Winter Fun

Jeff and the girls went outside late this morning after Erin’s hockey practice. I decided to tag along for a little bit to take some pictures. I am nearly over this rotten cold, but it is presently stuck in my lungs and the cold makes me cough a lot, so I try to stay out of it as much as possible. They were just too funny, so I stayed out longer than I probably should have, but it was well worth it!

Erin decided to make a snow angel. She was wearing a very pale pink coat and with all the pale colors, I was having trouble getting the proper color balance, so I went with B & W. I think it looks pretty good that way.

A while ago we were looking for some boots with good traction for Erin. We happened into a local thrift store and found these beautiful, new, Harley Davidson boots in her size. They were only $20. She loves them and wears them as often as she can. Yup, that’s my girly-girl, pink coat, plaid purple gloves, and Harley boots, LOL!

Jeff and Sarah bought Nerf swords recently, against my better judgement, so they took those out with them to play fight. Erin stole Sarah’s sword and promptly “attacked” Jeff. It was pretty funny to watch.

While trying  to get Sarah’s sword, both girls made some rather funny faces. The whole thing looked like a bizarre dance. I took about 15 pictures of the whole thing, but won’t bore you with the whole thing…here are two of my favorites.

It looks as though Erin is going to bite Sarah’s chin…

As most of you, who read my blog, already know, Jeff does not allow me to post pictures of him. Sooo, this is The Mysterious Swordsman coming at me with his shield rasied and his sword ready to strike. These are posted with the permission of Jeff The Mysterious Swordsman.

Every time we get snow the kids shovel paths through the back yard for Joe. Typically they pile the snow into a mound at the back of the yard. When it is big enough they make it into a small sledding hill. This particular pile is a bit narrow on top, so the sled kept listing one way or the other. It was a bit annoying to the girls, but I laughed so hard every time they tried. Here is Sarah sliding off to one side…

…somehow managing to flip on the way down. She was giggling so hard she could barely get up.

I think this is right after Jeff swatted her on the backside with the broadside of his sword. She decided at that point that she should perhaps go inside and put on dry, warmer pants, and a pair of snowpants. Nothing like a swat on cold skin to drive wisdom into one.

Jeff threw snow at her, AFTER I told the kids not to throw snow in each other’s faces. I guess I should have told Jeff, not the girls! At least Sarah laughed about it.

Same as the picture above, just in black and white.

Joe joined us outside for all of about 5 minutes. He loves the snow, but he’s so small and close to the ground that he gets cold very quickly. He looks so pathetic when he starts to shiver. Then he runs to the gate and looks even more pathetic dancing to keep one foot, then another off the ground until someone takes him inside. He’s not spoiled or anything!

I have begun experimenting with color correction in Gimp. If the colors on any of these look way off, please let me know. I used my netbook, as my desktop machine is being squirrely, so it’s hard to tell sometimes. If the screen is moved a fraction of an inch it completely changes the look and colors. I tried to get the angle I thought was most accurate, but please let me know if something is way off.

After taking almost 150 pictures, I went inside and washed some dishes, then offered to make Jeff and the kids some hot tea. I think they were out there in the 15 degree weather for about 2 hours. At the offer of tea, they all quickly made their way into the house. They had a ton of fun playing and I had some pretty good laughs photographing it.