Warm-weather sledding

Between snow days, Louise and Charlotte visited Durham Central Park this weekend to go sledding on a sunny, 7C day.  Katie and another of Louise's friends from preschool days, Alaina, joined them for the opportunity. 

Mother Nature is promising to send us another sledding opportunity this afternoon, but this time, the girls will have to wear coats.

Slip slidin' away...

We had a SNOW DAY!  (Or a few flurries, coupled with a school closure, depending on your perspective).  The girls were very excited.  They grabbed their sleds and played in the snow for a whole seven minutes, before dashing inside for hot cocoa.

They weren't quite done with jumping or sliding around, however, so we headed to Pump It Up for a few hours.

Structure-loving Louise was happy to return to school after a five day holiday (teacher work days + a public holiday).  To our delight, though, she did fill several hours of the unwelcome leisure time with independent reading.

Countdown

For Christmas, Louise hasn't asked for much.  Charlotte, however, would like a guitar, and Claire would like a rock band.

Meanwhile, the tree and the lights are up, and we're busy getting ready for the 25th.  The whole street enjoyed decorating Christmas cookies and a gingerbread house at Chez Atherton:

Thankful

We were thankful to be able to spend a couple of weeks over Thanksgiving with Pop and Granny.  We wrestled, did crafts, went to birthday parties, visited the Greensboro Science Center...and Granny tried to teach Louise how to knit.

We may have driven them up a tree, but they seemed to enjoy riding the Santa Train with us.

  

   

They also enjoyed watching Louise, Claire, and Mummy ride on the Masters Garden float in the Hillsborough Christmas Parade:

Even more party time!

C&C had TWO birthday parties to attend this weekend.  Daddy & Louise had a comparatively leisurely day of gymnastics and playing with neighbours.

Mummy's view of Party 1: the first party featured pony rides, a hay ride, and toasting marshmallows / making S'mores.  Claire's favourite aspect?  Cake.  Charlotte's?  The pony ride.

Party 2, according to Mummy: lots of happy running around at the Museum of Life & Science, 20 minutes of learning about animals (a chinchilla, a ferret, and a silky chicken).  Claire? "My favourite part was Addison (a classmate)."  Charlotte raved about the gift bag.  The contents of the gift bag were interesting.  The two bags were identical.  Charlotte pulled out a two-part toy and said, "Wow, a Propeller!"  Claire pulled out one part of the same toy and said the birthday girl "gave me a Sword of Light to fight Daddy!"

In other news, the girls were behaving like siblings Friday evening, and Louise commented on Charlotte's stature.  "I may be small," Charlotte replied, "but I can do big things!"

Louise last weekend had a playdate with Katie, who she hadn`t seen for quite a while. They had a fun morning and afternoon. With Karen's help play-doh was made and played with!