Winter Arrival

Winter has hit us hard after a very mild autumn, complete with half a foot of snow and too cold for recess temperatures (that's -22 with the wind chill).  After 26 years in Canada and 8 years as a mom in Canada it still catches me off guard.  On Monday I had to race out with the kids to find a new snow suit and mittens for Lillian, boots and snow pants for Walker and a toque for Emma.  I forget every year how much more difficult winter makes things.  A trip to the school to drop the kids off takes 15 minutes to prepare for because everyone has to be outfitted with snow suits and mittens and hats and then squeezing Lillian into her car seat with said suit on takes another 5 minutes.  At grocery stores I almost need a whole other cart dedicated to hauling winter gear that the kids refuse to wear because it's itchy or hot or hard to move in.  Despite these difficulties the kids are always so excited about the snow it's hard to not let it rub off on me.  The hill in our back yard is the perfect little sledding hill for the kids and I love that I can watch them from the warmth and comfort of our kitchen.

Lillian in her new snow suit.  Given that the one we just retired was for an 18 month old she needs to grow into this size 3 a little bit.

One of the other challenges of winter is finding things to keep the kids busy when they can't spend the hours outside that they did in the summer and fall.  On the coldest days last week I took some pictures of the things that I allowed the kids to do that I never would have allowed on warmer days.

A painting project that turned into a war at our kitchen sink.

Walker insisted on using the murky paint water as his "swamp" for the enemy.

And then later at the top of the stairs.

Lillian playing "family" with the paints.

 Face painting

I love that Lillian has her mouth wide open while she paints teeth on Walker.

I think she's supposed to be a tiger.

One afternoon I looked into the living room as I rushed the kids out the door for kindergarten and couldn't help but laugh.  I spent the morning mopping and cleaning bathrooms and in my desperation to get it done without interruption I let them do this to the living room.  Luckily it was Thursday, early dismissal, and chore day so it got cleaned up after school.

Winter also means that Christmas is on its way.  I'm so excited my stomach hurts!!!