THE LAST SNOW?

I'm no weather man so I really have no business declaring that this was the last snow of this german winter. But I'm doing it anyways, for the sake of my mental sanity. It keeps snowing and snowing and not warming up but it never snows enough to go sledding or build a snow man. It does snow enough, however, to transform the dead and dreary forests into a beautiful winter wonderland. This is MY BACK YARD and it is so pretty, particularly when blanketed in snow. I had to go out and snap pictures before it all melted (which it did within a few hours of taking these by the way.)

We sat inside and jane spent the afternoon coloring with her new colored pencils. The coloring soon became overrated so she decided to start making shapes with her colored pencils. I love watching her imaginative ideas come to life. Her deep concentration is so adorable to me.

^^But Lyla is a little offended that she can't join in on the making boats out of colored pencils game. ^^

This was also the same afternoon where Jane got a tag and a blanket, and laid down on the couch. When she was all comfy she said like the biggest diva there ever was: "Okay mom, you can make me a smoothie now!"

Well, gee, thanks for giving me that blessed opportunity to serve you, your highness.

That reminds me of a game we have been playing together lately. It has actually worked wonders to calm down her obsessively independent and stubborn 3 year old self that has been rampantly emerging. We play that Jane is the mom, and I am the Jane. She completely relishes the opportunity to boss me around and explain to me that "no more candy, jane- it will make you sick." or "it's ok to feel sad sometimes, but we don't yell or be rude" OR "No, jane, we only flush the toilet once. Or it will waste water!" It makes me think that there is a thing or two I've taught her that have stuck. And it's fun to pretend like I'm having a tantrum and watching jane looking wide eyed and clueless as to what to say. Which is probably how I look too when she graces me with the same behavior. Yeah that game is a win win because she likes to have a turn to be the boss and I like to have a turn to be throwing my body onto the ground and whining about the wrong color of water cup.

One thing that gets us through this winter is play dates with friends. I watched jane's friends the other day- Kylie, Marin, And Sarah- and they were like the best models ever. They could've sat there modeling for me all day, I think. And it was so fun. I'm happy I could document some of jane's first best friends :) They all love each other SO much, and it makes me so happy to watch. (not to mention their mom is one of MY favorite people on earth as well!) Jane and I are both so blessed in the friend department here in Germany!

^^ Jane's ""silly face"  could use some fine tuning. I think Kylie (the oldest) could probably teach her a thing or two on that subject.

Oh and fyi, I just checked the 10 day forecast and, alas, there is more snow to come. So NO, it was not in fact the last snow. I'll just grin and bear it :)