Winter Wonderland

Wednesday morning was the first time this winter that we finally had some real snow. Cheers rang out as school was canceled and a snow day was declared. So everyone dashed around looking for clothes, raided the closet, got dressed, lined their socks with plastic bags, and descended on the backyard.

 

 

First we find the two resident high schoolers getting philosophical.

 

Naiomi: "My favorite thing about snow is how pretty it is. Really good snow never lasts long so you have to have fun with it before it gets all crusty."

 

Ellie: "The best thing that snow ever invented was snowcones. Cherry snowcones."

 

 

Vigilant as ever, the General keeps her #1 soldier trained and ever ready for the next mission and the unknown dangers it harbors.

 

Rainie: "I'll start making the fort. Without a good fort, you have nothing to defend! Defense is the best policy! After that, Attack!"

 

Dolly: "General, our first ammunition is finished. More snowballs on the way!"

 

Rainie: "Good thinking Agent Dollynator! Where is Agent Shorty McPicklepants? He's slacking in his duties again! We need to get the fort made STAT before the enemy knows we have infiltrated their territory. Remember, the enemy never sleeps!"

 

Dolly: "Uh... Agent Picklepants is, er, securing the outer perimeter sir!"

 

 

Tamayuki: "No I'm not. I'm making a snowman. And my name isn't Shorty McPicklepants. I don't want to be a secret agent."

 

 

Meanwhile in another part of the yard...

 

Sohi: "Weeeeeeee! Look at my arms make the snow go swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!"

 

Daddy: "Sohi! You're only half dressed! You are going to be a pink popsicle if you don't go and get some clothes on!"

 

Sohi: "But it's not cold at all! Look how fluffy it is! I have a hat and a big huge fuzzy coat on over my clothes. The coat is just longer than my skirt. If I had shoes on I'd just be roasting!"

 

Daddy: "That's not a coat, its a bathrobe!"

 

Sohi: "Look at me! Weeeeeeeee!"

 

 

Not wanting to be left out, Yuriko finds something to distract Sohi with.

 

Yuriko: "Sohi, look what I found. Its a snowball seed! If we get some more we can build something with it!"

 

 

Sohi: "Those aren't snowball seeds. You're silly. They are snow bunnies, cousins to dust bunnies but not so icky. See, here's a whole family of them. This one is Melba, that one is Dusty, this one is Boober, and..."

 

Yuriko: "Burrr! The snow is colder than it looks! What, did you say something about boobs?"

 

Sohi: "No, his name is Boober. Its like man boobs, that live in the garden and eat your veggies. All veggies should be pink, and taste like cotton candy. Where do you buy cotton candy tree seeds? We should have a carnival and sell hot lemonade. We should grow pink lemonade trees too."

 

Yuriko: "Put the snow over here so we can make a snow lady."

 

 

Yuriko: "Wait, her mascara is running! I need to fix it!"

 

Sohi: "If I had a gumball this big I could lick it all day long! But who would squish all the marshmallows? I should make some candy cane skis so I could zoom up a hill and crash into a horde of peeps! That's the proper way to tame them you know. Or to play a baseball game with them and use pretzel sticks and malt balls for equipment."

 

Yuriko: "Mama really shouldn't have let you watch Viva Pinata. You are making me hungry!"

 

 

Yuriko: "Daddy, don't take more pictures, we aren't done yet! I still have to fix her face and..."

 

Sohi: "Boobies!"

 

Yuriko: "Well yes, she needs those too."

 

 

Rainie: "The WAR begins! Agent Dollynator, is the stockpile ready?"

 

Dolly: "Yeas sir! Ready and waiting!"

 

Rainie: "Now watch my faster than lightning, rapid-fire, it'll give you whiplash, trademark snowball ambush technique! Ready, aim..."

 

 

Rainie: "Ahhhh! I've been hit!"

 

Dolly: "General!"

