And speaking of snow...

Before this winter passes, I wanted to jot down a few snow memories of the kids:

-Ben LOVES to shovel snow. Seriously. When we get more than an inch, as soon as I will let him, he will bundle up in his snow gear and head outside to shovel. Sometimes the neighbor kids will come and shovel our walk for us, and he always worries that they will shovel too much of it and there won't be any snow left for him. He's actually pretty good at it, too. I don't even have to go out with him. I will get him ready and send him out, and then just sit by the front window. He knows to make sure that he can always see the window, and can just shovel and play out by himself for as long as he wants, which is often over 90 min! Molly will last 30 to 45 min usually, but he LOVES to be out in the snow.

-Speaking of snow gear, it is still a pain to get them both dressed for outside play, but it is unbelievably better than last year. Last year, Ben would fuss and whine the whole time...now he is completely aware of the benefits to himself of participating well. He can't wait to get outside, so he works hard to help me dress him. He is way more patient with getting his gloves on, and does his hat and coat independently. Molly has never fussed much, and is now even easier to dress because she insists on putting her own coat on. Less work for me! She is so cute with gloves, though. If I help her with gloves, even if all fingers and thumbs are clearly in their right place, she will still go finger by finger and feel each spot from the outside to make sure everything is in it's right space.

-Molly loves to make snow angels. However, for some reason, she doesn't like to do them while on her back. Instead, she flops face down in the snow and goes to town waving her arms and legs. Seems chilly to me, but she seems to love it.

-We always...every.single.time...come in from snow play and head straight to the kitchen for hot chocolate. We all love it, and it is just one of those things that I know I will miss when they some day grow out of it. The chilly tromp to the kitchen...getting the water/milk heated...picking mugs...stirring for waaaay too long...and for Molly, the adding ice to cool it down until it is really more cold chocolate rather than hot chocolate, but she insists! :)

Here they are...shoveling away! Molly even got into the action this time, using a little kids broom. This is not our sidewalk, by the way. Some random lazy neighbor who couldn't be bothered to shovel was saved from neighborhood shame by a 5-yr-old and a 2-yr-old!


And, of course, the proper snow-angel demonstration. Make sure you flop face first into snow, and then have at it. Fun times!


And here, Ben gets into proper snow angel form with Molly.


Cute kids, along with their trusty snow-shovel-side-kick!


Warm weather toys are even more fun on snowy days.


Ben had a great time creating a huge snow pile at the end of our tiny slide and crashing into it. Though he reported that it wasn't nearly as fun or soft as he thought it was going to be.