Second Week of Advent

This has been a wonderful week.

First of all, we had three snow days.  I love snow days. Whenever there is a serious snow, we abandon all to-do lists to do whatever comes to mind.  That usually means snuggling together with books and movies or playing outside -which usually doesn't last very long with my kids.  It takes 30 minutes to get out the door for a 20 minute snow romp.  It seems so illogical.  Why go to the trouble?  Hot chocolate.  It tastes so much better after you are a little bit frozen.

Can I eat this?

Mmmmmmm

Making snow angels for the first time

That is Mommy's pitiful attempt at a snowman

Our Tuesday snow day was made even better since our friend, Candace spent it with us.  She helped us make fantastic crayon art (which I can't show you yet since we will be giving them as gifts to people who may or may not read this blog). I made curried pumpkin soup for lunch and venison stew for dinner.  Mmmmmm.  Comfort food.  After the kids were in bed, we three adults learned a new game - Agricola.  It's like Settlers of Catan but more complex.  It only took us three hours (!) but I think we got the gist of it.

One of the best parts of the week is getting to go to yoga class every day!!!  Almost two years ago our church had an auction and I bought a gift certificate to the Prancing Peacock for a month of unlimited classes for $30.  I've been waiting and waiting to use it until I could get the most out of it.  Mark is off from school now so I have childcare covered and a car everyday.  It's the perfect time to do it.  It is really helping me to observe the Advent season more fully since I can take time in class to practice slowing down and meditating and all that I talked about doing in the last post. There is so much benefit in the practice.  I've been absolutely loving it. When I come home, I show the girls some of the poses we do in class....

Claire has the potential to be quite the little yogini.  Look at that down-dog!  I just want to note here that this is the day we ran out of oil and so had no heat in the house.  Mark, who is taking the picture, is wearing a hat.  I am wearing a huge sweater.  And Claire is mostly naked.  Totally unphased by the cold.  (Don't worry - we had our tank refilled that day and all is cozy again.)  And I have no idea what Lucy is doing there but it looks like she is missing a diaper.  hmmmm...

Mark jokes that I'm practically Hindu because of my build-in bindi.  : P 

The Advent calendar count-down is still going strong (though it really is hard to find time to get it in.) We had a couple play dates, a pre-Christmas visit from Uncle Kevin, and our Christmas concert at church.

It's  been a wonderful week.