This evening I am reflecting on a wonderful day. A day that was begun a little later than normal, because my wonderful husband got up with the girls so I could sleep in. And when I got up and went downstairs I was greeting with smiling faces and big hugs from my little girls who were fed and dressed in warm sweaters. Ella was very excited to announce the first snow of the season. It was beautiful! Like a winter wonderland.

The day continued by baking pumpkin bars and even peanut butter cookies that we cut into shapes of stars, trees and butterflies. I had a very helpful crew: Ella sat on the counter with me and counted and helped pour things into the bowl to be mixed, Lucy sat in her highchair so patiently and played with kitchen utensils, and my wonderful husband even had to make a run to the store in the wet snow to get more oil which I had run out of. Unfortunately we had a nail in our tire that we didn't have time to fix immediately and it came out in that trip. Thankfully he wasn't stranded in the snow, but heard the air leaving the tired as he pulled into the garage. He got that fixed just in the nick of time as the dealership in our town is only open until 2:00 pm.

We dug out the girls boots and snowsuits and while we found that their boots weren't a perfect fit, they were decent enough to wear outside for awhile. They were so cute all bundled up! Lucy seemed to like the snow, but she was very frustrated that it took a bit of effort to move around.

I have moments where I am sad over how fast the time is going with my girls. I try not to focus on that, and instead to enjoy every moment. Today was a moment that I loved the girls at the ages they are at. Last year Ella didn't really care about the snow. Lucy was too little to do anything. This year they had so much fun and couldn't wait to go play outside together! And I know that as they get older these moments will become more and more meaningful.

After we were outside for about an hour and the driveway was mostly cleared, we came in and had a nice hot lunch. We told Ella that if she took a nap she could have a special hot chocolate with marshmallows. She was excited about the idea but couldn't seem to fall asleep. Instead I pulled out my American Girl books from long ago and read her a few chapters on the book she picked out: Meet Kirsten. She went downstairs to finish her quiet time while watching a movie and I got a wonderful nap.

I woke up and was able to finish some things I had on my to do list for the day and unfortunately Tim, who is on call for work this week, got called to Winnebago to fix a line that fell because of the heavy snow. Sadly, it is about a 2 hour drive in the snow.

We brought some cookies and bars to my moms house and she invited us to stay for dinner. We were so thankful to be able to spend our Saturday evening with them, as we were so disappointed that daddy had to leave us for so long!