This is January?

So many times this month I've caught myself wondering if I somehow accidentally brought the Arizona weather home with me.  Because even my irises and daffodils are confused--they're coming up!

The way things are looking, I might need to start my garden in February this year...

Needless to say, the kids are loving the opportunity to be outside instead of house-bound.

Catherine loves nothing as much as sitting outside, throwing grass, dirt and mulch.

Stealing the neighbor boys' football is also very fun.

As is riding your scooter through mulch (?)

Since it wasn't snowing, we figured we might as well rake all those leaves in our backyard.

Seth was a big help.

Having kids makes everything fun all over again.

On another lovely January day, we met some friends for lunch at a local farm, and then let the kids run wild:

Or sit wildly, for those who aren't yet running:

But sometimes we stay inside and play with our (massive amounts of) toys: 

Racing cars down the stairs

Daddy fixing Mommy's terrible engineering job.

And now for some photographic evidence of what has become a daily occurrence at our house: 

Jon & Seth, fighting over the Kindle.

Every day.

Usually repeatedly.

Oh, and I guess one time it did snow:

Once.

And then melted.

How is this possibly the same place that dumped over two feet of snow in one night two years ago???