A serious case of the winters

I knew it was coming. I could feel it building all week. We finally got it yesterday: a serious case of the winters.

Every year since having young children it happens in our house. At some point, they have cabin fever. I have cabin fever. We all just want the space and freedom that the warmer weather allows. Everyone in this family feels better, happier and a bit more calm with a healthy dose of fresh air. I truly believe that people were meant to thrive outdoors and most of us just don't get out enough.

Before having kids, I thought that the temperature or precipitation level didn't matter. We could get our air despite the season! Well, after spending just one snowy outing with a toddler who keeps losing his boot in the snow drifts, whose mitten never stays on and who has to go potty a mere 5 minutes after the bundling-up process, I knew that another of my pre-kids notions about parenthood was crazy.

We endure the cold. We go outside as much as we can, even though it's not every day. We work on our art, build, bake and create indoors.

Finnian's toucan

I think we make the best of it, even though I find myself spending more and more time on kayak.com and dreaming about planting our garden, opening the sandbox and visiting the beach without hats and mittens.

And a little online shopping doesn't hurt either. I spent some Christmas money on a virtual shopping trip at Purl Soho, one of my favorite places in NYC, last week. After tracking the package across the country (why does a NY store send their stuff from California??!), it finally arrived between ice and snow storms this week.

I was as pleased as Xavier looks. BTW, it always helps when your online purchases arrive in a pretty blue paper and sealed with a sticker. It certainly feels more like a present. I'm definitely a sucker for packaging!

I dug into the Sashiko kit last night. I've been thinking about trying the Japanese embroidery technique for a long time and it didn't disappoint.

We'll see how the finished product looks! In the meantime, we've had another snow storm, another snow day and another chance for Isaac to make paths on the driveway. It may not be spring yet, but we're already dreaming about the possibilities.