Snow Fun!

With the kids back to school Monday I was finally starting to get back into my regular routine after the busy Christmas season.  I planned on blogging sooner, but I couldn't load pictures from my computer through blogger,  so I waited a couple days to see if it would be fixed.  Since there seems to be no change yet, I ended up downloading Picasa so that I could share pictures...my blog posts would seem kinda boring without them ;-)

 

We ended up getting some snow the day after Christmas lasting into Thursday, so we met up with Rich's cousin's kids who were here from Virginia.  The kids (and Rich) went sledding on the hill at his Grandma's and had a blast!

 

Morgan and Blake enjoy getting together with their cousins, although a they're like 3rd cousins, they're the only cousins on Rich's side that are close to their age. 

When the weather warmed up a bit and snow was better for making snowmen, the kids were busy in our yard getting creative!  This is Blake's little snowman.  Bear felt the need to sit in on the picture...just plopped down next to Blake like he belonged there ;-)

 

Morgan very proud of her snowman.

I love this of Blake...carrying it around like a baby :-)

It was nice to have snow this winter for the kids to play in unlike our very warm winter last year.  And the fact that they got it over Christmas break when they had time to enjoy it with family made it perfect! :-)

Fun Crafts and Books with Snow!

Even though I hope we don't get any more snow, we are going through a cold spell in the 30's, so I thought I'd share some snow related things the kids and I did in February.   (These cold temps are a bit of an adjustment since having temps in the 70's and 80's the last couple weeks!)

We first read a couple books that had to do with having fun with our imaginations in snow (Razzle-Dazzle Ruby) and another dealing with a snow storm (One Winter's Day).

Then we had some fun with a mixture of salt, flour, baking powder and water.  I got the idea from Inner Child Fun.  SO simple and it only takes 30 seconds to dry in the microwave!  (They puff up too!!)

Morgan's snowflakes

Blake's snowflakes

And I had to try it too....of course! :-)

We then went on to read about some sledding in "Ten on the Sled"

Then watched a little video put together from the book "Red Sled".  (Would have loved the book, but didn't think to look for it ahead of time.)  I got this video and the craft idea combination from Brimful Curiousities.

I ended up using hot glue to put the sleds together, so the kids weren't able to do it all on their own.  They then used permanent markers to decorate their sleds, but if we had some puffy paint I'm sure they would have LOVED using that instead :-)

It was nice being able to do some snow related activities, since we actually didn't get a chance to actually play in snow this winter....it was a very mild winter and we didn't have much snow and if we did it didn't last long enough for the kids to play in.   I'm not going to complain though-it was nice not having to try to drive in it! :-)

Sledding 2011

This past Saturday Rich took the kids for their first sledding experience! They've been pulled around the yard before, but with the lack of hills here, they've never had the chance to sled downhill until Saturday. Rich's grandma has a perfect sledding hill. I didn't go, but from what I understand (and from the pictures) Morgan LOVED it! She'd ride down and Rich pulled her up several times and she pulled her sled back up on her own several times. Unfortunately, Blake didn't think so highly of the experience (could have been since he fell asleep in the truck and was a little grouchy.)

Bundled up and ready to go!

Look at that smile!!

Going back for more.

After they got home, I thought it would be fun to have some hot cocoa...also a first for the kids...just to top off the afternoon of sledding. (I would have said to warm up after an afternoon of sledding, but they'd been inside at grandma's for at least an hour already before coming home.)

Mmmmm....

Ahh...the simple joys of the winter season. :-)