Winter Fun

Since it seems we can't get away from the white fluffy stuff just yet, I thought I'd post some pictures of my family having fun in it. This is from a sledding trip a little earlier this winter.

This is my oldest walking up the hill with his sled.


This is my middle child. She was thrilled when I bought her pink snow pants last year (thank goodness they still fit!) instead of the usual black hand-me down snow pants from her brother that she usually has to wear.


This is my youngest. She got pretty tired walking up and down the hill all afternoon, but had a great time anyways!


Here's my youngest again with her dad. We only have one sled that multiple riders can go on, so Brendan and I went on a lot of rides with the kids.


Brendan caught this photo of all the kids and I trekking up the hill once again. By this time the toes in my right foot were a block of ice, and I decided that after one last run I was going back to the van for some hot chocolate!


And finally, some pictures of the parents, who probably enjoyed the day sledding as much as the kids. (Nothing like flying down a hill on a piece of molded plastic to make you feel like a kid again!)

Snow Time Again

Every year I write about making and eating snow ice cream with my kids. It is one of the winter rituals my kids look forward to every year. And with the amount of snow that is being predicted for our area coming in the next few days, I thought I would again post about snow ice cream.

The pictures here are from December 27, 2009. Our Christmas eve this year was white and the kids were able to sing "White Christmas" on the way to their Grandpa's house on that evening as we had gotten a few inches of snow the week before. Christmas day, however, was a different story. It rained much of the day and all the white snow lined yards turned to a mucky green.


On December 26, the rain turned back into snow and we got close to a foot of snow. My kids urged me to "put out the bowl" to collect the snow so that we could make our first batch of snow ice cream of the season. I made my husband do it (I didn't want to go out on the cold, snowy deck to place the bowl on the grill) and it sat there until December 27. After I unsuccessfully attempted to open the screen door which was hopelessly frozen shut, I put on my boots, my hat and scarf, my gloves and winter coat and went out the front door to trudge around to the back of the deck to collect the now full bowl of snow.


I brought the bowl inside and began making the snow ice cream. It's rather simple, really. Start pouring in half and half and stir the mixture occasionally. When it begins to resemble soft serve ice cream, add 1/2 cup of sugar and a little vanilla extract. Taste and decide whether it needs more sugar or not. If you run out of half and half, milk can be used to finish the mixture until the right texture is achieved. Eat immediately!


This particular batch used a full pint of half and half. After that ran out, I used some whole milk that was leftover from a fudge recipe. Being lactose intolerant, I declined to eat any ice cream (besides the little tastes to ensure good flavor). My kids, however, ate almost the whole bowl. It is a fun (and yummy) tradition!

Brrrrrrr!

I live in the Chicago area. It's wintertime. Therefore, it's cold. Even though I have lived here since 2000, and I would always wear a hat when building snowmen with the kids or sledding, I have not always been a hat wearer. Ear muffs, yes. Hats, no.

Well, I don't know if it's because I'm getting older and don't care as much, or if it's just because I hate being cold (always have - I was never one of those teenagers who didn't wear a coat, my mom never had to worry about me not wearing a scarf or gloves), but I have made a big decision about winter this year.

I'm going to wear a hat, one of those winter knit ones that smoosh everything down and cover my ears perfectly. And I'm going to wear it everyday, every time I go out the door. I don't care what my hair looks like when it comes off. I don't care where I'm going. I'm wearing my hat all winter long.

And I'm going to laugh at all the people who own hats but don't wear them. Because that's just stupid. I know, I used to be one of those people.