Good morning! Breakfast is over and the three older kids are in the basement. They made an office down there. They take down chocolate milk and pretend it’s coffee and I’m not sure what they are actually doing but I do know that they are listening to a Focus on the Family Radio Theatre cd.
I wanted to share a few photos from my weekend. Rich came home on Friday with roses for me and Grace, which was a great start, I thought. There was one for me and one for her of the darkest red. Very dazzling.
On Saturday, we went to the library. The kids checked out about 30 books, LOL, and I found 3 that I thought looked good. I already finished one of them and the link will be attached to this blog entry.
(I just had to get up to help David and Jacob was up getting another drink of milk so I asked them what they are doing downstairs. “Oh, we’re riding bikes. . . but, right now we’re trying to catch a mouse.” (said very casually) “Is there really a mouse down there?” I asked. “Yes! We all saw it!”) OH GREAT.
UPDATED February 3, 2013 (They just told me that they caught five on this day. There was a blind one. They found one in a shoe, & one in a Cheerio box. They said that the dog ran after them, stomped on them and ate them. David played hide and seek with the blind one, but it got away.)
Back to the weekend. Where was I? Oh yes, the library. I didn’t take any pictures of the library stop because there are already pictures here somewhere of the library. Our next stop was Panera. Rich’s idea. It was fun except don’t order their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for your 2 year old. We got that for Caleb and it oozed everywhere. Rich looked so handsome and I thought it was so funny to see our little messy Caleb sitting there next to his dapper Dad. Rich would flinch every time Caleb was about to touch him. And Panera also has those yogurts that you simply suck out of a tube. . . yeah, not so good for a toddler. But, he loved it. David sat next to me and wasn’t as messy. Jacob, Ethan, and Grace sat at their own table and guess what they did while they ate? Read books! I’m so proud of them, they are just like me when it comes to reading.
After lunch we went to the mall. I won’t get into too much description, I’ll just say that it was packed with people but we found some awesome sale prices on the Land’s End clothes for the kids at Sears. I’m so thankful, we bought 3 beautiful, well-made winter coats for E, J, and C for next winter. I bought Grace 3 prs. of pants, a jean skirt, and 3 dresses. I bought Caleb 3 shirts and J and E both got a new shirt. I bought G a pretty pink fleece blanket for her bed, perfect for a small girl to curl up under with a good book. All these things were on clearance, plus another 50 percent off!! After Sears we left the mall, we just didn’t have the desire to walk around with the kids, too hard to keep track of them all and push the stroller. LOL
As soon as we got home, I went for a walk. David was already outside. I guess we were both thinking the same thing, ENOUGH of crowds and shopping, let’s get outside! Everything was still covered in snow and it was icy snow, so hard that I had to be extra careful not to fall down. I could actually walk on top of it! Our house sits on the top of a hill and look what David was doing when I came out to join him. He could go fast!
We made our way down past the ponds, looked at our flooded and rushing stream for a while, and then went into the woods. It was cold outside, but the dappled sunlight gave us moments of warmth. David found a fallen down tree and asked me to take a picture of him:
Just after taking his picture, I turned and saw some birds tucked away in the evergreens, I just love coming upon life in the woods. These birds, I believe, were cedar waxwings. There were about four of them together and they were eating berries. My picture isn’t very good, but you get the idea. I couldn’t get very close to them. It’s one thing to see a wild bird at a feeder, but quite another to see them in the woods, in their own “neighborhood”. This is quite close to the same part of the woods where I saw all that Robin activity a few weeks ago. I think I will call it the bird forest. Not very imaginative, but I’m not Anne of Green Gables. LOL
Okay, this next part is hard to explain. Near our house is what we call “the dam”, and it is a watershed area. These pictures will give you an idea what I mean. Here is David, walking up the big hill. (there is no water, just the stream, which goes through a tunnel under the hill). The dam was built just in case there is a major flood.
It’s probably about a 45 degree angle! This side gets more sun, there was no snow.
I must insert this picture of the dog, who enjoyed nibbling on some grass. It shows how BLUE the sky was.
When I got to the top of the hill, this is what David was doing, sliding fast down the hill! (the cold side was still covered with snow)
Before I knew it, I plopped down and tried it, too!
Like I said, the snow was hard as ice and we were able to “sled” right down the hill on our back-ends. LOL It was so very steep, quite exciting for me, I screamed and squealed all the way down. DAVID WAS VERY IMPRESSED. The only way back up was to dig our toes into the hill. Here I am, about to go back up! I went down a total of 3 times.
