Snow Much Fun

The snow has brought a whole new set of activities to our house.  Saturday morning Abby was so excited to go outside.  Christopher – not so much.  Paul stayed inside with Chris while Abby and I tackled the winter wonderland.  I pulled her around on the sled.  We fed Marcus, the horse, his breakfast, sledded down three different hills, and started to build a snow-castle before Abby’s hands got too cold.  I have dreaded winter the past few years because our young kids didn’t tolerate the cold for long.  It’s great to see Abby enjoying it so much, and makes me feel better about the upcoming months.  With any luck we’ll get lots of snowy, warm days like this weekend so that we can continue to enjoy the outdoors.

On Sunday we moved Marcus to a boarding stable.  We had to put down his pasture buddy and decided that the stable was the best way to go for the winter.  He’ll get plenty of horsy socialization, and I’ll have other people to ride with.  The cost is more than keeping him at home, but not that much when you factor in hay and electricity, and his loneliness.  We will be looking at our budget closely in the next year or two, to see when we can add a pony for the kids to our family. 

Next weekend we are already looking forward to decorating gingerbread houses with my Mom, a tradition in our family as far back as I can remember.  I’m brushing up on Christmas songs on the piano.  We‘re looking forward to creating lots of great memories in the next few weeks, and, gift-giving aside, we’re doing it without putting a strain on the budget.