Winter

My kids have really helped me to love Winter again. For this, I am very grateful! For at least the last 20 years or so I have hated Winter and complained with most everyone else in MN about how the Winters here suck. This Winter what has changed for me is watching how much fun my kids have in the snow. I have looked forward to it snowing more and gotten excited each morning we've woken up after a big snow thinking about how much fun the kids will have outside. We have had a lot of snow this February and most of the people I encounter while shoveling are grumbling about it, but I just say I love it and I really do! I think I appreciate all the snow this month because we didn't have very much in January and it was quite cold so we spent a lot of times indoors. Once we got a big snowfall this month we have been outside everyday. My kids go out for hours at a time. They have built a fort in the front bushes, a slide on the snowbank, a cave in the front yard and a slippery slidy area on our front hill. Our house sits on a pretty big hill which is awesome because the kids will slide on it for quite some time. Joe doesn't like going on a sled but he'll sit on his butt, back or tummy and slide down over and over again. Abby and the other neighbor kids will go flying down the hill on their sleds, while laughing hysterically. We also live about four houses away from a huge sledding hill and love to go there, especailly after a new snowfall. I am so glad that we have had a ton of snow and hope it lasts awhile longer.