Everyday Life for Four Seasons

Today was a typical Saturday for us - swimming lessons for both girls in the morning, followed by a birthday party for a special 3-year old at noon, and we rounded out the day with some cleaning and house projects and good ole family time. 'A' did a great job in the pool this morning - she swam (with the bubble attached) all by herself! Quite an accomplishment, considering a few months ago she didn't even want to get into the pool.



It snowed again today and as usual, it is just beautiful outside. I know that some people get sick of looking at snow, but it just hasn't hit me yet. Snow is one of Mother Nature's miracles. Just don't ask me to go out and play in it every day - then you will hear another story!



This matryoshka (and the one behind her) was brought home to 'A' by Grandma Shelly and Grandpa Neal last year after they visited Russia. If any of you are looking for the perfect gift for a 2 or 3 year old, the matryoshka is it. She loves to nest them, play with them, line them up smallest to largest...
Check out these wonderful matryoshka dolls that Ella made. You can see some lovely photos of them on her blog.

This is what you would see if you were to snowshoe up the hill through the woods in the back of our house...



Edited to add...
No, you won't be seeing any photos of the travel neck pillow I made yesterday. I made and stuffed the form, and was on my way to pick out some groovy-masculine fabric and zipper to make a cover for it, when I realized that it was pretty bulky. I suspected that Jeff wasn't going to want to lug it around with him, so I called to double-check, and sure enough, the project was put on hold indefinitely. I could make it for myself, but I don't see where I would use it, considering I have severe motion sickness and I don't rest or close my eyes anyplace except my own bed.

Instead, I'll give you this neat bag to check out:


I call it my "Priceless Grocery Bag." I made it out of old plastic grocery bags using the Etsy tutorial I found a few weeks ago. It's priceless because on one hand, it's "free" when I buy groceries, but on the other hand, if you consider the environmental cost of making, shipping and disposing of the bags, it's really not free at all. But, when you take twelve of them and make them into a sturdy, reusable totebag, they become Priceless.