Life lately, winter 2024

It has been quite some time since I wrote a little catch-up post on the little doings in our life. I like to record the bits and pieces, the details of daily life that might otherwise be forgotten months or years from now. Things that feel small, but collectively, they make up our whole life.

• We have snacked on raw, creamed honey
• We hauled firewood on Cooper's sled (his idea!) before we got quite a bit of snow.
• We got quite a bit of snow (in stark contrast to the very warm weather and total absence of snow that we have now). The boys loved the snow, while it lasted.
• We had some frigid temperatures (on one Sunday morning, it was -9 degrees F on our way to church). We layered and bundled and mostly stayed cozy, inside.
• Nicholas hung cabinets in our laundry room. I love having the storage and he did such a good job.
• I've been admiring and learning the patterns of winter light in the house. What a mood it creates each day.

• Lots of legos for them while I knit a bit. Time spend playing a board game that I had as a child, with Cooper. Building with tiles, building with trains. Always building something!
• Cooper tried on his sweater, in progress
• I've made granola weekly or more, since we can't get enough
• The boys painted water colors, with crayon relief
• We visited the library, to pick out books, do a craft, and complete the weekly scavenger hunt.

• We walked to a park while our truck was getting an oil change. My friend Kathleen and I knit a little bit while the boys played, and it was warm (for February) with sunshine.
• We ate banana bread on the deck on a particularly sunny day. And we colored and I drank chai and we soaked in the sunshine

• We picked plants from our property to put in a vase in the family room
• I crocheted a dish cloth, finished a sweater for Cooper, and a pair of self-striping socks for me
• We bundled up and met friends at parks. To see the sugaring of maple trees. And to "make" acorn soup and leaf salad and "store up food for the winter." (the details of a particularly in-depth outdoor playtime)
• Cooper and I baked orange poppyseed muffins while Finn napped
• My friend Molly came over to exchange belated Christmas gifts
• We celebrated Nicholas' birthday
• And in recent days, we have experienced some personal family heartbreak, which I may share about in due time. But if you feel led to pray for our little family, we deeply appreciate it.

And finally, I finished reading Anne of Green Gables. I absolutely loved this line:

The joys of sincere work and worthy aspiration and congenial friendship were to be hers; nothing could rob her of her birthright of fancy or her ideal world of dreams. And there was always the bend in the road! "God's in His heaven, all's right with the world," whispered Anne softly.