Snow, Leaves and Ava

I've been looking forward to snow for a few weeks. I just wanted one good day of snow, preferably Christmas Day, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Well, as the old saying goes, "Be careful what you wish for." Because now, my nose is cold and leaky, my toes are constantly like blocks of ice, and my knuckles turn white when I drive because of how tightly I grasp the steering wheel. We got about six inches today (which I hear is nothing) and a few inches Tuesday. Even though I dread the cold, I will say this (through chattering teeth) -- snow is fun! When used properly, of course. And it's even more fun when you have and awestruck child to enjoy it with! Unfortunately, Andy was sick and Jax has an ear infection so they stayed inside. But, they sat in front of the sliding glass door so Jax could watch all the action. I think he enjoyed it just the same.

Tuesday, Andy's youngest brother Eric and his girlfriend Karly came to town for a brief visit. We all woke up to a blanket of white outside and within a few hours we were bundled up, carrot in hand (for our snowman's nose, of course) and outside tromping through the white stuff. Ava was in Winter Wonderland! She immediately collected a large handful of snow and began packing it between her pink-mittened hands and threw the end result (still a handful of snow) at Eric and then shrieked with glee. After that was out of the way, first order of business was, of course, building a snowman. Actually, it was a snowprincess, according to Ava. So, we packed and rolled and, I must say, making three giant snowballs and plopping them on top of each other is not as easy as one might assume. Rolling part of her snowprincess
Look, they're the same size

Snowprincess-making is a very exact science... and I'm not scientist. Thank goodness for Eric and Karly, both old hats at creating snowpeople. Finally though, our snowprincess was complete. She's still in our backyard, although hidden beneath new snow (along with my pink scarf... shoulda never let her borrow it).Uncle Eric and Karly introduced Ava to the joy of eating snow

Once the snowprincess was done, I gave Ava a bottle of water mixed with food coloring and let her "paint" in the snow. She splattered pink and purple everywhere, she's quite the little arteest. After all the water ran out, we created Snow Shreks. Ava has these fun little molds of Shrek and Donkey. They're actually for her sandbox, but work just as well in snow. She made about 10 Shreks and half as many Donkeys. They look pretty cool, but when you have multiple heads all over your backyard it can actually get a little creepy. Oh well, she enjoyed it!

Making a Donkey (from Shrek) with Uncle Eric

After about an hour, Ava was ready to go inside for hot cocoa (her new favorite treat). I asked her which she liked better, playing in the snow or the pool. Her response? "The snow because I can build a snowprincess. And, I get to drink hot cocoa."

While I'm here, here's some pictures from last week (pre-snow). We borrowed our friends' rake and finally raked up all the leaves in our backyard (just in time). We let Ava run and jump in them before bagging them up. I think her smile says it all!

Entering the leaf pitHow cute is she?!