winter photo journaling, in no particular order

   

I love Jonas' sense of style.  He loves to put on this cool hat and his fingerless-gloves ( he requested for Christmas ) when we go downtown.  He is his own person and I love who he is.

 Nova has a style of her own as well, she always has flare and never ventures down-town without a purse packed to the brim with crumpled up dollars, lip balm, some toys, jewelery and on this occasion you can see her brush attached at the top by a hook.  When I asked why her brush was attached at the top of her purse by a hook she said, "you never know when you will need to brush your hair when you go out."  Nova is her own person as well. 

Pictured here our the "86 stairs" leading up to Depot Hill above the Capitola Village.  I grew up down the street from these stairs and enjoyed running them to stay in shape, they are a butt killer and I hope to visit them more often this year for optimal lifting results.

Ezekiel looses his long locks, he feels so proud of his new hair-cut. 

gorgeous plum tree in bloom in our front yard.

Visiting the snow in Bear Valley. 

Board games become a favorite family-time activity during the winter months.  Something about playing a board-game together brings out our character types.  After a long game of Monopoly I have discovered that by far the most competitive of the Crowder's is John  and Maile ( they are usually the most intense and focused in the group).  John takes more risks in his winning strategy and Maile is a bit more cautious, but they are in it to win it!

Jonas loves to win but not at the expense of others.  He is very encouraging to his loosing opponents and never laughs at their misfortune.  He is pretty focused though and will surprise us with either missing the the plot completely or hitting it right on target.  His mellow personality is quit hard to read and he has the best poker face.

Nova is more concerned with the relational bonding of the group rather than winning the game, sometimes she just wants to assist you as a team-mate but then feels bad about being partial to one family member, so she will rotate between mom, then Dad, them Maile and Jonas helping us and supplying us with water and snacks.  

Ezekiel, well he is still little for a lot of the games and he is an "all-or-nothing" type of guy so he finds a game on the i-phone to play or visits the game to "distract" once and a while.  He loves it when we play Charades though and his acting skills are amazing and send us rolling!  He is by far the most theatrical and witty Crowder.

Now for Mom.  Well I am a bit "spacey" by nature so getting me to focus for long periods of time is a challenge.  I am constantly hearing the kids say " mom, focus, it is your turn!"  I have never been competitive so I am cool with not winning usually but if I push through my "ADD" tendencies I can beat the best of them:)

We have had amazing January weather this year.  It even got up to 75* one weekend.  Here we are at the Hook in Pleasure point during a minus tide enjoying the sea anemones, star fish and unusually numerous army of hermit crabs ( one of the many aspects that make growing up in Santa Cruz so awesome .)  I have great memories of tide-polling as a little girl, sticking my fingers into the center of a sea anemone and as it sucks it in or putting a bit of pressure on them so the squirt you.  It is Science at it's finest!

Jonas and Maile learned to snow-board and I road the mountain for the first time in 10 years.  The kids loved it and learned fast and I felt like I had never stopped, it was second nature. One of my favorite sports.

 

This is my "happy-place"  When I can break away from life for an hour I love to come to the Henry Cowell Redwoods, which is 3 short minutes from our house in Felton. I run on the trails and pray and always experience rejuvenation and a clear head, I could spend hours there.  I am so grateful to be living in this area again.