oh winter, thank you!

The snow is coming down, the world is silent, the school is closed. Anne is not here today because her mama is a teacher. Lydia IS here, good thing she spent the night! Charlotte Claire and Camille are putting cinnamon buns in the oven and making orange juice. We don't buy o.j. on a regular basis anymore, as it's not as healthy as I once thought, but the kids love it for a treat. And today is a special day! A snow day!!!

Once I woke up, I couldn't go back to sleep, but it was really nice to be able to lie in my warm bed for a bit, since I didn't have to get up for Lydia's usual seven a.m. arrival, she was sleeping snugly in Char and Cam's room. I washed all of our bedding yesterday, and it's especially comfy when your bedding is all fresh and springy smelling (laundry beads, summers!) .

Char got up early too, so we snuggled in my chair and looked at houses for sale in the area. Right over on the Seneca river, a nice one. Only four bedrooms though, Char mentioned. Well, we almost fit in that now. We are going in the other direction now, our family who used to have 18 under one roof. They move out, they get married, and leave the big messy nest. Kathryn has gone out to Oregon, she'll come home for a few weeks before she gets married maybe, but for all intents and purposes...her room is EMPTY. Evelyn still lives here, but spends the week day nights up at Margaret and Adrian's because she works in that city. So when she's gone, it's Paul and me, then Suzanne, Sonja, Jonathan, Char, and Cam. And of course Lydia most of the time, and sometimes Anne. And for 12 days starting Friday, Will and Sebastian and Linnea. And on Sunday afternoons, we're bursting at the seams:)

Anyway. Today the high school girls have a snow day, so there's a festive atmosphere.

Yesterday, I made two apple pies. Two incredible apple pies.

I let Char and Cam each "fix" the top of one, the edges and cutting the steam vents, and adding half and half and sprinkling with sugar, I also sprinkled a bit of cinnamon and sugar on top of that. These pies were made because we accidentally left a seven dollar bag of apples in the minivan overnight, and I was afraid they would go to mush after they thawed. So I saved them, gave them a purpose, ha. Empire apples, yummy to eat, not the best for pies, but I added some lemon juice, oops too much, the pie is almost tangy, but shh, I love tangy...with the sweetness of the flaky all butter crust...oh dear. I did have some last night. Yes I did.

We had meatballs for dinner...they turned out yummy too. The kids had pasta, Sonja and I had spaghetti squash. If you haven't tried spaghetti squash, buy one! You just slice it in half, scoop out the guts, put the halves on a plate, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and microwave for five minutes...then I turn them, recover, microwave for four minutes or so...then just scoop out that delicious stringy goodness, and eat with the sauce and meatballs, or just with butter and salt and pepper...

The snow is just falling like we're in a snow globe. The thick lake effect flakes are adding up...Jonathan is snowplowing the driveway, and it's sloooow going! So. Much. Snow.


Anyway...it's a cozy day!!!