How Cold is Too Cold?

Getting ready...

Andrew had his own mittens this time,

but one of them kept coming off anyway.

Pyramid snow-lady, notice the pink ribbon Eden found

for her lips, and her 'hair'.

Pyramid snow-man

I now know the answer to a question which had never before crossed my mind: How cold is too cold to let your kids play outside? Answer (according to an article on msn's website): keep them inside if its below 10 degrees Fahrenheit, remembering to take into account wind chill). When the snow started this time, it was Sunday, and then on Monday it was a high of 4, which was better than the forecasted high of -1, but still too cold. Scott even had the day off! So, we stayed inside and played A LOT of hide-and-seek. (Andrew is still trying to learn not to answer when Scott ask "where are you?").

But yesterday and today it warmed up a bit, still below freezing, but no wind, so the kids and I headed out. Of course we spent at least as much time getting bundled and unbundled as we do actually outdoors. This was especially true on Tuesday, because Andrew's mittens were in Scott's truck at work, so he was trying to make do with some way-too-big cotton gloves, which significantly shortened our play-time. And of course, the snow is still too dry to make real snowmen, so we have settled for making what Eden calls "pyramid snow-people." Basically, we pile up a bunch of snow and then put a face on it. Eden would also like you to know that the little snow balls on top (which are as big as we could get to stay together with this snow) are the snow-people's hats.

Also, since they both got snowbibs for Christmas, they (namely Andrew) were much more willing to make snow angels too. And I finally got everyone a pair of really warm socks to wear in the snow. Maybe we'll even get to find a good sledding hill before this snow is gone, now that we are fully equipped in the bundling department.