Snowed In

A blizzard. Negative windchill temps. Seven inches of snow. Thankfully, we had no where we had to be today. I'm sure the trusty Tahoe could have gotten us where we needed to go, but I did not want to bundle up my little Peanuts and take them out in the freezing cold and wind today. That meant a housebound day for me and the Peanuts. A stay-at-home mom's first thought: what in the world am I going to do with the kids all day without leaving the house? Well, Alison and I occupied ourselves quite nicely during Christopher's morning nap.

First, since it was just too cold to go outside and play in the snow, we decided to make some of our own indoor snowflakes and decorate them with pretty colors. (Notice the drift of snow by our back window? Now you know why I didn't take them outside.)

Next, we decided we were chilly and really needed to warm up. What better way to do that than with hot chocolate? Alison and I enjoyed a nice warm cup of hot chocolate together. It got a lip-smacking smile of approval from the little Peanut:

Although I had planned to make pork salad sandwiches (from leftover pork chops) and pasta salad for supper, it just seemed too cold and blustery to have sandwiches for supper. So Alison helped me throw together a big pot of slow cooker chili for supper. She took her job as Official Onion Skin Peeler quite seriously:

Then it was time for Christopher to wake up from his nap and head downstairs for a little relaxation and play time. Alison was super excited to find out that Dora's A Christmas Carol was on TV. She snuggled up with her blanket and settled in to find out what that sneaky fox Swiper was up to now:

Then it was time for lunch. Alison's been asking to go on a picnic lately, and given the fact that it was -11 degrees windchill outside, I figured today was a perfect day for a picnic...on the kitchen floor. I thought the kids would get a kick out of their lunch being served to them in a muffin tin, which they did:

They sat nicely on the blankets on the kitchen floor and waited. Spongebob paper plates in hand...finally, time for our picnic lunch! (Notice how it's lunchtime and the kids are still in their PJs? Why get dressed when you know you aren't going anywhere?)

More play time and then naptime. Too short of a naptime...Christopher just woke up crying. Hmmm, now how do I entertain them for another 2 1/2 hours till their Daddy gets home??