Happy Snowy New Year!

So, almost a month ago, on New Year's Eve, we had a baby playdate. This is the group of moms & babies that James & I have been hanging with for a year now thanks to the breastfeeding support group that our hospital sponsors.

Anyway, it was great fun. We counted down until noon for the new year. The babies/toddlers were all looking at us like we were crazy. "Please, Mommy, just give me my lunch." They did really seem to enjoy toting around the sparkly metallic horns that one of the moms brought, however.

It was snowing pretty hard all morning, so after lunch we bundled up the kiddos in their snowsuits, hats, mittens, boots, etc. and headed outdoors. So fun! Someone brought a baby sled (it has a seat with straps to buckle the tot in place), so we all took turns pulling our loved ones up and down the hill in the backyard.

Let me just say, James was much more interested in the slide on the back patio than he was the snow. Once he got his turn on the sled, he was won over! He was laughing the entire ride! When I forced him to let a playmate have her turn, he became James, the Arctic Explorer. He was crawling all through the snow, carving out new paths. It was REALLY cute. Well, up until the point at which his increasingly snowy mittens lost all traction, and he ended up doing a faceplant into the snow. Not so nice. There were tears, but a quick recovery.

We've been fortunate enough to get more snow throughout 2009, most recently last weekend when Nana & Pops were here. Of course, we could not keep Nana indoors. She was outside helping Daddy shovel then making snowballs and a cute snowman right away. James was a bit more wary this time around; he seemed to prefer standing on the deck and looking out at things, but he did enjoy finding a little "cave" in the bushes with Mommy and riding on the sled.