Winter Survival Guide

 This winter has been incredibly cold and long.  We haven't been able to be outside all that much, and I haven't wanted to.  But we are hardy and we will survive and in fact we are surviving.  We've done what it takes and Spring will be all the more sweeter when it comes.

So what have we been up to?  How have we survived?

1 - We got out... Carter and I took a Baby and Me AquaFit class.  He LOVED the water!  I'm looking forward to taking him to the pool at the lake this summer.
We also have been hitting up some different play groups, the mall playland and the library to keep us from being too housebound.
Mark and I got out to a Jets/Oilers game. 
I took Nicole to see Disney on Ice.  She loved it, what a special Mommy/Coco night.
Brady has played floor hockey at the church on Tuesday evenings.
Jayme has been loving her Youth nights on Fridays.
Life never stops just because it's cold.

We were sure to dress warmly when we did venture out!

2 - We stayed home...  There were many days where being housebound was the BEST.  I didn't stress about having to go somewhere, I re-learned the art of being a stay at home mom.  We baked, we cleaned, we napped, we played, read books.  You name it, we did it, and we enjoyed it.
And in the evenings and on weekends, we played games with the big kids.  This winter they learned Chess, played many games of Checkers and Crokinole, and  tons of card games too.
We completed two 1000 piece puzzles.  The kids played mini sticks in the basement for hours.  And when they could, they went outside, they built a fort in the front yard and practiced snowboarding down the mountain high drifts beside the driveway!

Sweetest little napper

This guy loves bathtime...

and reading books.

3 - We used technology.  We didn't stress that the kids were spending a bit more time watching TV or playing on their devices.  It's minus 40 for crying out loud.  There will be full days during spring and summer where we won't even turn the TV on.
Even Carter got some "games" put onto Daddy's iPhone and gets his turn!
Mommy and Daddy had "our" show... we watched the first 2 seasons of Downton Abbey.  British accents did abound!

 4 - We had friends over.  The best way to be happy at home is to fill your home with people.  We'd turn the fire on, put the coffee or tea on, have a snack and visit.  This kind of reminds me of the olden days.  It may have been dark and cold outside, but it was warm and cozy inside.

One last picture... I'm really hoping that there will be a soon coming AFTER picture to this one.  Her tooth is dangling, quite literally.  There is just WAY too much drama when it comes to pulling teeth with this one!