Happy (snowy) New Year!

It has been quite a while since my last post - we've celebrated both Thanksgiving and Christmas, said good-bye to 2016 and welcomed 2017, and already missed 5 days of school due to ice and/or snow.  I'm going to come back and do a separate Christmas post, but I wanted to share some photos of our recent snow and quick kid updates.

Just before Christmas break, we had a massive ice storm that downed tons of trees in Eugene, knocked out a ton of power, and did millions of dollars worth of damage.  We were lucky to get by without downed trees or losing power, but we had friends who lost power and others who lost fences due to downed trees.  Our (previously) tree-lined street looks quite bare now, as almost one complete side had trees that fell over during the ice storm.  Then yesterday, we woke up to snow (just about 2") and it continued snowing throughout the day, never getting above freezing.  School was cancelled both yesterday and today, and the kids have been having a blast playing outside, building a snowman, having snowball fights, and even sledding.  Last week we went up to the mountains and spent the day sledding up there, so they were both excited to see snow falling in their own backyard yesterday!  They spent the day going inside and outside, playing in the snow, shoveling the snow into piles, drinking hot chocolate, catching snowflakes on their tongues, making snow angels, and just generally having  a blast.  The last time we had a lot of snow was when we lived in Tacoma, and Miriam was just over 3 1/2...I'm not even sure she remembers seeing that snow fall!

Speaking of Miriam, she is doing really well.  She'll be turning 6 in just a few months (and for some reason, we are finding this harder to accept than any previous birthdays!) and is really enjoying kindergarten, although she hasn't had school in over three weeks because of snow and ice and winter break.  She stays busy helping me bake, doing art projects and putting her artwork up around the house, and building with blocks.

Mathias is still a funny, busy guy - always confident that he can do what he wants, whenever he wants, even if it contradicts what we'd like him to be doing.  He is so sweet and loving though, and while he is full of energy and constantly on the go, he also loves to snuggle and read books and help me bake.

In closing this post, I hope the beginning of 2017 has been a great start for you and your family.  Happy New Year to you all!