Snow days

We have had the kind of winter I expected when we moved to Michigan: cold, snowy, and not altogether unpleasant! This is the first time in a while that I have actually gone outside to enjoy the winter weather, rather than always running between the car and the nearest building when it's snowy outside.

The kids have spent lots of time playing and taking walks in (meaning: being pulled on a sled through) the snow. We got all the tears and heartache out of the way the first time we ventured out this winter, and since then they have totally loved it! 

Because I'm their mom, I believe it's impossible to have too many pictures of them in their puffy coats. :)

Getting ready to go outside is it's own adventure. I have a very specific routine, and I've honed it to minimize trauma. Because although the kids like being outside, getting to the point that we're ready to be outside is basically a toss-up between miserable and more miserable. :) Haha.

It goes like this: set out everyone's gear in individual piles. Danny first-- snow pants, mittens, coat, boots, and his hat in my pocket because if we don't save it until we're outside, he works himself in a sweating maniac. I will add at this point that getting his mittened hands through the sleeves of his coat reminds me in an unpleasant way of giving birth (not Danny's... I mean Rayna's unmedicated birth). Squeezing an impossibly large object through an impossibly small passage, with much struggle and tears. These mittens have elastic sleeves that go up to his armpits, so they have to go on before the coat. Getting those things on is basically my daily workout, but once they're on, they're not coming off, which is nice.

Next is Rayna-- snow pants, boots, coat, with mittens and hat saved out with Danny's, because they cause meltdowns when put on too early. Then the kids chase/fall all over each other while I put on my own snow gear as quickly as I can. By the time I'm done at least one child is in tears and at least one (could be the same one, or not) has removed some or all of his/her snow gear. Forty-five minutes later (I wish I was joking, but it's been known to take this long) and we finally make it outside, where the freezing temperatures bring some relief for our poor sweating bodies. :) When we're cooled down enough, I add both kids' hats and Rayna's mittens, with NO THUMBS. I have learned not to mess this up. She doesn't like her thumbs in the thumb-parts of the mittens, and any suggestion of such will stop the fun snow day in its tracks. Danny also does not do thumbs, because have you ever tried to get a 15-month-old's thumbs into the thumb-parts of a mitten?

They adore eating snow, and have been well-trained to only eat the white kind.

We all like when I pull them on the sled. They are quiet and happy, which makes me feel like an awesome parent. I get some good exercise pulling them up and down the hills on the path through our neighborhood, and they get some fresh air.

It snowed on Rayna's birthday and all the day before, so she had lots of fresh snow to play in that day.

We have a tiny hill on the walking path by our house, that is perfect for Rayna and Danny to sled on.