Snow!

These pictures were taken sometime after this next entry. It was the first snow that stuck long enough to play with for a while.



Today started out grey and cloudy, both outside and in. Jalen and Sierra were at odds all morning, pushing each other's buttons and seeming to seek out negative interactions. I worked out a compromise over computer use, got Sierra started. and took Jalen into the living room for some cuddles and Mommy time.

His entire mood shifted after some cuddles and "I love you's", and pretty soon Sierra joined us. They wanted to go for a walk. A walk? But it's COLD out there.
Alright, it really sounds pretty good to bundle up in a warm coat and go exploring....so off we go, into the monochromatic day. A breathe of the appalachian air felt so clean and crisp, I decided I really didn't miss Pensacola after all. We walked, or rather, Sierra and I walked and Jalen ran ahead. Sierra said "wouldn't it be cool if it snowed while we were walking?" Yep.

They had seen a few wispy bits come floating down earlier this morning, it disapated after a while, but not before igniting a few imaginations. I told her that would be pretty cool to have a walk in the snow.

Well, wishes must have been fishes today, because on our way back to the house, it started to SNOW. I'm thinking she might want to buy a lottery ticket this week.
At first, it came down like little bits of salt, not so dramatic. But after we got back to the house the flakes got really BIG. They got big and blowy, swirling this way and that, hitting us in the face and making them jump up and down screaming with pure joy!

Jalen picked up a leaf in the yard and carried it up to the back deck..."There's my leafy, he was losted" he exclaimed very matter-of-factly. After showing us the leaf's arms and legs and holding it for a while he said "ok, it needs to go home to it's mommy and daddy now" and releases it over the side of the deck, where it twirls about and lands next to another leaf of the same variety.

When they were sufficiently cold, it was teatime. While lining up mugs, Markus emerged from the basement and asked for a cuppa too. Jared was happily playing "Kal" online while Trevor slept soundly. At one point, I checked on Jared, who had walked away from the computer and stood at the window, watching the scene like a shaken snow globe before him. "Hey, why don't you come outside and check it out" I implored. "nah, I like watching it from here" he replied.
Smart kid.

So we get the tea going. Sierra chooses Chammomile, but isn't sure she'll like it. While I'm heating water, she tears the tag off her teabag and starts chewing it. "why are you chewing on paper?" I ask. "It's a good way to see if you like the taste of the tea Mom"
OH. Interesting new way to try a new flavor, I'll have to remember that.

Little man says "We are on the earth. Houses don't fall off the earth-they jus' stick to it."
Yep. Funny thing, that gravity.
He's been really interested in all things celestial lately. From reading the Magic School Bus, to standing at our window at night asking about all those lovely points of light (especially Mars, he loves talking about Mars) . "Nobody has been to Mars" he says. Not yet, but maybe in your lifetime Kaibo.
"Feeling alive is a weird feeling" Sierra adds. She didn't want to elaborate further, but I'm sure it would have made an interesting conversation.
She starts pulling a variety of screwdrivers out of the drawer while her and Jalen have a talk about the sizes, colors and names. Tools are always engaging.

Tea is incredibly warming after you've been in the snow. I hadn't remembered just how warming...I've spent almost 8 years in the sun. I've missed the magic of the hills.

Later, Sierra and I schlepped about picking up supplies and groceries for the traditional Thanksgiving feast. Mary, John and Molly Sither are coming over this year, I'm really glad we have someone to celebrate with.

We've been reading Roald Dahl books lately...just finished "Matilda" and now working on "The BFG". I'd forgotten just how many lovely, bizarre and unusual words he used in that one! Talk about creative language use. Sierra could NOT stop giggling over the "whizpoppers" (aka; farts) last night.

I couldn't help but think of Trevor, when he was a wee boy, saying "I know why we're called human beans Grandpa....cuz we eat BEANS" (he was eating beans at the time) when I read this part:

~'You is trying to change the subject,' the Giant said sternly. 'We is having an interesting babblement about the taste of the human bean. The human bean is not a vegetable.'
'Oh, but the bean IS a vegetable,' Sophie said.
'Not the HUMAN bean,' the Giant said. 'The human bean has two legs and a vegetable has no legs at all.'

One of my favorite lines is:
~'Dreams,' he said, 'is very mysterious things. They is floating around in the air like little wispy-misty bubbles. And all the time they is searching for sleeping people.'

And:
'Sometimes, on a very clear night,' the BFG said, 'and if I is swiggling my ears in the right direction, if I is swiggling them like this and the night is very clear, I is sometimes hearing far away music coming from the stars in the sky.'

Ah....lovely.
I still have a Roald Dahl cookbook packed away somewhere in the basement...I think it's high time I pulled it out. Some frobscottle sounds just about right (let the music begin!). Just please don't feed me any Snozzcumbers. Yuck!

Note: For you Dahl fans..I found a Frobscottle recipe a teacher posted. She took Cream soda, added green dye and bottled it with her own "made in Giant Country" labels. Fun!