 

Mommy: *giggles*

 

Rainie: "MOM! That's not how you are supposed to play war games! Our forces were impenetrable! Now you will feel my wrath! Soldier, load the cannons!"

 

Dolly: "I think we forgot to make the cannons sir!"

 

Rainie: "What??"

 

 

Tamayuki: "Mommy look! Its my very first snowman! Isn't he cute? Make sure to get a good picture ok?"

 

Mommy: "He's super adorable, just like you! Now stand close so you both get in the frame..."

 

Tamayuki: "I want to show Miss Lottie how cute he is. I told her that she could come outside with us, but Dakota told her it would be really cold and they should stay inside and make hot chocolate for everyone."

 

Mommy: "I'm sure Miss Lottie will like him."

 

Tamayuki: "Mommy, what's rum?"

 

Mommy: "Oh, um, er... it's something that Dakota likes to put in her cocoa. You wouldn't like it."

 

Tamayuki: "Hot chocolate is really yummy. I like it a lot. I think I should have some before bedtime every night. Maybe twice."

 

 

After hauling some bucketfulls of snow, an impromptu snow hill was made and ready for testing.

 

Ellie: "I get to be the first one to go down the sled hill!"

 

 

Ellie: "Roller coaster style!"

 

Mommy: "Are you ready Ellie?"

 

Ellie: "Ready and waiting!"

 

 

Ellie: "I can't see! I can't see!"

 

Mommy: *giggles*

 

Tamayuki: "Me and Dolly get to go next, ok Mommy?"

 

 

Ellie: *crashes into a snow bank* "Oof! In case anyone was wondering, I'm fine!"

 

 

Mommy: "Are you ready guys?"

 

Tamayuki: "Yah Mommy, I think so."

 

Dolly: "Hat secured. Ready!"

 

Ellie: "Go for it!"

 

 

Tamayuki: "Eeeeeeeeeee..."

 

Dolly: "Gera.."

 

 

Tamayuki: "Eeeeeeeeeee!"

 

Dolly: "..nimooooo!"

 

 

Naiomi: "My turn Mama! My turn!" *giggles*

 

 

Naiomi: "Pull..."

 

 

Naiomi: "...the lever..."

 

 

Naiomi: "...Cronk!"

 

 

Naiomi: *crash* "Wrong lever!" *giggles*

 

After getting thoroughly soaked, lots of fun, and a few cold limbs, the band headed back indoors to change out of soggy clothes. Mugs of hot chocolate were had by all.

 

~Sister Kyoya

Your story here is just awesome...but you really don't know from "snow" We are now somewhere around 50 cm so far this January and another 15 cm is expected over night tonight and tomorrow! If I get very brave, I will go out tomorrow and take some pictures with at least one of my girls and post them!

Thank you! We definitely had a lot of fun and wanted to get pics before the snow disappeared or got gross.. You could always pretend that the first pic of Tama that he's hip high in snow instead of kneeling in it... I'd love to see pics of one or any of your kids in the snow!

 

~Sister Kyoya

gut thing theyre not homeschooled...

cool pictures and here in Canada there has been a lot of snow. This winter is has been bad.

Thank you! We definitely had a lot of fun and wanted to get pics before the snow disappeared or got gross.. You could always pretend that the first pic of Tama that he's hip high in snow instead of kneeling in it... I'd love to see pics of one or any of your kids in the snow!

 

~Sister Kyoya

 

I got brave enough to go out for about 5 minutes...once we pried open the patio door...and I made a little story about the snow for Kino! Hope you like it!

 

 

Oh my! Can he be anymore adorable? I love this shot of him. He looks even cuter than usual.

 

Its so nice to see the kids enjoying the snow. But I second Bouncing_Tigger about the "snow". I'm beginning to think the white background in the Canadian flag stands for snow. Sigh. If only Tama can come over, Kaylus said he'd help him build lots of snowpeople and they can have hot chocolate after. of course, he also says that he'll join Dakota for a spot of rum, in the hot chocolate of course

I LOVE THAT SLED. Seriously, where did you find a DD size sled?

