where the sidewalk ends

The end of the line. It has its appeal. The spot where I ran out of shoveling steam became the happening place to play this afternoon. Gabriel brought his trowel and paintbrush (sun or snow, they never fail to entertain him) and made snowballs; Frances built a fort. Only she can see this fort. But believe you me, it is nice.

Today was outside day. Finally! We were in dire need of one. I dragged, carried, and cajoled the children way down the icy, sometimes treacherous street to our friends' house, where we played on the snow mountain they had built with their neighbors. I felt some parental duty was finally fulfilled as I watched Frances sled down little slides in the mountain with (for her) minimal fear and anxiety. She determined sledding was really, really fun. (Okay, check that one off).


Here Frances is later at our house, as we tried to recreate some snow slides in our yard. Definitely not as cool, but we had a great time playing, and Gabriel was far more relaxed without big kids zooming past him on inner tubes and bright plastic sleds. (Zooming is relative here; think what zooming means for an almost two year old).


He got to hold his trowel and dig holes in the mountains as Didi tested our slide...


Then made lovely holes with his paintbrush all along the snowy cliffs on either side of the sidewalk. (This picture - ahem - also proves that Mike and I did do some shoveling today).

Frances and I finished Little House on the Prairie tonight. Apropos of Amelia's prairie post comment, I must say, living all together all the time has been remarkably delightful. Salutary, even, for all of us. We do have our own bedrooms; we are not even close to the Ingalls' intimacy level. But this snow has enforced lots of time together, uninterrupted by errands and schedules and appointments. We've had to make due with whatever was in the house (instead of running to Trader Joe's because we cannot go another day without those yummy whole wheat tortillas, or pink lady apples, or baby swiss cheese). I have driven the car once over the past week. A vacation from the car! The mail hasn't come, Mike has been working at home, and we can't stop baking. The whole world has slowed down, and we four have been pretty happy, watching the icicles drip.


Can you hear Gabriel? Draw a bus, Mama!