Snow Fort

I normally hate the snow. This year we've really been enjoying it though.  One of Ryan's christmas presents was a two dollar piece of plastic to build a "snow fort" or, if you are skilled, a snow igloo. We had enough snow today that while Dylan was napping, we bundled up and tried it out.  

 We packed the snow down really well and slowly built layer after layer of snowbricks, stacking them on top of each other.  We filled in the holes with loose snow.  Eventually we had something that looked like this....

(Ryan wanted to see how snow tasted).  

                                 

 Our walls kept growing higher and higher until we had something that looked like this.  That's when we noticed one flaw in our design. We forgot to add a door and it was too high for Ryan to climb out! 

                                  

 He thought that was pretty silly of me to forget making a door. 

But he just kicked a portion of the wall down and ta-da! A snow fort! 

 He was pretty proud of himself.

 We had so much fun making this snow fort! He wants to go back out tomorrow (when the windchill will be -30!!!) and play in it some more! We're just hoping no one knocks it down overnight.

 I tried to get him to throw snowballs, but instead, he kept flinging loose snow about. 

Snow Days!

 All our days are snowy days of late.  This has been one of the most bitterly cold winters, dipping into the negatives over night and with highs in the single digits.  We got out one day, although it was bitterly cold and bundled up to play in the snow.  We built the tiniest "Olaf" snowman.

While the kids played with the snow, I played with my new camera!

School Days

 It's pretty cold out there. It's pretty white out there.  This particular week the high was a whopping one degree.  In this kindof weather, this is how we entertain ourselves!

 Ryan built a lie detector with his new snap circuits.

 Ryan read a book to his little brother.

 We worked very hard on our reading and writing in school.  We don't usually have a big blanket out but since it was SO cold, we enjoyed snuggling in it and enjoyed the extra warmth it gave us.

 We dug some big boxes out of the basement to make a fortress.  Our bible lesson that day taught about God being our fortress in times of trouble.  But then, they enjoyed drawing and coloring pictures on them.

Home-made Puzzles

 For art today, Ryan was extremely interested in making his own puzzles out of craft sticks.  We found a picture we liked on the computer, and then worked on drawing it.  I helped him draw the sled and reindeer in both. Although in the future I will likely tell him as his picture he needs to draw it, not me (but this time it was so fun I couldn't resist).  After he colored them, he really wanted to add glitter.  I think they turned out pretty cute!

Hot Chocolate

 We are getting back into the swing of school.  I was extremely pleased that my little guy didn't regress any in reading during our two week break.  I was prepared for it, but pleasantly surprised.  I highly recommend Saxon Phonics! Since bitter cold and snow is hitting most of the country hard and we are no exception (we're talking negative windchills) I thought it would be educational to teach Ryan how to make hot chocolate in the Keurig.  

 I showed him how to place turn the machine on, place the k-cup in the machine, select the cup size and go!

 Ta-da!

Delicous and hot with some whip cream! As a side note, he understands he is not allowed to help himself to hot chocolate whenever he likes--he still needs to ask and be supervised. 

One last Hurrah

 For the last several years, Ryan has begged for a pinata for his birthday.  However, we didn't really have the space, right weather, or amount of people to pull it off.  This year, however, we decided to do it.  On the day of Ryan's party it was pouring rain, so we got everyone together at this nice park for some pinata smacking and general fun. 

Fun was had by all!

Ninjago Party

 It's not easy having a birthday party two days after Christmas.  It's especially not easy throwing a party after traveling.  However, thanks to Ryan's Grandma and Grandpa Kangas, I think he had a fantastic Ninjago party at their house, surrounded by cousins, family and friends.  His Aunt Cassie taught the kids some awesome ninja moves, and they earned their masks. 

 Ryan in his ninja mask.  I found this at the dollar store. 

 Then the kids were given sword toothpicks.  The goal was to earn as many gold coins as they could. The person with the most coins won a prize.  Some balloons had coins, some had chapsticks, chocolates, candy, or other favors, and some were empty.  I have to say they looked like little ninja's they moved so quickly!

 (The amused men sitting on the couch)

 As a further test of their ninja skills, they had to catch the evil snakes in the pantry without touching the yellow rope.

 Then they enjoyed a game of limbo. Because limbo is fun, not necessarily because it was ninja related.

 Finally, they caught the evil ninja, Lord Garmadon, by shooting him with the ninja arrows. (I had also thought about doing pin the beard on Sensai Woo, but didn't have time to cut it out). 

After all that activity, everyone was hungry.  We enjoyed punch, veggies and dip, and cake and ice-cream.

 Happy birthday my five year old!