Winter in the Neighborhood

 

The Kaze family invited us to build an epic box fort with them in their new house with all their moving boxes over the winter break. I have never seen anything like it!

Our 14th anniversary lunch at Tumerico

On our way to Sunday Dinner at Stephen's house, we came across a neighbor who was letting a group of kids feed his big ol' pet tortoise. 

We continued on our walk and spotted a wild Ethan in his natural habitat. 

Our neighborhood has a robust group of kids, mostly homeschooled kids from our ward, that wander the desert making forts and other shenanigans. I would love for my older kids to embrace their slightly feral side and get out roving with them. One day, I walked out to the desert with the kids and we stumbled upon the neighborhood kids taking turns burying each other in a giant hole. Such 'wholesome' fun!

Winter is prime time to be outside. I remembered that the Desert Meadow Gardens exist and took some people there a few times. 

Annie continues to have a life full of events to be excited for. The high school did a Saturday cheerleading clinic that she loved. 

Ellie is Annie's carpool buddy to most of these sporadic events, as well as Gymnastics and Dance class. They beg for play dates on all the days in between. 

There was a cat's cradle craze that swept the 2nd grade. Annie took to wearing a yarn necklace for several weeks, and taking extra yarn to school to share with friends at recess and on the bus. I was cool near the start when they were all beginning and I could teach them the few string tricks from my childhood that I remembered, but they all soon passed me up!

There was an art festival at the lake on a January morning that ended up being SUPER windy, which meant that not many people were there. Annie took full advantage of the short lines to do as many flips on this trampoline-harness thing as possible.

There were people milling about on stilts and doing cool tricks. It was worth braving the wind!

Here's a candid shot of Isaac getting distracted by counting something. It happens quite often. We love our tender-hearted chill guy, even though we wish he would be a little more aware of keeping up with the group. His kindergarten teacher very kindly phrased it as "He doesn't seem to have much of a sense of urgency."

I had excellent helpers when we trimmed the trees this winter. 

Here's a cute video of Felix chatting about oranges. 

We attended an un-superbowl party for non-sports fans. It consisted of a bunch of marble races that we were supposed to cheer enthusiastically for, which is what we are pretty sure sports are about. There was also a half-time show choreographed at the party by whichever of the kids wanted to participate. It was surprisingly good!

Winter time in the desert is hard to beat!