Winter Festivities

We put up our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. Sydney was an experienced helper this year and surprisingly Wynn hasn't messed with the tree all that much. He likes to look at the lights but doesn't really touch it.

I ventured out one afternoon to take the kids sledding. Last year Sydney was kind of afraid when we took her sledding and was more interested in playing in the snow. This year however she was having a blast. She immediately wanted to go down the biggest hill, but I made her work her way up to it so she could get used to leaning back and the first time I had her lay down so she wouldn't topple forward I felt really bad that we couldn't stay for long because Wynn only lasts about 30 minutes in the cold... he HATES being all bundled up and screams and screams after about 20-30 minutes until we get him home and back to his normal clothing level... Plus the sun was going down. One of the pics shows a small glimpse of our 300 PM sunset :).

Its been VERY snowy the past few weeks. The snow is a little above my knees so Sydney has to wade through like she's swimming. Most of the kids here wear one piece snowsuits since it gets so deep; that way it doesn't get under their coats and onto their backs. They still play outside at preschool everyday though! We bring full snow gear everyday and a set of inside shoes. When the sun comes out the temperature drops though and Sydney got her first lessons in too much cold fun this past week! She LOVES to eat the snow especially when we are out in the hot tub... but at preschool on morning, I guess she ate too much snow because she got a little bit of frost nip (1st stage of frost bite) on her cheeks and around her mouth. When I went to pick her up they had brought her inside to warm it up and advised me to get a full face mask for her on those cold, clear sky sunny days. Well we bought her the mask, but she's learning that if you eat too much snow, your face will literally freeze! Andy was upset that I didn't take pictures of her face as soon as I saw her, but he took one about an hour later after the whiteness was mostly gone.

If you enlarge the pic you can see the faint white lines by her nose and pale patches by her eyes... okay maybe I should have taken a picture immediately... In this picture it just kind of look like a weird photo shop or blurriness 

Playing on the snow hill by the preschool Sydneys on the top