Week 2 - SNOW

It's been snowing every single day this week, I think. And when it didn't, we were busy digging ourselves out. I've heard on the news that so far NY has seen 8 snow storms this winter. I bet all of them happened this week. (Yeah, I know, it's not true, but boy it sure feels this way!)

I mean, sure, lots of snow is super-cool. We go out 2-3 times a day for about half an hour each time. And we dig and throw snowballs and run around the yard pulling the sled. Ok, I do run around the yard. I feel sort of like Rambo (when running downhill) and sort of like a barge hauler on the Volga (on the uphill part).

I also get to save money by not going to the gym and instead shoveling snow off the deck and digging out the cars. M and Grandma are building not one, but 2 snow slides. Yeah, that's how much snow we have. Need any?

The not so cool part is that I don't drive in the snow. And so we stay home all day. Thank goodness, M's Grandma (aka Babushka) took a whole week off of work to spend with us. The original plan was to go to Philly or to NYC. But obviously it didn't happen.

Uncle Arkadiy braved the cold and the snow and took the train from Jersey City last weekend. He drives in the snow, no problem. He also brought a sled. So last Sunday we drove half a mile down the road for some sledding down a real big hill. But since it was like the coldest day so far this winter and A and I wore jeans, not snow pants, we stayed there for about 20 minutes. Then we went to a bagel shop for some coffee for A, hot choc for myself and a black-and-white cookie for M.

Here's what did happen (apart from all the snow play):

We cooked. Ok, Babushka and M cooked and I mostly just took pictures, or slept, or tried to catch up with work. We made juices (we make fresh juice every day now and M now drinks veggie juice, like kale and celery, as long as it's mixed with orange, carrot and apple juice - hooray!).

Then we made Russian meat dumplings called pel'meni. M made his own dumpling, which we decided to call "pel'menburger". He was really satisfied with the result and ate it up.

Next, Babushka and M ground some chicken, added lots of kale to it (!) and made little fried kebabs and fried patties. The patties turned out so green, you'd think it was St. Patty's day already. But M ate them up too! Awesome! He's much less picky with food now. And he's gained some weight in the last two weeks.

In addition to cooking, we played. We didn't bring many toys with us and by now he's a bit tired of all of them, including his Christmas gift. Fortunately, grandparents have a ton of odds and ends all over the house, the attic and the basement. We normally call it "trash", but now it's being re-branded as "awesome junk". I mean, check it out - little boxes and baskets, tiny blown glass figurines, old kitchen utensils, glass beads, leftover tiles from tiling the kitchen backsplash 8 or so years ago... Totally playable, don't you think?

So the candle holder houses "friends" and their "magic tree" that grows, depending on the day, lollipops, candy, toys, or whatever else. And the tiles and glass beads are a cool mosaic.

The tree branches, cut into pieces, became a lighthouse and a little house next to it and a garden for Pandora the Cat, Seabold the Dog and Huck the Bird (if you didn't read "The Lighthouse Family", it's your loss).

And the seashells - families. M told this story about one of them: "Papa Shell went to Home Depot to buy saw and told the boy Shell to stay home and do house work. Then Mama Shell and Papa Shells went to play with the cat and the boy Shell just did house work." Lol, like this ever happened to him!

But I sure do hope that next week we'll get out more even if it's just down the road to get groceries or something.