In our family, we’re sorta strange. We love winter. From the first snowfall till the melt off. Ok, well maybe that’s taking it a bit too far. But while others complain about winter, we get out into it and enjoy it. TJ has a magnet on his refrigerator that reads, “Winter doesn’t last nearly as long when you embrace her as a friend.” So we’re trying to instill this love of winter in our children. Kids naturally love snow. It doesn’t take a lot of convincing. It’s edible, it’s slippery, it makes everything look pretty and – did I mention it’s slippery?
We went down to the lake during xmas break and the boyz went sledding down the hill countless times with Daddy-O. It’s hard to tell who was having more fun.
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| Kiefer sliding down the hill – smile as big as they come! |
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| Carter chasing after him |
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| Carter sliding down the hill… Weeeeeeeeee! |
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| Daddy-O towing them back up the hill |
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| Griffin not sure he really wants to participate, but enjoying watching |
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| Kiefer chasing after Carter |
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| Daddy-O rode down countless times… not sure who’s having more fun?! |
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| Here comes Creepy! |
When Uncle Creepy heard we were sledding he suited up in his Carharts and came over pulling the toboggan behind the four wheeler (or “Scrambler” as we call it in our family). He took Carter for a ride but when Carter slid faster than the Scrambler down the hill he wasn’t too thrilled with the thrill ride. Instead, they just went for a Scrambler ride. Carter refrained. 🙂
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| Uncle Creepy and Kiefer on the Four Wheeler |
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| Griffin & Daddy-O |
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| Story Time with Uncle Creepy |
There’s nothing like a story about “Max the Minnow” told by Uncle Creepy!
Anytime Griffin sees Creepy he tries to crawl up in his lap. He puts on a tough guy act, but he always stops what he’s doing to cuddle with Griffin. And Griffin is Creepy’s #1 fan. He’s always talking about “Tractor Creepy” or “Kunkle Creepy”. Now we’re hearing about “Creepy Scrambler” He sleeps with a four wheeler every night! How cute is that?
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| Log Splitting |
Before we left Carter & Kiefer jumped aboard the John Deere with Papa when he was loading firewood into the bucket and before I knew it they were gone. They’d been whisked away on a Papa adventure where they met up with Uncle Creepy in the woods and they helped work the log splitter. They filled two buckets on the tractor with firewood and their job was to stack it in the bucket and then reload it and stack it in the wood shed. Once he returned to school Carter had to write and illustrate a picture highlighting what he did during Christmas break. Of all the things we did – THIS was what he chose to write about. He even drew a picture of the log splitter! (and labeled it so his teacher would know what it was). I’m learning so much having boys!
One of my favorite memories wasn’t captured in pictures but we hiked over to Creepy’s wearing snowshoes pulling Kiefer in the sled at dusk then hiked back under the blanket of stars. It was pitch black but the snow glowed a blueish hue that only snow can do at night. At first the boyz (and their mother!) were intimidated, but we carved away the darkness with song! It was one of those moments I want to store in my memory bank forever… hiking in the dark, all bundled up, towing Griffin on my back, Daddy-O pulling Carter & Kiefer in the sled singing ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘Doe a Deer’ and ‘Jesus Loves Me’ at the top of their lungs!
