We landed in Omaha Saturday evening at 5:30. It was already dark by the time we left the airport, and Annalie was extremely disappointed when we told her she couldn’t play in the snow till the next day. We consoled her with a promised visit to meet her new cousin right after we dropped our luggage off at my parents’ house. As we drove down the interstate she opened her mouth wide in a show of speechless delight at each new expanse of snow.

When we stopped at Godfather’s to pick up pizza on the way to my brother’s, I literally had to grab her to keep her from rushing into a mountain of snow that had been plowed over to the side of the parking lot.

AK is extremely adorable and also a champion sleeper. She was asleep the whole hour we were there, even though we were passing her around and taking pictures. Annalie was totally smitten, asking to hold her twice, kissing and hugging her gently, and cooing over how adorable she was. I hope they’ll be great friends someday.

Annalie drew this on her dry-erase board during church yesterday morning (I snapped a quick shot with my phone before she erased it). It’s the first time I’ve ever seen her draw people with clothes rather than simple stick figures. I asked her later if she had seen that drawing somewhere before and was remembering it, thinking maybe she’d seen a picture somewhere in church that morning. She said, “It’s the drawing you did for me, remember?” I showed her how to draw a simple stable scene almost a week ago. I was rather amazed she held that image in her head for so long and did a fair job of recreating it without having it right in front of her.

And then after church and Sunday School were over, it was time to go back to my parents’ house and get Annalie suited up for PLAYING IN THE SNOW, YAYYY!

Annalie’s snow pants were a Christmas present two years ago. I’m kind of amazed that they still fit as well as they do. The coat is one we bought on clearance when we had to make that unexpected trip to Omaha for Troy’s dad’s funeral almost two years ago. It was huge when we bought it, and now it fits her perfectly. Time flies.

I think the only thing that would have made Annalie happier about the snow is if it had been snowing while she was playing. She didn’t worry about it much, she just made her own snow by throwing it up in the air.

Then she figured out she could pick up pieces of snow and throw them at Grampaw.

But before she got the chance, Grampaw made the first move!

Annalie got him back eventually, though.

Annalie was running and slipping and sliding all over the place. She kept going down in the snow, laughing her head off. She was getting pretty wet but she didn’t care a bit. I’m glad she got the chance to play in the snow before it got super cold (it’s 4 F/-16 C as I write this Monday evening).