A Touch of Lightheartedness

After the weight of my last post, I feel the need to lighten things up a bit with some fun pictures and simple news of our winter goings-on. I heard from several friends and relatives after my confessional booth rant and was wonderfully encouraged to consider that there is a necessary place in life for recognizing one's fallibility and limitations. The practice of it, I suppose, might leave me less vulnerable to the shell-shock of such realizations. :)

Now, back to the pictures... Our winter has been predictable. Cold, sunny, snowy, cold. We actually had a warm day last week when the temperature crept all the way up to 65 degrees! Noa and I took a long walk around our block and I noticed that many people (including both of our next-door neighbors who are veteran yard-keepers) were watering their dead grass on this sunny day. So Noa and I pulled out our hose from the garage and soaked our defrosting yard - I have no idea why you would water your dead lawn in the middle of winter when there is no chance that it would green up or grow anytime soon, but we did it anyway. Noa actually ran through a few times while I sun-bathed in our adirondack chairs. And here we are, back to a more normal theme... cold. A little bit of snow on the ground and low clouds in the mountains. I have a free drink waiting for me at Starbucks (thank you, Josh!), and I think I'll make it a Chai. Noa and I will spend the rest of this snow day sorting laundry together and perhaps baking some cookies (mmmmm!).

Short sleeves in January!

Christmas in South Texas (belated, I know)- Josh, Noa, and I at my parents' home with my sister, Megan. Clearly, Noa was not in need of coffee first thing in the morning like her Momma.

Aunt Megan helped her try on her new hair clips. Am I the only one that makes her scream and cry when her hair gets fixed???

Modeling her new bomber jacket, and her Daddy's new hat. Apparently, he fancies Davy Crockett according to some of my family members...

On "warmer" days, we take walks at the Garden of the Gods, where Noa experiments with the snow.

And on "colder" days, we stay inside and build couch boats.

In the evenings, Noa has enjoyed reading her books to us. Now that's the kind of change I can get used to! One of her favorite books is Each Peach Pear Plum (or, as she says it, "Each each each pum!")...

And our recent trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science: Noa loved all the bugs and animals. We should have brought the Davy Crockett hat with us.

The natural cave exhibit.







The lynx(es-s).







The wolves (aka, "Doggies! Arf! Arf!").

And Mr. Pirate. I wanted a picture in his lap, too, but a crowd had gathered and I lost my nerve.

That's it for now. Noa has been patient with me this morning as I've blogged. She is standing on a chair in front of the living room window looking for the deer that often roam our street (and eat my plants). Deer Watch is often her last-ditch effort to entertain herself when all else has failed, so I'll take the cue and turn off the laptop. Happy February, everyone!