Snow Day Part 2

When we got home from Nana's house I went out to measure our snow. It measured 4.5 inches which is a lot for us.

When Sam got home we went straight outside because it was getting dark. By now we had even more snow. It had not stopped falling.

Sam made a quick mini snowman.

Caroline was not as into the snow tonight. She just wanted to be held. I think that being all dressed up it was a challenge for her to walk through the deep snow. She fell down often.

We noticed that there was a lot of snow on the slide. I challenged Katherine to go down it.
She is normally not very daring so I did not know if she would go down the snow filled slide. She did!
I was expecting a faster ride with snow flying up but she just pushed it down as she went.

She thought it was pretty cool and there was quite a pile of snow at the bottom when she got off.
Caroline thought it was pretty funny.
And seconds later just wanted to be held again.
Katherine made snow angels.
And she made a quick larger snowman with daddy. By now it was dark and getting colder so the snowman did not get any facial features or accessories.

Snow Day Part 1

Thursday morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. I knew there was a chance of snow but it was already several inches deep. I rushed outside to take pictures thinking that it would not stick and be gone soon like usual. Boy was I wrong. Four days later there is still some snow on the ground.

We had records for the most snow in a 24 hour time period (12.5 inches) and in a single day (7.8 inches). It pretty much did not stop snowing all day.
We were headed to Nana and Pops' house so we waited to play in the snow until we got there. Pops' enjoyed making snowballs. Katherine liked to eat the snow.

Of course, if big sister is going to eat snow, Caroline is going to copy her.
When it snowed in early December and at Christmas, the girls were not that excited to play in the snow but they really enjoyed it this time. Somehow we actually had the right clothes for it too. We had 2 snowsuits, warm coats, and snow boots. We also had cute hats and gloves that we bought in Norway.
Here is the back yard before we played in the snow.
You can see how deep it was at 9:30am. This was after only snowing for 5 of 24 hours.

Pops pulled out my childhood sled and pulled the girls around the yard.

They thought it was fun but I am not sure they would have really enjoyed going fast down a hill.

Nana was a great photographer and enjoyed watching us all play in the snow.


After playing in the snow we went inside and made snow ice cream. Yummy!

American Girl Bistro

One of my best friends, Regina, came in town for a quick visit with her daughter, Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Katherine are 4 weeks apart and get along really well even though they only see one another only 1-2 times a year.

I kept Katherine out of Mother's Day Out for the day but went ahead and sent Caroline so we could have some big girl time. It is very rare these days that I get to do things with just Katherine so it was a very special treat.

We took the girls to the American Girl Bistro for lunch. Of course they loved it. Katherine took her Bitty Baby with her but when she saw the dolls that you could borrow she also wanted "the one in the purple fancy dress" or Felicity.

Elizabeth borrowed one of the store dolls as well. The servers did not remember her name but later I looked it up and she dined with Ivy.

I think that the American Girls Dolls are precious and I can't wait until Katherine is old enough to really get into the stories. I love how they tie in to the historical characters. Of course I don't like the price tags so hopefully we won't get into it too much.

I love it when we get to hang out with Regina and Elizabeth and every time they come I realize how much I wish we were in the same city. Now it is my turn to go visit them.

Sisterly Love

Katherine and Caroline are having so much fun together. They have always liked each other and enjoyed being together but it seems that recently they have just started to play so well together. They are currently 18 months and almost 4. Honestly I thought it would be about another year before they would really play this well. Almost daily they will spend 30-60 minutes in Katherine's room playing without me being there. It is so fun to sit back in the office and watch/listen to them on the video monitor.

Caroline absolutely adores Katherine and does everything that Katherine does. Sometimes this is really funny like when they were both looking at me upside down through their legs.

It means Caroline is learning to do things like use a camera.

She follows Katherine's lead and love to dance, play dress up, baby doll and in their kitchen. She has a vocabulary full of words that Katherine did not even know about at 18 months like, "tutu", "wand" and "be ba boo" (Bibity, Bobity, Boo).

Most of the time, if they are both at home and awake, they are together. It is so fun to see them becoming best friends.

We are also learning the challenges of having a sibling as well. Until a few months ago if I heard Caroline screaming, I assumed that Katherine had taken something away from her and Katherine was the one who had committed the crime. I no longer can assume that. Caroline is sneaky and mischievous at times. She will go up to Katherine and take something she is playing with and run as fast as she can.

We are working through sharing and playing together. It is hard for Katherine because Caroline will sometimes mess up what she has. She is having to learn patience. When I can get them to work together though, it is so sweet. I love how Katherine loves to read to Caroline.

Yesterday Caroline decided to climb into an empty box. Katherine then climbed in with her which she did not like. So, I grabbed another empty box so they would each have one. Wouldn't you know, Caroline climbed in with Katherine. They just love to be together.

And at the end of the day. They have played hard and are tired. I love how they both fell asleep in the car last night on the way home from Nana's. The funny thing is that Katherine fell asleep after we pulled into the garage while I was taking in their bag and unlocking the door.