Snow MUCH Fun! - Updated

Greetings from our snowy corner of the world!

We got a lot more snow than our previous two snow days, but exactly what was called for on the news - about 5 inches. The kids, even in their rain boots, eventually ended up with damp socks. Miss M sunk up to the top of her boots when she went walking across a fresh area of snow.

We had fun out in the snow this morning, although it was still too dry and powdery to make a snowman. Daddy is working from home today, and was able to come outside for a few minutes with us. I'm sure we'll all head back out again in the afternoon. Hopefully by then the snow will have melted just enough to stick and make a decent snowman. It'll be a first for the kids, so I know they will be excited if it all works out.

I know the picture of Miss M makes it look like we were outside while it was snowing. It actually stopped before we got up this morning. The snow in her hair is from when she licking it off of the mommy-van. She looked up at me once and said, "Mmm! This tastes like ice cream!" At that point, Mister J decided he wanted in on the action, too.

We also played with the little sled I bought back when Mister J was just a toddler - about 4 years ago! Of course, both kids are bigger than the sled now, but we still managed to have some fun. Mister J tried to pull Miss M, but going uphill was a little tough.
I finished her trip uphill, then got some help from the ice and slush on the way back down with him in the sled. Oh, yes, it might be pretty and snowy on top, but underneath is ICE from a day and a half of rain and sleet. There have been a few cars and trucks up and down our street (no snowplow yet...), so right now there are slushy tracks that helped make 'pulling' 40+ pounds of boy and sled quite easy.

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Afternoon update:

After we'd had a chance to dry out and warm up, we went back outside. This time we had two things to do - make snow cream and make a snow man. I've never made snow cream before, so I was just as excited as the kids. Plus, I can't resist a new recipe! I gathered up all of the ingredients (well, except for the snow!) and we headed outside. I can't believe how well it turned out! (Nor can I believe how much it made!) I decided to try chocolate, and it tasted very similar to a Frosty from Wendy's. The kids enjoyed it, I think - but take a look at these photos and judge for yourself.


And, in other 'snowy firsts' news, we were able to put the kids' Snowman Kit to good use today! The snow had melted a bit, so it was finally sticky enough to roll into balls for our snowman.

Unfortunately, even though he was 'made in the shade' he didn't last very long, but Mister J and I were sure proud of him anyway!

Schools are closed again tomorrow - melting snow+overnight lows in the teens=icy, icy, icy! I know the kids are getting tired of being inside (even when we went outside today we didn't stay very long), so I'm going to pull out the paints and Play-Doh tomorrow. Lunch will be fun, too. I had already started packing the kids' LLBs in anticipation of a delay tomorrow morning (which would have meant an extended day at preschool, including lunch), so I'll finish packing them in the morning and we might even have an indoor picnic!