February Snow Day in Upstate New York.

Traditionally, February is known for being a LONG, dreary, winter month.

 I was prepared to feel snowed in and claustrophobic as I learned to navigate my first northeastern winter.

 When we lived in the northwest, we were warned of the depressing rain.

Moving to the east, we were warned of SNOW.    

 I never expected that I would genuinely LOVE both rain and snow.

Snow is BEAUTIFUL.

 I took a mere five minutes, grabbed my camera
(shot on automatic, gasp!, with my trusty 50 mm lens),
and really SAW my beautiful world.
(These are the pictures I shot, from my camera, in succession.)

Gosh.  This Earth is beautiful.

 Look at these cute kids!

They are MINE.

I am so lucky.

 Snow makes beautiful light.

 We couldn't afford ski passes this year.  

My kids are so happy just playing outside in the snow.

They build forts and sled and sometimes get into snowball fights.

Snow is really fun.

 I have cute kids, snow AND a puppy.

(He looks husky in this picture, doesn't he?  My aunt thinks he has a bit of husky in him.)

 Can you see our little foot bridge?

Our pond is frozen over... someday we'll be cool enough to make that an ice skating rink.

 This is our neighbor's old red barn.

It's dreamy.

 Winter is bright and beautiful... not so gloomy.

I need to remember to GO OUTSIDE!!

Fresh air tastes good, it feels good for my soul.

 I wish there was sound for this picture... 

Cute kid squabbles about foot placement.

"Waits!" and "Ready?" and "GO!"

Followed by a very slow descent and a laughing stop halfway down. 

 This is what children were meant to do.

 I love that they ride down together.

 And climb back up together.

(No chair lifts on this ranch.)

Eve always wants to be part of the action.  

I hope that as she grows she will remember this time with her siblings.

Her life is so much more fun because she has two parents and six older siblings who adore her.

Only three more years of everyone living at home.
Jakob will graduate in 2017.
Three years-- Eve is almost three and she was born, yesterday.
sigh.

How I cherish these snow days!

Can you feel how much Jakob loves this puppy?
It's because he wakes up at night with him, and cleans up his accidents, walks, feeds and trains him.
Imagine how I feel with my now 15 year old pup (and 14, 11, 10, 7, 5, 2, 8 month, 12 week)...
Yeah, all of them.
I love them so much it hurts.
{And they are A LOT of work I tell you-- especially on snow days.}

We want our children to grow and become- that's what we raise them to do.
But, if I could, I would freeze today and replay it every February forever.

I love this life.

I'm grateful to be alive.

Families bring joy.
I am joyful.