A chilly Sunday afternoon...but it didn't seem to bother the birds....

Another one of the beautiful sights in our backyard....The mourning dove....

They symbolize a message of life, hope, renewal and peace.....which is good news for us, because there are plenty of them in our backyard...

I think our new kitten Nova was feeling the effects of the "mourning doves"  when I snapped her pic this afternoon...

She has been with us just over a week now...and she has really made herself at home.  I think she is liking her new home and family.

We decided to spend a little bit of time outdoors this afternoon...Who knows how much longer this snow is going to be around.  We have rain in the forecast again tomorrow and, once again, the temperatures are expected to climb to around 9 degrees on Tuesday.   So we decided to get out and enjoy a bit...

Super slide!

Mommy gets a turn pulling the toboggan.

What a workout!

I think we killed the toboggan!!!!

It's starting to get dark, time to go in.

We do a lot as a family....My kids have seen me as the serious parent....but also silly as well.   My kids have probably seen a side of me that a lot of others haven't.  Dancing around the room, acting silly, rolling around wrestling, acting half my age.  But that's the great thing about having kids.. They keep you young....I've always wanted to raise my kids like my sister and her husband have...Their family is very close...and their kids are very close as well.  My kids have the same kind of relationship.  They are both best friends and brother and sister at the same time.  They spend quite a bit of time together, and play very well together at home.  There's the odd fight here and there..."She hit me.  He hit me....She won't play with me"  But within five minutes they've usually made up, and are off playing again....My hope is that we'll stay very close for the many years to come.  I want my daughter and son to be able to talk to me when they're older.  If they have a problem, I hope they'll choose to come to their mom and dad to chat about it, and will feel comfortable doing it...

I realised today that this blog hasn't turned out exactly as I had first hoped, with a new picture each day...But I'm really enjoying this so far.  It's nice to get my thoughts down......I used to write a lot as a child, but I just don't do it as much anymore, and this gives me the chance...

.I hope you are enjoying it too.

Til Tomorrow!  Have a great Monday!