IT'S WINTER!

We woke up this morning to this:

Winter finally decided to show its face, and with quite a force.  By the time the day was over, about a foot of snow had fallen.  And in what was the most epic timing WIN ever, our new snowblower was delivered less than 24 hours before these photos were taken!

We had a lovely day. After an initial letdown this morning when my bff and I had to cancel brunch we had scheduled due to the driving conditions, we made a new plan for the day.  We walked all over our neighborhood, pulling Eliza on the sled, and stopped for lunch at a local restaurant and to watch the first half of a football game.  It was really fun (and yummy!).  On the walk (sled) home, she managed to fall asleep!  I can't believe she wasn't cold... but we did have her bundled up rather well (thanks to a friend who loaned us all her winter gear this morning - thanks Taunya!).  This is one of those moments I will never forget - it was just so sweet to see her sound asleep as we trudged over snow banks in 30 degree weather!

(It's safe to say this happening was thoroughly documented, don't you think?)

Later, while Daddy cleared snow outside, Eliza and I made a gingerbread house and decorated it.  She got really into this activity this year, and was quite focused on candy placement (and surprisingly, she didn't eat *that* much of the candy).  She kept saying "I placed the candy there! And there!"

Hard at work

This is the side I decorated...

And here is the finished product, you can see the side Eliza decorated - more is better, right!?!

We used a gingerbread house cutter to make this, and it was really simple and I think the shape is way nicer than a kit -- you can buy it here.  As a bonus, it comes with an amazing swedish gingerbread (pepparkakor) recipe.

It was a memorable, beautiful day!