Colorayoyo weather

There's a famous saying around Boulder that if you don't like the weather, just stick around for an hour.

I've lived here four years and seen this saying verified mountains of times. It really isn't uncommon to see a temperature drop or increase of 40-50F in just a few hours... I personally like it. 

April was particularly weird this year. We had super sunny and warm days (the usual for Boulder) alternating with short but frequent periods of massive cold and snow. A few of my friends posted this on FB... and it's not an exaggeration.

Less than 3 weeks ago we were up on the mountain hiking in our tee-shirts:

 and playing in the sand box, like it's the middle of summer...

a week later, we were burried in a foot of snow. And that happened 3-4 times in 4 weeks... Crazy (this picture isn't even a good example of the mass of snow we've had).

So we got to spend a lot of days inside. We even had a partial snow day one day (schools and campus closed). I used to dread the days we couldn't go outside but we've had some really fun days inside lately, I guess the boys are growing up. Some of our new favorite activities for snowdays now include nerf guns, building forts and cooking.

Last monday was one of those fun snow days. It didn't stop snowing ALL day. We went out in the morning for my office visit and walked about half a mile in the snow, it was actually fun. We arrived covered in snow, then made it back and stopped at the store for some groceries. We looked like snowmen when we got home. On the way to the grocery store we stopped at the pet store and arrived just in time to see them clean and feed the ferrets. The boys got to touch the ferrets and play with them, they really liked that. Josh wants a fish, his name is already picked out (Goldie)... we are in pourparler. Maybe when we're settled, but I really hope he forgets about it by then.

At home the boys built a fort under the table, and played bringing things in and out forever, somehow it doesn't feel homy until it's packed with 6 pillows, 4 blankets, mountains of stuffed animals and all their favorite toys.

We invented a game to practice shooting on a target (and provide an alternative to the constant man-hunt between these 2 boys). I made the rules at first, it went like this: the closer you get to bullseye the more bullets (chances to shoot) you get, the further you get, the more jumping jacks you do... After a while, the boys changed up the rules, so when I hit bullseye, I was told with excitement I had to do 47 push-ups! 

Then we traced a road on the carpet with painters tape, thank you pinterest for the 2min of entertainment (ok maybe 15, but I don't regret it... just wasn't the hours of fun promised).

And then we made our traditional pizzas and invited our upstairs neighbors to come eat and watch a movie with us.

Ethan, William, Josh and Mael watching "how to train a dragon" while eating pizza and popcorn, and wearing a scuba diving mask, why... don't you?... (if that reminds you of a movie, you have good tastes : ))

And more target practice...

Later that week we attended a Good-bye potluck for our neighbors Helen and Onno. They're moving back to the Netherlands and I hope I'll be able to go visit them or they'll come visit me in France. I already miss them and have a little pinch of heart everytime I walk near their empty apartment. Darn family housing, I've never met so many great people and had to say good-bye so often!

We also braved the snow for a visit to the C4C on campus (for my work) and ended up eating in the food court.

On Saturday the weather was beautiful and I went for a run and worked in the garden. I was a little late for starting my tomatoes from seeds but I found a way to make my own grow-light device under the kitchen neon light... I wish I'd thought about it before. So far it works really well and it is height-adjustable... kind of, so there's room for the plants to grow...

Yesterday we had another big snowfall (and today was even worse). We drove to King Soopers to play on the penny horse (a ride that only costs 1cent). The boys had packed their pockets with pennies and played knights for as long as I let them do it... I was bored after 1 ride but I think they did 9 or 10.

Then we went to the library for story time and it was one of the best story times we'd had. The lady who reads on Mondays is amazing, even more so this week. She picks the best books, sings songs, has the kids stretch and participate in pretend play, she plays with animal puppets and just engages so naturally with the children. They love her.

She read the story "One" from Kathryn Otoshi (here is a link to an adaptation of the story on vimeo) and I think it just became our favorite book. She couldn't finish the story without a broken voice and tears in her eyes... I couldn't either. Joshua drew a picture of the colors standing up for themselves later that day, I'll have to remember to bring it to her next week. 

I discovered freezer paper stenciling lately and have had fun playing with it. I made myself a mustache sweat-shirt last week. I also personalized patches on the boys pants... 

and we made an umbrella fort in the boys bedroom... a pretty big hit, despite William's frustrated face on the picture (he was cold from just finishing playing in the bathtub, but too anxious to play in the tent to get dressed... the life of a 2 year old).

So... winter it was nice, but now we're ready for summer, please?