Snow babies

After a snow free October, November, and December, we finally had some snow twice in January.
The first time we didn't get much, but that didn't stop Kiersten's determination to make a snowman. Evie's contribution was to get a carrot for his nose. (And several more for a snack.)

They attempted to do some sledding in the back yard. Lots of grass was poking up still, so they didn't get a lot of speed.

Ben put up Kara's basketball hoop off the deck. She likes having it there.

The second snowfall was much more substantial. Enough so, that school was canceled. The girls are always excited about a snow day, but I get apprehensive, because Ben does not usually get an accompanying day off, and I am most likely going to have to go outside so they can play in the snow.

Kiersten asked for a panda hat. I made her this one from a really fluffy yarn. Pretty cute, but a little bulky.  

Kara played with friends most of the day, and the other two played inside. Just when I thought I was gonna get away with an indoor snow day, Kara came home with the idea of making a snow fort. I decided I'd better suck it up and play outside with them. How hard can it be to make a snow fort anyway?

We got the walls up pretty quickly. The snow was ideal for packing. Kara was great at deciding who should be working on which area, and the other girls were surprisingly compliant with her plans.

Evie's main job was to bring in more snow for the rest of us to pack on. She got very creative with her methods. She started out bringing little handfuls, and ended up using a large branch for dragging, and eventually piling up her sled and dragging over piles of snow.

Apparantly, it's not all that easy for 3 children and one snow hating adult to figure out how to finish a snow fort. As well as we did on the sides, we couldn't figure out how we were supposed to make a roof. In retrospect, I realize it may have been better to go for a big mound from the start, and just dig it out. But that is not how it happened that day. After several collapses and frustration, Kara brought out a beach towel, which we stretched across the top. We then buried the towel so it couldn't be seen on the sides, and started to carefully cover the top. Alas, as thinly as we tried to spread the snow on the roof, the weight was enough to cause the towel to sag down.
This is what we ended up with. The girls were still excited about it, though barely able to fit inside due to the sagging. I guess what we really made was a snow throne.  

And that is one of the myriad reasons why Ben is they snow parent, and I take on hot chocolate and cookie duty. But it was actually kind of fun because they were having a good time, and that's never a bad thing.