Playing in the Snow

Being from Iowa, Jay and I both love snow! We can hardly imagine a winter without that flully white stuff! Well, this year we almost missed it. Being on vacation for most of the winter led us to missing several of the beautiful snow falls! We even missed the one day the school was cancelled, which hasn't happened in years!! We were in a warmer place though, so we weren't complaining.

We have been skiing a couple times this winter on a slope just an hour north of us. It has been the perfect place for day trips, and is enough to satisfy Jay's skiing desires.

When it comes to playing in the snow.... we "forced" the boys we were watching to go play in the snow.... really so we could go play with them. They have a nice back yard (that our place is lacking), along with sleds so it was perfect! We told them they couldn't play any electronics until they went outside to play. The response we got back from one of them as he was stomping up the stairs... "Fine, I'll go out now so I can get it over with and come back in to play." He's definitely not an Iowa farm kid!! My mom couldn't get us dressed quick enough in the morning to get us outside! (And I hear the grandkids are the same!)

I got all five boys dressed and outside, along with a bigger sixth boy. Then it was my turn to get bundled up. Thankfully, it really wasn't all that cold out. Here are a few pictures of the fun we had!

When talking about the boys, I use numbers instead of names. It's easier for others to keep track of!

#1 Throwing a snowball.

As you can see, the snow wasn't good for packing. It was too fluffy. As soon as you would throw, it would disperse as a powder.

#2 Taking a break from a snowball attack.

#3 The one that didn't want to go outside.

#4 Clearing off the snowy bench

#5 Wasn't quite sure what to do out there. He certainly didn't like walking in the snow with all of his puffy clothes on. He kept falling over!

 #5 and #6 Jay cleared off the slide and made a snow pile at the bottom for them to fall into.

Pulling #4 and #5

I showed #4 what an icicle was that was hanging from the windows. He loved licking it, and even shared with #5.

Once the church bells chimmed for 11:00, I was quickly told by the same child not wanting to be outside that we had been out for about an hour and it was time to go back in. I told him we hadn't been out that long! He said, yes, that we came out at 10:24. So I responded by saying it hadn't been an hour yet. He continued on trying to reason with me, but I was the mean babysitter that made them stay out another 24 minutes!

At about 11:20, #4 was saying he was cold. So Jay took his warm hand out of his glove and put it on #4's cheeks. It looks like Jay is suffocating him, but he was liking it. I finally gave in after this and let them go inside.

Once we went inside, Jay entertained for awhile...

While Jay and the boys were playing, I was in the kitchen making lots of food. This was New Year's Eve day and we were heading to a party that night that we were supposed to take food to! It's so nice to have Jay around to help out instead of doing it all by myself!!