TGIF

They have been telling us for the past three days that we would be getting quite a bit of snow. Wednesday came...no snow....Thursday by the time I went to bed at 10:00...no snow...So, I was (pleasantly) surprised when I woke up to this at 6:00 a.m.

Our neighborhood covered in snow, after they had cleared the roads.

It is a wet kind of snow and cloudy skies, so I highly doubt we will be heading out to play. In fact, I can guarantee that we won't.

So today we used our time to have fun indoors since her Japanese class is on a break as well. I straightened up the apartment this morning, and then read Mia some books. Right now, our favorite books are:

 

     

Kids books are so cute and so much fun. I read her three or so English books during the day, and Ten reads here the same number of Japanese books at night. We are so lucky that the library has a decent selection of Japanese children's books. Otherwise, it would be so expensive to have to buy everything ourselves!!

After putting Mia down for her first nap, I quickly did round 2 of operation "Keep the Home Livable" and did a quick tidying (what a cute word). I also decided to try to squeeze in a bit of reading and Netflix. I watched a Ken Burns documentary called "The Shakers." Really good and informative. They seriously make some beautiful yet simple furniture, houses, etc...loved it. It also emphasized the importance of hard work...which made me feel a little lazy, but gave me some motivation to try to get some things done...and I love their songs...you know...tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free..

I also took some time to read part of my book and do some work on a study guide. I'm currently working on a book called "A Woman After God's Own Heart." I actually own both the book and study guide and have decided to focus on going through the lessons in it. So, this means no time for all of the great library books I have stacked up here...and I'll have to return them this weekend...sad face.

Anyway, for the rest of the day our "play theme" is balance. We made a pile of pillows and Mia got to sit and balance on them...no picture of course because I had to hang on to her. She was all giggles though. We also balanced a paper block on our heads, and she tried to catch it when it fell off....a good half an hour of fun there.

Practicing her walking and balancing skills here.

Now she is down for nap number 2. For the rest of the day, we will probably play with blocks and finger paint a bear mask. Then I'm making chicken and noodles for dinner. We will eat, take a bath, and go to bed. This will give me some time to plan out our menu for the week and make out a shopping list.

Anyway this is just a typical Friday here. I try to take it easy before the weekend begins.

These are the small things I want to remember a few years from now.