Our deer friends

We've seen countless deer and rabbit tracks all over the yard, pasture and even up and down the driveway but haven't really seen many deer until one afternoon I glanced out the kitchen window to see 8 standing at our cherry trees. I've never seen deer so close, it was so much fun for the girls and I to watch them nibble away at the cherries.

I took this picture from Piper's window upstairs. You can't see all of them in this picture but there were 8 total up by the trees and I counted a few more across the driveway by the pine trees and then even a couple more in the pasture.

They visited for the week, clearing the bottom (reachable) branches of the cherries and then moved on.

Ice Fishing with Papa Miller

Seeing as Papa is now retired we thought we should sneak out during a weekday to do a little ice fishing. For some reason Piper has been talking about ice fishing and asking questions about it so I had to suck it up and take them out for a while. I could have taken Dad up on his offer to stay up at the house but I'm glad I didn't, it was a gorgeous day to be outside and the girls had a lot of fun.

Reagan catches bugs around the house, touches "icky" things for Piper all the time but for some reason she was grossed out by the slimy fish.
Piper's squeemish around them too

Getting a lesson on tip ups.

A few other days during January/February

We made a sneaky visit to see Grandma and Grandpa. Mom called them from town to tell them that BLT's were lunch for the day. It was a great visit, the girls enjoyed the kitty until it bit Piper just one time too many. Reagan enjoyed her story time with Great Grandma Red and Piper enjoyed teaching Great Grandpa how to play Uno. She was whooping him for a few rounds and then he showed her at thing or two. It was pretty funny!

Our thermometer doesn't go down to -25. That was a rough morning for everyone!

Oh snow, oh snow, stinky stinky snow! My car just doesn't like even the lightest coating of snow, it refuses to get up the driveway until things have been cleared and even then it wants to wait another day. I happened to be out of groceries and already out of the driveway on this particular day so I did the shopping knowing full well that I'd have to walk them up the driveway or leave them in the car until Jason got home to help. Well I got a bit stubborn and refused to be beaten! Taking a look around the garage I got a hold of the sled and the snowblower, loaded up the sled, hooked it up to the snowblower and drove it up the hill. It wasn't too bad of a system, I wouldn't have been able to pull it all up in one load by myself.

Rea and Brecken raiding Reagan's jewelry box.

Piper's actual Birthday

For Piper's actual Birthdate we decided to pack a picnic lunch and hang out at the indoor park for a few hours. The girls had a blast running around the gym, jumping in the bouncer and climbing around the 3 story park. I think the best part though was when Grandma Mary showed up and then a little later Jason surprised Piper by joining us for lunch. She had a pretty happy day!

I just think this is hilarious, it looks like she's grabbing Grandma's rear, she was just going in for the hug.

Look at the smile on her face!