Baby, it's cold outside...

I awoke to the sound of snowplows before 5am this morning. The weatherman predicted the snow, so it wasn't necessarily unexpected. Still it was sort of shocking to see the earth covered in a beautiful, white, fluffy, soft blanket. The kids screamed, "IT SNOWED!", and begged to go out. It was, however, nine below and too cold for little faces so we tried to fend them off with cartoons and pancakes. It became too much for dh and he reluctantly got dressed to go shovel (sorry girls at our house outside chores are for him, inside for me :). I spent a grueling 20 minutes bundling up the children with snow pants, boots, hats, gloves under mittens, scarves, and huge coats. They lasted two minutes in the now zero degree weather. They came in all pink and frosty and begging for hot cocoa. Not sure how the rest of the world makes hot cocoa, but here we boil some water in the green teakettle and each child dumps some powder into their mug. When the water starts to make the boil sound we pour the steamy liquid into the mugs and stir. Then we add one or two ice cubes to cool it off:);marshmallows optional. I know what you are thinking...we might as well skip all the hoopla and fill it with tap water. But where's the fun and learning in that? So now I am blogging and sipping from my dark hot chocolate from Godiva, ice cubes and marshmallows not included. There is a reason the three letters G-O-D are in Godiva. It's heavenly. Stay warm, where ever you are...