loving the snow

I have panic attacks when I drive in the snow.  I don't love shoveling the walks or scraping the cars, and I don't like the dingy slush all over my floors or the stench of wet dog every time our dog comes in from outside in snowy weather.

But I do really like the snow.  It is beautiful and special and fun, and I love to share it with the kids.  I love watching Spencer try to catch snowflakes on his tongue, and Malcolm's intense stare as the snowflakes shine in the sun.  It makes me feel cozy and happy, being at home in with all the warm comforts that home can offer.  Part of loving snow days, for me, is keeping a stash of things that are special to those days.  We play outside, and then take a long bath full of all the color changing hot wheels, and then have hot chocolate and soup and grilled cheese.  I put out a huge mixing bowl when the snowfall starts to collect fresh snow, and we use it to try out different recipes for snow ice cream.  We try fun art projects and make playdoh.  (I found the best recipe ever - make it in the stand mixer, and don't forget the 4 tsp. cream of tarter - it has a wonderful hand feel and isn't sticky and smells great.)  I add glitter to make it snow playdoh.  We bring in a bin of snow so that Spence can build tiny snowmen and let his little people sled down hills.  We make instant snow, which is fun.  I have made juice icicles for breakfast treats, which were fun.  We bake something fun and have an involved breakfast - some kind of great pancakes (like these buckwheat ones, which Spence loves, made with white whole wheat flour and buckwheat flour, or these fantastic buttermilk ones - the batter keeps well for a week in the fridge, or these apple crisp ones, which are awesome),  or muffins, or doughnuts, or oatmeal with special flavors.  We like to read books about snow - that list is a whole other post - but we are midway through Charlotte's Web, so that will probably be the book of choice for tomorrow.

I have plans for more snow fun, many of which are on my Pinterest boards - here and here.    I want to do pretty much everything snow-related that this mom has on her blog, though - she is amazing!

By coincidence, the library had pretty much every movie we ever wanted to watch with Spence on hold for us tonight, so we will probably have a movie night tomorrow.  I have a lot of de-hoarding and cleaning to do to prep for my in-laws visit this weekend, and poor Malcolm still isn't able to stay asleep during the day, so he is super grouchy - so in spite of my fun snow ideas, tomorrow may turn out to be that rare and much-loved day - a movie day.  Oh the bliss.