Daniel & Annabel's Adventures: Enjoying the Great Outdoors!!

Definitely slacking in the blogging department these days. I do have a few excuses...spent just about the ENTIRE month, I kid you not, of February sick- I had a cold/cough that just would not go away, coupled with a few weekends of major headaches, so yeah, pretty exhausting and so not fun. I think I was healthy maybe three days total that month- the Lady Antebellum concert date being one of them- thank goodness! Annabel and Ben fared the best of all of us, with maybe a few days of not feeling well, but Daniel caught what I had, so he and I were partners in sickness for a couple weeks there. February could not end soon enough. And now...well, March has just FLOWN by. I've been collecting pictures for a while, because I have actually taken a few this month...though not too many because Daniel tends to hide when I get the camera out and Annabel just begs to take pictures, stealing my camera...and there you have my other excuse. Buuuuuut, enough of that, back to blogging! Hoping to get caught up pretty quickly here! Let's start with the Great Outdoors, because man, we needed this like you wouldn't believe!

We have been soaking up the fresh air lately, this week especially- 40 degrees feels awesome right about now! I'll take it. I'll also take that 50 degree day we had this week AND the 60 degree day we had yesterday! I'd love it to stay that way...but we're seeing snow and 30 degree temps in the ten day forecast again. Spring has to officially come, and stay, eventually, right?!

Anyway, we've been outside in the snow, among the melting snow, in puddles, and finally in sunshine. I love the stages of weather we've been out in. Annabel begs to go outside everyday- she's really loving the outdoors right now, getting to know everything out there again. I remember this age with Daniel, the differences from year to year when they're this young are huge- what they remember/don't remember and what they are able to do this year that they couldn't do last year. This Spring and Summer will be so fun! The kids have just had the most fun getting back on their bikes and ride-on cars again, drawing with chalk, playing with outdoor toys, and all. We even broke open the sandbox the other day! AND we've already been to the park a couple times, too! The kids also love to walk/ride around our block, too, whether just for fun or with the express purpose of picking up garbage around the neighborhood ("because I need to practice to be a garbage man when I grow up" says Daniel). The kids even flew a kite with Daddy yesterday while I was out- YAY for Spring!

You'll notice I said we've been out in puddles, too- yep, I didn't let the rain didn't stop us from going outside (which Annabel was again begging to do)- we just put on rainboots and raincoats and jumped in every puddle we could find up and down the block! The kids thought that was pretty awesome (they were very surprised I even suggested this!), although it was a bit chilly that day and their clothes got wet pretty fast, so they got cold pretty fast- we'll have to try this again when it's warmer! Still, it was cute to watch Annabel run out there faster than Daniel for a change to jump in the first puddle she found! She didn't really like getting wet though, so in the end, she was just running from puddle to puddle, as long as they were small puddles. Daniel liked doing big jumps in the biggest puddles, of course; consequently, he got really wet much faster than Annabel and wanted to go inside sooner than Annabel, who was still quite happy being outside and running in puddles. It's funny- we spent all winter with Daniel wanting to be out for a long time, and now it's Annabel who wants to stay out a long time.

So yeah, we're all loving being outside! Keep on coming, Spring! Hope you enjoy our pictures. And yes, the kids were still wearing snowsuits up until the other day, because, well, it was still snowy in some places and it's muddy in a LOT of places, so yes, snowpants.

Digging into the snow piles...

(This was back in February after yet another big snow dump!)

Playing Frisbee in the snow with a bright orange mini-frisbee- so fun!

Annabel sure didn't wait long to break out the chalk! Her snowsuit was covered!

Like a true brother...Daniel piled snow on Annabel's drawings!

Luckily, she wasn't too mad and joined the fun, too!

Even the wagon got to climb Mount Forever Snow.

No need to wait for warm weather to ride bikes and cars!

Back out again another day, this time mid-March...

The kids had a ball riding their scooters, nevermind the snow still piled up everywhere!

Enjoying the "warm" days this past week!

We may still have winter coats on, there may still be a tad bit of snow left, but who says we can't play in the sandbox?

Rediscovering the park was so much fun! Annabel requests to go there multiple times daily now that she's had her first taste of the park this season!

I love how the kids are looking at each other in this picture...they may tease each other a lot, but they sure do have fun together and know how to be silly together! Annabel still really looks up to Daniel...always has.