Happy New Year....

At midnight, the church bells began ringing. It was beautiful, ethereal. A quick glance out the window revealed a delicate snow had started to fall, as if on cue.

The next moment, it sounded like someone was dropping bombs near our house! The fireworks were so loud, you could feel the house shudder a little with each explosion. (Remember, our house is concrete!) It was amazing and the most amazing part? The kids slept right through it all.

The next day, with all that freshly-fallen snow, we seized the opportunity to build a snowgirl- a wonderful way to start off the year. It was raining, so our window of opportunity was small. Fear not, as you can see, we got the job done- and we made a little snow dog too.


Everyone had a job- here were the "fresh snow" gatherers. They brought back beautiful snow to cover the grass-laden areas on the snowgirl.

My job was to roll the large snow balls for the typical triad shape. As you can see, all members of the group were busy. I never thought I would say this, yet I had to repeat it several times. "No girls, that's not pooh in the snow, those are olives!"

This is our snowgirl hugger. She was compelled to give random hugs to our nascent creation.


Nanny-o, resident artist, designed our snowgirl's look. She bestowed olives for eyes, a classic carrot nose, a twiggy smile and wonderful olive branch eyelids to her face.

More hugs were added.

Here I am adding the finishing touch. From the way Z was standing back with her eyes lit up, I now realize she thought our snowgirl was going to come to life after our New Year's hat was placed on her head! (We had recently watched Frosty.)

Ta da!

Here's one with the little dog, too.