Snow Fun

Since we never EVER have snow, I've been trying to remind the kids to do all of the things that you can only do in snow. They've had a blast throwing snowballs... Making (sort-of) snowmen... NOT sliding on the ice patches that cover our driveway... And of course, we made Snow Cream.

It was so much fun... And tasted soooo good. LLL refused to give her cup back for an hour after she finished her allotment... Just kept scraping the sides with her spoon and licking the remnants. THAT good.

A lot like an Icedream from Chik-FIL-A. I added Whipped Vodka to mine and it tasted like a piña colada. Yum.

I played outside with the younger three Herdmembers outdoors while the High Roller worked indoors on business and Butch Cassidy went down the block to play.

We played in our backyard with some sweet neighborhood friends.

It's so crazy to watch Sundance and the little girl across the street, J, play, now that they are both six years old...

When her parents and our family moved on this street, J's mom was very close to giving birth to J, and I was about a month behind her in delivering Sundance. It's been amazing to watch them grow up together, and as siblings have been added to both families.... Such a blessing for the kids to have people they can always talk about their childhood with. 

There are some street friends from childhood I still think about and talk to now, and those memories of adventures and misadventures are fun to relive. Like the time my friend and I decided to make a cigarette (we were about nine or ten) out of a piece of typing paper, and stuff with with leaves and pine straw. She inhaled, I lit the thing... Fire ensued... We got it handled before anyone knew. I've never seen black smoke pour out of someone's mouth like that before though, and it hope I never do again. Need to ask her if she remembers that. But I digress!  

LLL did great as long as she stayed away from the ice... Which wasn't often. She's a glutton for punishment, I think... I only slipped once... Okay twice... And I didn't like it a bit. She kept going back for more. Most of the time she liked to sit in the kiddie chairs with the snowman in the neighbors' yard.

Im being bugged to go get more snow for snow cream, so I will write more later!

The SNOW is HERE!

Finally, at about 4PM, the big white flakes began to fall at our house.

A little neighbor boy came over and knocked on the door, wanting the Herd to come outdoors, and so the process of cold-proofing the kids began. I was soooo excited to see that ALL of the cold weather gear I organized in their rooms a couple of weeks ago had been scattered to the four ends of the house.... So the treasure hunt was underway. Piece by piece, I prepared the boys, the Princess, then LLL with whatever I could find. They looked like mismatched ruffians, but at least they were warm. And cute. :)

While I was getting the Herd ready, the High Roller got dressed and headed out with them so I could get dressed. Finally, we were all outside. Like thirty minutes later. It was beautiful!!! The kids were playing with neighborhood friends, and we got to talk to our neighborhood friends, who were also outside, for the first time in forever.

It was so nice! It made me think about how God gives us just what we need when we need it... We've had Holidays... And weekends... But those all get full because we pack them full of plans. And plans are nice, but not necessarily relaxing. On a day like this, there's nothing you can do but go with the flow, relax, and enjoy each other. Plans and scheduling are a man made invention.... Not God's. I currently have a bucket outside collecting snow for snow cream! Let's hope I collect enough . 

The kids had so much fun attempting to make snow angels and throwing snow teach other.

We were all trying to catch snowflakes in our mouths and getting them all stuck in our eyelashes. Good memories. Now I'm drying a massive amount of wet clothes and warming up people with blankets. Hoping they go to bed early! 

Snow Day 2 9AM

Thankfully, for the kids' sake, there's still plenty of snow on the ground. I'm forcing them to clean their wrecked rooms before they can go outside, though... Because I'm mean. Butch Cassidy had me all excited about sliding around and jumping on the snow-covered trampoline... Then I remembered that giving birth to four kids then jumping on a trampoline is not a good idea. Dangit. 

3PM Update

So far, our area has had a pitiful showing in the way of snowfall.... Mostly ice and a few rooftops with snow dusting... Or sugar sprinkles, as Sundance observed. We've had to resort to other means of entertainment, since there's currently no snow for us to play in, we are doing laundry (aren't I the coolest mom EVER) and watching music videos on the TV via YouTube. Popular requests, thus far, have been "Splish Splash" by Bobby Darin, "Little Red Riding Hood" by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, and Michael Jackson's "Thriller". The all stand still when the scary ending of Thriller comes on...

Dance party with the Herd! 

Burns Night with the Herd

If you know me, you know that I'm in love with my Scottish heritage and all things relating to Scotland.... And I'm raising my kids to embrace their heritages as well (My Scots and the High Roller's Lebanese roots). When I realized that the Burns Night Who is Robert Burns, anyways? I was originally supposed to attend with my local St. Andrew's group was a DRY affair.... No Whisky at a Burns Night or any Scottish celebration is sacrilege in my opinion... I decided to make my own Burns Night at home... It was an opportunity to teach the Herd something and have fun... And celebrate Robert Burns properly (with drams of Scotch).

 The first order of business was to obtain a Haggis. As some may not know, TRUE haggis is illegal in America, because sheep lungs are considered to be not meant for human consumption by the FDA... But there are a few companies in the USA that sell "approved" haggis. However, I wasn't willing to pay the $50 of combined shipping and retail price for it to arrive on time at my home, so I decided to improvise. I scoured Pinterest for recipes, and finally found an easy, organ-free recipe that could be cooked in the crockpot... Much like a meatloaf. And I had everything at home that I needed to make it! So I used ground deer and lamb, along with an egg, various spices and oats... The Princess helped me prepare it :) Want the Recipe?!

She even mashed it up with her little hands and helped me from it into a loaf, so that we could slice it theatrically at supper. I also baked Gluten free Shortbread (it's delicious but a complete pain to make) for our dessert and mashed tatties for our side dish. (Potatoes)

The Kids all colored Scotland themed coloring sheets that I had printed out for them while I briefly told them about Robert Burns and why we celebrate his life and work.

Butch Cassidy and the Princess wore their various articles of tartan...

Sundance was in one of his prickly moods and didn't want to dress up. I don't push that kind of thing. LLL wore a balmoral cap for awhile but decided she didn't want it after all. Thanks to one of my favorite college professors, Dr. Bob Evans, I used a video of a cartoon reading Burns' Address to a Haggis for the kids to watch... And it was designed so that you could turn the character into a picture of a real person...  Tried to make it into a picture of Butch Cassidy but it wouldn't cooperate. So we just watched it plain :) First we said the Selkirk Grace, then ate. Supper was enjoyed by ALL....

A very small amount of the "haggis" was left... And LLL demanded to eat its leftovers yesterday.... Nothing cuter than a two year old saying "aaaaggggeeeese".

I drank my Jura Single Malt and read "A Red, Red Rose" aloud (my favorite Burns poem).

We listened to the Chieftains Long Black Veil Album and traditional pipes music. We had a great time, and I'm so glad I did this.... Even though I feel ridiculous for a lot of my crazy ideas, sometimes. Hopefully they will all have fun memories from these nights.Who is Robert Burns?