David went down and tried out another hill. I could not believe he was going down head first! Oh my!
After our sliding around, we walked over toward the woods again and we found some extremely slick ice. I love finding spots like this, I imagine that there are wood-fairies who enjoy ice skating in the moonlight on their very own lakes of ice. (I do have some “Anne” in me, as geidlbots pointed out, 
) It was so so slippery, David fell down about 3 times. I thought we would get the chance to go back with skates, but we didn’t.
We came out of the woods and stood on the road to look at the stream. It was busy and noisy, glittery. ALIVE!
I read somewhere that if you don’t like New England weather, just wait 10 minutes. Isn’t that funny?
Today, outside my windows, I see this:
Bye-bye snow! I’m trying to convince myself that spring is here. Wishful thinking. (read quote about New England weather again.) 
Yesterday morning I didn’t make it to church because our power went out. Once it came back on, there was only time for Rich to get his shower and get dressed. He went with Grace and Ethan. While they were gone I MADE HOMEMADE SOUP, SOUP, not SOAP, SOUP. LOL LOL. It was a Taste of Home 1st place recipe. It was a chicken soup with squash, carrots, onion, and kale in it. It made a HUGE pot and I’ll be eating it all week for lunch. We all went to church last night but I didn’t get to visit with any of my friends, except Tammy, because I was working in the toddler room (with Tammy).
I feel great today. I feel happy and content and ready to tackle the day. David doesn’t have speech because it’s a holiday and Rich is coming home in time to take Jacob and Ethan to their music lessons, so I don’t have to go anywhere. (I love not having to go anywhere, LOL)
SORRY THIS IS SO LONG!!!!
Have a wonderful day!
Good to be Home 
Going three times up and down that hill would be a workout! GO Shanda! I’m glad you had a good weekend! Thank you for stopping by and commenting on my blog. It IS WONDERFUL to be known and be loved by the Lord! I love you!
Oh, I am gald that your post was so long… it was lovely!!! There is so much I could say, from “yey Panera! (but I agree about the kid’s meal problems; I know because I work there) to “I love ‘bird forest’ and I think it’s a lovely name, even if it’s not an Anne name” to “thatdam looks liek SO much fun! I’m glad that you slid down it a few times!”
I LOVE the dog picture
Well, the snow is gone but maybe spring will come faster It is only February, but I really really wish it were spring! Somedays it just doesn’t feel like I am going to make it until winter is over….
it looks like you had a wonderful weekend! =)
we always make our own pb&j and goldfish for the boys when we go to Panera…we learned the hard way too…
The glimpse into your weekend happenings was fun. Nearly perfect…except for power outage. My body ached a bit when I thought of you sliding down the icy bank…I am delighted you had such good time with David. Enjoyed the pictures too. Happy week!
Not Anne, eh??? What was all that talk of wood fairies??? 🙂
I love the pics of your kids at Panera. PRECIOUS. It’s the same here in Tulsa. The weather is quite unpredictable. The weathermen fight over who is more accurate! 🙂
I think it is so funny about the weather. People have similar sayings almost everywhere. I was at State Farm here and we were discussing the weather. The sun was shining and there was no wind. They were complaining about the cold. I said I thought it was a beautiful day. You can always put on more clothes to stay warm. The agent said where he came from they would say if you don’t like the weather, just hang around a day. I told him, Where I come from (Oklahoma) they would say, If you don’t like our weather, just wait a minute! We are having lots of snow and cold here too. We were gone back east for 3 and 1/2 weeks and our Iowa was the coldest spot of all. Since we are not baking this winter, I don’t mind at all. It is so good not to have go to Des Moines two and three times a week regardless of the weather, like I did for about 19 years. Now I can look out the window and actually enjoy watching it snow and blow, like it is doing again now. But I really do miss “my” people. That was my ministry. I tried to be an encourager. My “friends” would stop by, not to only purchase things, but to visit and share their problems. I am so glad you took time to have fun with little David. Albert
Ice sliding looks like fun!
What a lovely weekend with your family. I enjoyed hearing about it!:)
Oh please don’t apologize for the long posts, I love reading them! We don’t get snow down here, so the idea of climbing up hills and sliding down sounds like a ton of fun!
We had stormy weather here yesterday, thankfully the power stayed on. I just did not get to duck in the library, but will catch up on that next weekend.
