Snow, Snow, Snow!

We have been getting a ton of snow here in Minnesota this winter.  It has been a lot of fun for the kids.  It reminds me of winters as a kid where it always seemed like we had huge drifts to play in.  I remember building snow forts  and playing in huge piles of snow.  It is fun to see my children enjoying winter.  I tend to not bring the girls out and about as much in the winter so I try to at least get them outside when it is not sub-zero out.  It’s a lot of work bundling up three small kids to go play in the snow.  Iris can pretty much hold her own these days, but the the twins are pretty labor intensive.

This morning I bundled up the girls and we went for a sled ride outside.  We have a few big hills in our yard and Iris did some sledding down the hills.  Even the doggies were enjoying the winter snow storm.

About a month ago Iris and I took the doggies for a walk one snowy Sunday morning and we heard the most peculiar noise.  I thought the neighbor girl was practicing her trumpet outside.  Then we looked up at saw a formation of snow geese right above our house.  It was a spectacular sight to see!  I guess they could have been trumpeter swans as well, I’m not really sure.

We have seen a lot of wildlife since moving out here to the suburbs.  We frequently see deer and owls and wild turkey.  When I was pregnant with the twins, or right after they were born a mama deer had twin fawns and she wandered in our yard with them quite a bit, eating our shrubs.  I love to keep the windows open at night so I can listen to the owls hooting the night away.  A few weeks ago I also saw a red fox in our backyard.  It was so huge I thought at first it was a wolf!  I love seeing all the critters out here, but it also makes me sad because we are taking over their territory and they have to live amongst a bunch of humans and cars and houses.  These are obviously not in their natural habitat.

Here are some pictures of our fun morning in the snow.