Tubing Fun

We surprised the kids at the beginning of the week with a snow tubing outing. We had tried to go a couple of weeks ago but something came up at work and it didn't work out. So when Bill said he didn't have much on his calendar we loaded up and headed up!
One of the best things was that it was practically empty, its awesome to have places to yourself.
Everyone had a blast, Erin kept up with everyone! That girl is unbelievable, does everything on her own and is completely fearless. There is something kind of weird about loading your 32 pound little peanut into an intertube and then pushing her down an enormous ice covered hill and telling her goodbye. Even better, not being able to see her face because she is so bundled up and hearing her tiny voice yell "bye "as she goes flying down.  Pictures from our fun...

 Little bit of wind burn!

 Daddy Love

Flower Pot Snow People Craft

For our Junior and Daisy Girl Scout craft we did these adorable Snowmen (or girls, babies etc). They turned out so cute and I was able to adapt it for both the younger and older girls, just did a bit more prep for the little ones.
A flower pot turned upside down with a wooden ball hot glued to the top made the body. We cut infant socks near the top, turned them up a little to create the hat (you need one sock per snowman for this part). We tied a piece of ribbon around the middle of the hat and then snipped the ends with scissors to "fringe" the top. The left over sock was used to make the scarf. The girls then chose 2 buttons to hot glue on and then painted on their faces.
I am so glad that I have 3 of these to decorate for the winter, I just love them!

Snow Day - Literally

Monday and Tuesday were snowy, snowy! The boys did a great job keeping our driveway nice and clear and it came with a price - exhaustion!
The girls on the other hand used the snow to make candy and ice cream! We had a great afternoon scooping snow and eating.




Our Little House in the Big Woods study has Molasses candy like Laura and Mary used to make. This was the perfect day to try it. First we measured out a cup of brown sugar.





Then a cup of molasses.




Then we stirred and heated it until it was boiling and formed balls when dropped in water (a lot like making fudge).

We needed more snow to make 2 pans of candy, one is not enough for all the molasses sugar. I would have cut it in half had I known how much it would make. We filled two 9x13 pans with snow.

Then we drizzled the molasses onto the snow making little shapes.

Then it was on to our ice cream. We got more snow, that was not a problem! 16 cups of snow, 1 tablespoon of vanilla, 1 cup of sugar, and milk to get the consistency that we wanted. Yum! It turned out great!

A perfect snow day!

Icicles! Icicles!

Ethan proudly holds his treasure!


Ethan loves his icicles! He went running out the back door with no coat and barely had his shoes on last Friday. He was back in with this huge icicle that caught his eye hanging off the slide on the swing set. He promptly put it in the freezer to keep. That was tricky to fit without breaking a point!
He then returned later that evening from being out with Bill with an even larger one that they had taken down from one of the garage coach lights. This too has a home in the freezer. Not sure how long they will be part of the family but he checks on them regularly!

We need to measure this one!

Can Someone Get Me Down?!

Erin getting bundled! She loves her
snow pants.


Erin can get all of her snow clothes on by herself and only needs help zipping and snapping. She is most proud of herself! The only problem is that it takes her longer than the others. By the time she was done the other day everyone had started to come in. Leave it to her adoring big brother Ethan, he re bundled and went out with her.

She wanted to go up into the fort and go down the slide which normally she loves to do in the snow. But once up she wanted down and was nervous about going down in her boots and other equipment. She stood up at the top yelling, "Can someone get me down from here?" "Please!" Ethan stopped his icicle hunt and tried to coax her down the slide. When that did not work he went up and helped her navigate the ladder backwards and carried her the rest of the way. They happily played on the ground until they were freezing. I knew there was a reason I always wanted a big brother!

My Kind of Day!

Erin loves jammie day!

Let it snow, let it snow! I love snow days. I love not being able to leave my house or need to leave the house. Wednesday's are our busiest activity day. Erin has dance in the morning, Ethan and Lindy have piano in the afternoon. And the evening is busy. Lindy to cheerleading, Kyle to Boy Scouts, and Ethan to basketball. So to have the day "off" was a very welcome treat. And we made it a treat day.

I felt bad kissing Bill goodbye while we all sat sprawled out on the family room floor in jammies with the fireplace going, reading books and playing American Girl card games. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and read and played all morning. We enjoyed a fun lunch (BLT's with Turkey and had Coke to drink for a special treat) and then had a great afternoon snack, more on that later.

Don't we all look innocent! Just wait...

Everyone let off some steam by wrestling Kyle and "attacking " him per his request! We danced and listened to music, made Valentines, drew pictures, and did not watch TV! We spent the day together and it was the best day. I am secretly hoping for another snow day soon!

Off to "attack" Kyle with glee!

And he loves it!

Especially Ethan!

Our Inauguration Festivities

Anyone who knows us knows that we didn't hear the person that we voted for taking the oath! But that does not change that today we inaugurated a new president and could watch history in the making. We may not agree with things that Obama has planned for or his opinions but he is our President and it is exciting to see what will happen and where things will go.



Yesterday being Martin Luther King Day, the kids and I did a quick lesson on Civil Rights and what King did. For the boys this was review but most of it was new for the girls. When I read to them about racism and how people used to treat blacks and the discrimination they received during the Civil Rights time, they just looked at me with blank stares. Lindy and Paige were completely dumbfounded as to why anyone would treat people that way. Why would you bomb someone's home or the church's they attend? All because of their skin color? Kyle sat there explaining to the girls, " I know it makes no sense and was just wrong. But look where we are today." Referring to our new president. Which led to a discussion as to how King would have felt watching the inauguration. It was a good lesson and they were excited to watch today.

We decided to have a special lunch, out of the Mac & Cheese realm! I made roasted pineapple with toasted buns and ham and melted Swiss cheese sandwich's. Along with Erin's pears and some chips we had a great lunch on our flag plates. A red, white, and blue drink accompanied our meal.

We headed out to hang bird feeders after lunch (more on that later) and ended up having a mini sledding outing in our back yard. I gave everyone rides (yes, I am sure that I will regret that tomorrow!) but we were all having so much fun!

To warm up we had hot chocolate and played a round of Inaugural Bingo. Then we watched the taped swearing in ceremony. Everyone had a great time seeing all of the presidents. Paige and I were looking a cute First Lady book while we watched. Everyone was asking questions. It's really handy to have an in house historian on hand, thanks Kyle! It was such a great day that just kind of fell into place. I so enjoy these days with my kids! It is truely what home schooling is all about!