play-dough

homemade play-dough it like the easiest and most delightful craft around, so i'm not sure why we don't do this more often! quinn asked to make some this weekend, so we did. i asked the kids what 

color we should make and instead of one color they decided to make six (go figure). we started with six white balls, and ended up with a beautiful rainbow of colors! so warm, so fun, and so beautiful.

snowy day

the kids had a few days off of school last week, and because we are so lucky, it snowed around four inches, to give us beautiful fresh snow to play in! we bundled up, grabbed some neighborhood friends, and went to our local hill a few blocks from our house....it's that easy! we were outside sledding for like two hours.....there is something just so calming about being out in nature with a blanket of white snow:)

someone found the camera

i mustache you a question?

quinn made some pretty cute valentines this year for her preschool friends, a mustache on a stick. all her friends loved them, and i was so surprised by how quickly they all found a voice that fit the mustache....it was hilarious!

winter scooting

when the snow melts away and we have to put the sleds away, it's only natural to go looking for our scooters. we picked ryder up today from school with the scooters in tow, and cruised all the way home, it was pretty fun to see them cruisin along!

if you can't get a babysitter....

we tried so hard to get a babysitter for saturday night and it was just not working out, so we came up with a different plan, to satisfy everyone's needs! early dinner for kids, stories/bed, order take out for parents when kids are sleeping! date night at home:)  we walked down to our local pub and got the kids dinner, while jesse and i had a round of oysters..yummy! we played a dice game with ryder's new polyhedral dice (he has one that goes up to 100), colored lots of pictures, and just enjoyed eachother. 

art museum

ryder's art class went on a field trip to the chazen art museum, so naturally, quinn and i met them there:) we all just love ryder's art teacher, and art class is one of his favorite subjects (go figure)! each group had a docent, and we learned about several different artists, but mainly a japanese artist, hiroshige (the piece above is not his). the kids were doing prints at school, after studying his style, so it was fun for them to actually see his work up close, to really give meaning to what they have learned! 

everyone's doing it...

during the cold winter months, i naturally turn towards knitting, rather than sewing (unless i need to put patches on the knees of ryder's pants...that seems to occur in every season), so it didn't take long for the family to join in on the fun! ryder picked up on the simple garter stitch within a few minutes, so he decided he wanted to make a scarf for quinn (he's still working on it, but it's looking great). jesse sat down and tried to give it a shot (thinking that knitting once as a child gave him some sort of expertise), and soon realized that you can't just wrap yarn around the needles...seriously, i have no idea what the heck he was doing. we all had fun. it was just nice sitting there together, relaxed, creating, and simply, being a family!

sledding day

When the sun is out and the snow is glistening, it makes it so easy to find the desire to head outside and play! We called a group of friends and invited them to meet us at Indian Lake State Park, for some sledding, a bonfire, and food. It's so easy to enjoy the outdoors if you just put some effort into it. This beautiful place was just waiting for us:)

Jesse was the brat/hot dog master!

 Ryder insisted he had to take his jacket off, even though it was like 20 degrees. He was constantly going down the hill and walking back up.....i guess he was probably working up a sweat! he is a serious sledder.

 quinn, on the other hand, would much rather hold baby ginnie!