week ending feb 1, 2009:

Week ending Feb 1, 2009: This week we had about 2 inches of snow, our first accumulation of the year. The kids were ecstatic! Chloe wanted to scoop up some snow off the dirty picnic table with a scoop they’d used over the summer to play in the dirt and then put some juice on the snow to make a “winter Slushee”. I suggested we leave two clean bowls outside. In 2 or 3 hours the bowls got completely filled and the kids were thrilled with their slushies. After lunch there was enough snow for sledding and we headed over to the house of the only neighbor in the community with a hill steep enough for sledding. Alex and Chloe were totally self sufficient in their sledding and were able to tote their sleds up the hill, set it up, climb in and launch themselves. We’ve had the same sleds since they were 1, so I guess we got our money’s worth out of them. Alex and Chloe were curious to try the other (older) kids’ sleds and at first the other kids didn’t want to share, but they quickly learned that Alex and Chloe’s sleds were the fastest ones on the hill, so the older kids were willing to cooperate with Alex and Chloe. The 2nd day of the snow a different group of kids came to the hill, this time a brother and sister much older than the twins. This group liked Alex and Chloe’s sleds so much that they all decided to use them to do boy versus girl races with Alex and the older boy in one sled and Chloe and the older girl in the other. Alex and Chloe thought that was the most fun ever! They do love the attention of older kids. Over the 2 days we made hot chocolate 3 times, and we baked and iced some cupcakes. I hope we’ve built some of those childhood memories that the kids will cherish.