the 29th...

... was my birthday! I woke up to presents and handmade cards... what a great way to start the day!

Jeff and the kids went off to ski and I hung out with a book and the Mango pup...
After lunch the kids wanted to go out and play in the new snow we had just gotten...

Alex's mind immediately turned to mischief...and he started stalking his sister with a snowball hidden behind his back...


But she was on to him and readied her shield...
:-)

Then he decided to go for a different angle...

They had so much fun just playing outside...
I kid you not... they were out there for THREE straight hours! They got this wild idea to build a "sledding hill" on our perfectly flat backyard. They actually made a pretty decent (albeit small) ramp with all of their hard work! I didn't take any photos of it, but I do have video... I'll have to post that next.

That evening we went to our neighbors' house for a holiday open house! It was so nice to get to meet and visit with other people with houses in our neighborhood. We got to talk to the family that has the cottage directly behind us for quite a while. They ended up coming over that night and their girls played Kinect with Alex and Clara. Lots of laughing and lots of good conversation!