Getting ready for winter

We are supposed to have a very snowy winter and that means the kiddos will be stuck in the house a lot, even with a few jaunts out to MSI or other places if the weather permits.  I am rather pleased with how ready for winter we are with respect to putting away our lawn furniture and other garden items. 

We moved into this house in Dec 2012, so we didn't have to do much in terms of putting anything away.  In 2013, I misjudged how quickly things go from decent fall weather to Too-Fing-Cold to do anything outside.  In 2014, Moose and Squirrel showed up and I didn't have time because it was hard to find anyone to hold the babies while I could get to the stuff.  Same with 2015 it seemed.

This year I worked on it gradually over October and November when the temps were still comfortable.  In order to get things done, I need to have daylight, energy, appropriate weather and someone else dealing with my kids.

On Saturday during naptime, Nightingale and I made some purging and organizing decisions.  We decided to get rid of some paintings that have been sitting in the attic for 4 years.  We also are putting her three dresser set (family heirloom*) in the attic, making more space in the basement.  The dressers are better used in the attic because we have all sorts of kids clothes of various sizes in plastic crates which aren't as easy to find. 

* by heirloom, we just mean they have been in her family a long time, they are hardly valuable antiques.

Yesterday after we got up, we got out of the house relatively early.  We took the bus (Boris loves the bus and Natasha enjoys it too) to Alps for breakfast. Nightingale was worried it might be too crowded but we were there so early there were plenty of available booths.  Which is good because we don't want to annoy anyone with our noisy kiddos unless we absolutely have to.

It was too cold to play in the playground at the nearby park so instead we rode the bus back to the HIP and went to Target.  We were trying to get a spare Pink Teddy bear that Natasha has taking a liking too and we found a close approximation (same one, just this year's model) but didn't get it because it wasn't the same one.

We took a different bus home which let us get on a 4th bus.  We managed to get home in time for lunch and naps.