More snow; more snow days.  The house borders two sides of the patio, this fence borders a third side, and the patio opens to our itty bitty backyard on the fourth side.  The wind whips the snow up and around in a circular motion through this alcove - the drifts are about 1 1/2 feet high there against the fence.

Post-FHE-treat (Joseph's: generic oreos dipped in peanut butter and dunked in milk).  She was really concerned about a little smudge of cookie on her right index finger.  I don't think she quite realized this is what her face looked like. :)

 After a fabulously fun morning playing volleyball w/ the young women in our ward, K-lady and I headed home & loaded up for the baby shower.  She put the little flags together in the car on the way - So cute!!  I loved how everything turned out.  And it was, as always, so so fun to see all my old friends.  I told Joseph it was like spending the afternoon with my sisters - so good for the soul.  

 Making treats for a special baby shower!  (cake pop recipe from http://www.bakerella.com/hope-these-put-a-smile-on-your-face/)

K-lady on her way up to piano lessons.  It always cracks me up to see the antique chandeliers stocked w/ those energy efficient compact fluorescent bulbs instead of old fashioned decorative ones.  I guess common sense and frugality beat out style this time.

 And more ice crystals, this time on the storm door.  I took off the lense and flipped it around for a poor-mans-macro.  I think it's so beautiful!  Another snow day. (snow days complicate the babysitting when I'm supposed to be working...)

 That is a solid sheet of ice crystals on the storm window in my bedroom - BRR!  No school today!

 Baby A's new best friend: my i-touch.  She used to snuggle up in this little corner to look at books, but technology has intruded.

 Sunday afternoon called for a little Book of Mormon dress up.  I had mixed feeling photographing J-boy in his previous costume.  He's enthralled w/ the picture of Ammon defending the King's sheep and insisted on replicating it.  Baby A's denim skirt did pretty well for Ammon's kilt-ish garb, and it was quite the sight.  Disarming, if you will.  (HA!)

 I love her chameleon eyes -- usually they look grey or light blue, but in Jen's dining room they changed to the exact same shade as the wall - this almost blue-green.  Poor girl has been missing the same teeth for about 6 months now. :)

 We drove up to the city tonight to go to a piano recital - Joseph was given tickets, and he had a bee-keeping class on Saturday anyway, so we decided to make an over night trip of it.  But on the way up J-boy got miserable, so we missed the concert to make sure he didn't die.  Turned out to be J-boy's first experience w/ constipation (tmi? sorry), but being the health professional that he is, Joseph quickly assumed the worst and nearly had me in a panic over ruptured appendix scenarios.  A little prune juice later he was running around  and playing w/ cousins till nearly 11 that night.  All's well that ends well.  And I'm sure Jean-Yves and his hour-and-a-half of Liszt didn't miss us.  (Joseph and I were both happy to have a quiet night at home w/ Jake and Jenn and chat the night away).

 Waiting for K-lady at piano lessons.  J-boy and Baby A and I ran to the grocery store for a minute, he purchased this little race car.  30 minutes of fun in the long empty halls.

 K-lady at gymnastics.  Apparently I need a higher ISO if I want her to look like she has legs.  :)  Or something like that.

Here I am on my way to work!  (well, my day job, anyway)  :)  I'm helping with billing/payments/accounts receivables.  The older kids are at school, Baby A hangs out w/ a friend for a few hours.  I was really really scared at first (just how much has my brain atrophied since college???), but it turned out just fine.  I like figuring stuff out, and it was so nice to be around grown ups for a little while.  Grown ups who clean up their own messes (she said as her children trashed room #4 for the day).