 

Also, major bonus points for the Emperor's New Groove reference.

gut thing theyre not homeschooled...

 

Going by their stories, Tamayuki, Dolly, & Ringo are homeschooled. So I guess you could say that they got a lesson in weather... and cold fingers.

 

cool pictures and here in Canada there has been a lot of snow. This winter is has been bad.

 

Thank you! Our weather has been crazy here all through January. I think it was towards the beginning of the month that we had warm spring weather for about a week, and out trees have buds on them.

 

I got brave enough to go out for about 5 minutes...once we pried open the patio door...and I made a little story about the snow for Kino! Hope you like it!

 

Yay! I'll go take a look at it in just a minute.

 

Oh my! Can he be anymore adorable? I love this shot of him. He looks even cuter than usual.

 

Its so nice to see the kids enjoying the snow. But I second Bouncing_Tigger about the "snow". I'm beginning to think the white background in the Canadian flag stands for snow. Sigh. If only Tama can come over, Kaylus said he'd help him build lots of snowpeople and they can have hot chocolate after. of course, he also says that he'll join Dakota for a spot of rum, in the hot chocolate of course

 

I totally love that picture too! I love the unexpected shots of Tama where he's looking off at something, catching him in 'thinking poses'. He's just so happy and sweet. I still think its funny remembering how often people used to tell me that the 03 is such a sad sculpt when I've never thought that it really was. Miss Lottie falls into that category, so even though I've really grown to love her default faceup, I'm still looking forward to making it look happier.

 

I do envy you guys a bit. A winter with no or hardly any snow is really disorienting to me.

 

Tell Kaylus that Tama would hijack the sled, pack some onigiri, and hightail it to your place if he thought he could be back for dinner and there was snow trail the whole way. As for Dakota, I'm not sure she knows what "a spot of" anything is when it includes an alcohol percentage.

 

I LOVE THAT SLED. Seriously, where did you find a DD size sled?

 

Also, major bonus points for the Emperor's New Groove reference.

 

The sled is from American Girl. Unfortunately it was part of Molly & Emily's set that was discontinued last year. However there is at least five listed on Ebay like this one, American Girl Emily's Sled, if you are interested. It really is a cute sled and I'm really happy that Raven bought it when he did.

 

I was getting tired and didn't quite know what to write for those last few photos. I was afraid that watching the 3 kids sled down a hill in not very different pictures would get boring even though I thought it was funny. When I thought of the quote I laughed because it was a very Naiomi thing to say. I often forget that she may look like she's really quiet like Tama, but she's actually very outgoing and loves being in the spotlight.

 

~Sister Kyoya

I was afraid that watching the 3 kids sled down a hill in not very different pictures would get boring even though I thought it was funny.

 

Never boring! I keep coming back to the story to look at those shots because I think the sledding pictures are just so terrific!! It's sometimes hard to show a lot of 'action' but you did a great job of that with them sledding down the hill and you did an excellent job of hiding the fact that they were 'tied' on...I never suspected a thing!! I haven't gone tobogganing in years but these pictures made me remember just how much fun it is and make me tempted to try it again...or at least let my girls try it! I'm not sure I'm going to be able to resist bidding on that sled, now!!

The sled is awesome and it slides over the snow really well. I might replace the rope handle for one that's longer because even for Tama who's the same height as an American Girl, it just wasn't long enough. The 2nd to last picture really just cracks me up with Naiomi just zooming away. I felt bad for Ellie though, she actually went twice but her headscarf fell over her face both times.

 

~Sister Kyoya

Looks like the snow brought the family together to get a lot a fun

Really liked the slope , it must have been a lot of joy and nice memories they will never forget

Wonderful pics and story. Makes the continuous snow not seem as bad. I love all the random little conversations that are being told, it really gives the feeling you just walked up to them spontaneously, and thats what you heard. Very nice with the sled! The action shots are great. The color of your coat is awesome BTW