A long winter
The rest of the winter dragged on. With only a few hardy plants to gather, Ava was able to focus on other projects: she continued knitting sweaters and socks to keep her family warm, and was able to sew a new set of curtains to replace the old, tattered set that they had inherited with the house.
Addison was impatient for spring. Used to spending several hours a day fishing for their meals, he felt trapped in the small house. He began to drive Ava crazy with his near-constant pacing across the ground floor. When his frustration finally peaked, he released his pent-up tension by destroying one of the Snowpals that Brooke and Bella had spent a snowy afternoon constructing.
After apologizing to his teary-eyed children, Addison was determined to find a project to keep his mind occupied throughout the winter. He began collecting timberâsometimes wandering further from the neighborhood than Ava would likeâand preoccupied his mind by crafting wooden flooring panels. He was able to replace the houseâs battered flooring before spring.
Meanwhile, Ava had found herself, once again, vomiting up her breakfast each day. Her second pregnancy seems to pass even more quickly than the first, and before long the Neudorfs were welcoming a second set of twins into the household: Claire and Charlotte.














