8 minutes to locate snow clothes
23 minutes to wrestle children into snow clothes

2 minutes to pose for pictures

3 minutes for E to stand frozen in snow bank

4 minutes for E to attempt to escape gloves

1 minute for E to realize it's warmer inside

30 minutes for G-bean to play in winter wonderland and end up at neighbors for hot chocolate
90 minutes of shoveling for Dad to wish Santa brought a snow blower

**building an indoor snowman and making apple juice slushies with rosy cheeked E

PRICELESS

Naughty or Nice

Time for the yearly check in with the man in the big red suit. This year, G-bean fearlessly marched up to Santa and placed her order. E on the other hand eyed him like a wolf in sheep's clothing. She wasn't fooled by the synthetic beard or covert ear piece revealing each child's Christmas wish. Instead she took her complimentary candy cane and stood watch in case G-bean needed back up.

It's a yearly tradition to visit Santa and light R's parents neighborhood Christmas tree. It snowed just in time for the evening's festivities. Out came the snow suits and pink cheeks. It was truly magical. E finally understood what the snow craze is all about. She kept saying "I bite snow." We have yet to indoctrinate her on the various shades and quality...Fortunately she was working with a fresh batch. As for G-bean, she could not have been more content with her cousin Stella, glazed donut & hot cocoa.

By the way, the random little boy in our family picture kept pelting me with snowballs. I guess I'm an easy target these days--big, slow moving, hard to miss. Doesn't he know not to mess with a Mama bear, especially when she's with her young.

Rodeo Queens

Thanksgiving break brought free days, good weather & little people with energy to burn. With my fellow belly in crime, Joni and I packed up the girls and headed to Maja's house. We spent a magical morning feeding animals (both 2 & 4 legged), giving riding lessons, and leading horses around in circles. The girls were in heaven as were the horses with their excessive treats. Adorned with rhinestone hats & cowboy boots, the girls transformed into true rodeo queens. Jack supervised the whole operation as the proud watch dog and master of ceremonies. As we rode off into the sunset at the end of the day, everyone was tired, happy and stinky. Mission accomplished!