just banging on the keys. 

 I feel so fortunate that my grandparents gave us this beautiful old piano last spring when they moved from their farm into a smaller townhome.  Sorry, you can't actually see much of the piano in these pictures.

This afternoon, the clear blue sky finally enticed us outside.  It was only about 10* but calm.   

 The frosty trees were so beautiful against the blue sky.  Can you believe these next 2 pictures, straight from my cell phone camera, unedited?  Love the contrast of the white on blue.

 We headed out to the hill in our pasture for some sledding.

Isn't she beautiful? 

 After a few runs in the toboggan, the kids found this drift and made "penguin slides" down its side.

 I'm sure you've seen plenty of shots of our barn, but I'll just add in this last one.

Good luck with those resolutions!  (I didn't make any this year...)