You know winter has begun when...

...the weather forecast calls for a high of 33 (Fahrenheit!) and you rejoice at the prospect of a balmy day.  We have now started on our second snow event in less than two weeks.  The previous one featured snow falling gently but pretty steadily for more than four days.  I think we got about eight inches altogether, and it was COLD!  However, Esther is a snow lover, so we went outside at least once each day (twice most days) that there was enough snow on the ground to play in.  16 degrees (-9 C, for our friends on the metric system) isn't that bad if you're dressed for it, which Esther was, but I was sorely regretting not having gotten around to buying new snow boots.  (I threw my old ones out last winter after they got cracks, and I've been holding out on getting new ones till we can go to a sports store or some other place where I can get really warm, sturdy ones.  With as much time as I spend standing out in the snow these days, I'm willing to pay for quality!  Any recommendations for stores or brands are welcomed.)  So I put plastic bags over my (non-snow, fashionable) winter boots, and we came inside when my toes started to get numb.  It was still fun, though.  :-)  My favorite part was finding cat, rabbit and bird tracks in the snow.  Esther says that was her favorite part too, but she found plenty of things to do.  Here is a sampling of the first snowfall in our new home: