Weekly Playdates

To help us get through the winter, I've lined up playdates for Charley each week.  They go a little something like this:

Monday - Henry comes over for "Learning Time" and some play time; they usually play for about 20 minutes, then we have learning time, then they play for a short while more, and at some point Henry decides he's had enough and disappears out the door!

Tuesday Grant comes over; he has great imagination, lining up Charley's stuffed animals for a parade, putting on puppet shows, writing out her Christmas list for her...  and great energy!  You can always tell they've had a good time, I have to put every single toy away when Grant leaves!  ;)

Wednesday Dylan gets dropped off the bus, then we take him home; Dylan makes Charley crack up like no one else can.  I love to eavesdrop on them, and hear her belly laughs!  I wish I had his touch!

Thursday Evie stops by; Evie always has a snack in tow for Charley, and they share it before heading to play.  Charley's playdates with Evie have been going on for many months now.

And Friday, after school, Carli and Angie get dropped off, then we take them home; their favorite game is hide-and-seek - they are expert entertainers!  I hardly hear a peep out of Charley while they are here - she's perfectly content to disappear into the back of the house with them and forget all about me!

We LOVE our playdates!  It has become custom, when C wakes in the morning, she asks "Who's coming to play with me today?"

My little birder

A huge flock of Rosy-finches flew into our feeders during a huge snowstorm - first we've had in our yard here in Ruby Valley!  Rod and Charley enjoyed watching them.

I think this has been the second snowiest winter since we've been here - the first year we moved here being the worst.  As I write this, we have another couple of inches of freshly fallen snow, and much more in the forecast.  Here are some pics of some of this winter's snows.

 Charley is REALLY into heavy equipment.  One day Neal let her sit in his lap and help plow after a snow storm.  Here she is, watching Jared plow our driveway.

Miscellaneous...

Heather sent Charley her very own pair of binoculars.

 Goodnight Charley!

 Pretending to sleep on Haley...

 Hey, where ya goin'?

Attempt #2 to get rid of the binkies - bury them, and suckers will grow!

After her first nap sans binky, crying for 30 minutes, then me laying with her for an hour and a half before she finally fell asleep, she awoke, to go get the sucker that sprouted.

 Attempt #2 went the way of attempt #1 - I failed miserably.  After the end of day 2, and a total of 2 naps and 2 bedtimes of her screaming for between 1.5 - 3 hours, it was actually getting worse instead of better.  And all day in between sleeps she seemed really anxious about it.  I was worried I was doing more harm that good.  I guess that's what they make braces for.  :(

I drug the ole' ball pit out again.  I thought she'd be too big, and almost didn't, but she loves it!

Pre-bed snuggle.

Enjoying the Snow

As I write this, I'm not enjoying it so much...

We're having a storm that would easily rival the worst we've experienced while here.

However - Charley has had a few fun days in the snow.

 The Morrises took her sledding!  What a thrill!