I love visiting here — your life is so very different from my own — your experiences with your children are such fun and the photos bring me to places of space and play and nature and freedom. I do like living in the Los Angeles area, but I do so enjoy visiting your neck of the woods, vicariously. 🙂 Blessings, Laurie
Looks like you and your family had boat loads of fun. Especially the watershed, Boy! I bet that is fun sledding down with the children. The soup you made sounds really yummy- good time for soups. I might make carrot soup this week, then freeze the rest.
Do you mind me asking what you got at Panera? I love the sierra turkey sandwitch, and I like their balsamic dressing with the classic cafe salad. Once in a blue moon I will head over there. Nice to stop by to see your blog!
Renee
I love this post! Are any of your cats mousers? Mine sure is. If we had a mouse, he wouldn’t survive long. Sliding down snowy, slick hills is so much fun! I haven’t done that in years. The book you are reading looks interesting. Let me know if you like it. Have a great day at home!
Mmm Panera. I love that place. I would have loved to join you sliding down the hills…it looked like so much fun. Maybe we’ll get more snow and can have some sledding fun before the winter is over. I hope you have a great day. Love you!
I agree with you and David on the mall. To crowded, to many people. I much prefer the serenity of God’s outdoors. I love the pics of the woods. I would have loved to have had a chance to slide down that hill with my kiddos. What fun! 😀 You are very blessed with living there. Sorry the snow is gone today. Enjoy your day. :)Melody
enjoyed your post! You have a WONDERful day too!!
Looks like a good weekend to me. We spent Saturday cleaning out our basement. Not as much fun as sliding down a hill.. but productive anyway. All those deals at Sears would have been enough to make me giddy. 🙂
I love it when you can find such good deals like that, especially at Sears! That sounds like a great weekend. That is funny about the sandwich at Panera for kids:) They seem not to make them for kids that’s for sure:) The ice sliding sounds like fun! I’m glad you had such a great weekend, and your soup sounds so good!
That sky is blue!!
I have ordered the PB&J for my kids and agree with you on how messy it is!
*….sigh for New England weather…* Having grown up in the north and now living in the far south, your pictures make me a little homesick for some good “normal” February weather! But my parents would agree with you – they’re more than ready for spring as well… My favorite picture was the one of the stream taken from the road – I love a good water picture!
What a beautiful weekend. All that sleding brought back a ton of childhood memories.
I love my home, but sometimes I think how wonderful it must be to live in a home like yours. So close to nature, it just must be wonderful…so I really love it when you take me with you outside your home. I really, really, really loved the first picture of the rain. I loved all the pictures, but that one was my favorite.
I love Panera Bread….MMMmmmm. And I hope you find that mouse…or not.
Your photos are as lovely as always. Your weekend sounded wonderful! What a special time you and your boy were able to have sliding in the snow! I am sure you made an awesome memory for him! We walked to the library today, only to find it closed for President’s day. I was bummed.
I am glad you went down the hil with David if I was there Aunt Amanda would have gone too, haha I missed all the sledding fun this year being preg. I went for a walk after J came home I went down to the high school and back just by myself it was so nice and misty outside! When are we getting together? well have a great night love your one and only and favorite haha sis
What a fun post — my daughter and I were reminiscing last night about how I used to sled-ride with them and they always managed to steer me into the ditch!! Nice kids!!
Your pictures are so great. What kind of camera do you have? I am just also so impressed with the quality. Is it the camera or the photographer????
Looks like you had a wonderful weekend. I hope you have a great week too!!!!
You always make me want to come for a visit to your house!! 🙂 Boy, that sky WAS blue!! Blue-tiful!! 🙂
What fun! I would love to be out there sledding. Glad you had fun times shopping, eating and walking. My kinda day!
So wonderful to read about your weekend. I love to go somewhere and have a coffee or bowl of soup and read a book! David is looking older, OH MY. What a sweet smile ….so glad you had such a magical time in the woods….and sliding. Yay, Mommy. I know that wins the hearts of boys….and it is fun too. We did sled a week ago…what fun. More often here we go sledding on blocks of ice in the summer You have probably seen shots on Mary’s site. She almost always comes when we get the iceblocks and invite all the young people we know. I love that last shot of the woods with the sun shining between the trees. I am sore from gardening all weekend…but happy we are getting the winter produce from the garden. I feel so productive and rich when i make my family food we have grown ourselves God bless, Jenny
We had wood fairies to. Ours had tree stumps for chimney tops. I love the contrast between the kids reading in the restaurant like little grown ups and then the joy of a good sled in time before the spring rains began. (Good girl for joining in the fun!!!) Lovely photos again. How we love the glimpses into your world! blessings and love in SC