snow sprinkles & nice visits

We woke up this morning to about half an inch of snow on the ground. Ofcourse, the children were ecstatic. They got dressed and ran outside and played for about an hour. There wasn't even really enough snow to do anything with, but Clover did impress me by making this beautiful snow picture. She used the end of a bubble wand to make a tree with a bird and some little animals in the snow that had sprinkled down on one of our outside tables. When everyone was warm and dry, we sat down and did some learning. The boys are working on the number 9 this week. They each counted out nine blocks and made towers. We also read _The Story of Squirrel Nutkin_ by Beatrix Potter while Clover reviewed her times tables. Just as I suspected, the story was a big hit. Indigo and Willow loved the part where beetles were compared to plum pudding!
This afternoon, we had a really nice visit with my friend Chrissy and her children. Clover got to play with their pet cockatiel Nick for a really long time. She loves birds, and it was really nice for her to get to hold one since our own pet bird Jack Straw is a grouch and never wants to play. She fed Nick some yogurt covered sunflower seeds, and then sat down and read a magazine while he perched on her arm for about an hour. Every once in awhile, he took a little nip out of the magazine page which got big laughs out of all of the kids.

Chrissy gave Nova the birthday gift that she knitted for him. It is the cutest little red hat ever! I just love it! Nova loves it, too. And it keeps his little head so warm.
Isn't he sweet?