Iced In

The storm arrived Monday night and for the last two days we have literally been iced in. As the second part of the storm made it's way through last night, we listened to the freezing rain and the branches cracking outside. We have a couple large trees in our backyard and they were all encased with about 1/2 on inch of ice. We heard of power outages throughout the area and thankfully ours has stayed on.

This morning, the wind is howling and we have some snow falling. It is freezing and the temperatures are only supposed to drop. The boys have had some fun sliding down our driveway and then trying to make their way back up. I know that maybe it's not the safest winter activity, but boys will be boys and every once in awhile, you just have to let them do their thing.

So, for today, we are going to once again enjoy the fact that we can slow down and be together. Cinnamon rolls are going to be the way to start our day along with coffee and hot chocolate. The rest of the day can be filled with watching movies or tv, a game or two, and reading some good books. Soup is on the menu for dinner tonight and I might even do a little baking so we can have chocolate cake for dessert.

I know many of you out there are weathering the storm as well. Be safe and warm my friends and if like me, you are forced to be inside, see today as a gift.

31 Degrees

After a couple weeks of below FREEZING temperatures, gray and dreary days, the sun is finally shining. And, the thermometer may just reach 32 degrees today. Only one more degree to go. But who's counting?

At this point, I really am longing for Spring. And my flip-flops.

First Snow...

Waking up this morning to a dusting of beautiful white snow on the ground...

Snow Days...

Snow days.... I actually love them as much as my children do. We found out last night that everyone would be home for the second day as a result of the snow. That meant sleeping in, playing in the snow, watching movies, my daughter's best friend spending the night, and of course lots of hot chocolate. Here are some highlights from today...

Outside our windows...

Sam and I had to check to see if the weathermen were right with their estimated prediction of 10 inches...

I have no idea what Jessica was thinking but apparently she was tracking me down to find out what I was doing...

Sam LOVES being outside. He literally could stay out here for hours. His favorite thing to do in the snow is build forts...

Ben enjoys snowboarding...

While Jessica had fun making snow angels...

I love these kind of days because it means that everyone is home...

My Jessa girl...

Even the puppies got to play for a little while...

Not only do my children like to play in the snow, but they like to eat it as well. I can remember making snow ice cream when I was growing up but they prefer syrup on their snow...

I looked out the window a little later and found Jessica and her best friend, Morgan, having "slushies"...

A day playing in the snow is not complete without having the BEST cold weather treat in the world... HOT CHOCOLATE & PEANUT BUTTER BREAD...

I can remember having this snack as a little girl when my Mom and Dad would make it for me as I would sit and watch "Born Free". Does anyone remember that show about the lion cub named Elsa? It was my most favorite show and I even have a stuffed animal of Elsa. That little lion cub is the reason why I wanted to grow up and be a veterinarian or Joan Embery (animal trainer at the San Diego Zoo). Anyway, there are 3 rules to follow in our family when having this treat... 1) never toast the bread 2) only use Jif peanut butter and 3) what makes this so good is dunking the peanut butter bread into the hot chocolate. YUMMY!