Snow Day

I am truly sad to report that winter has officially arrived here in the tundra, and boy did it make quite a grand entrance! We have at least a foot of fluffy snow, 40 mph winds and windchills around 15 below. If any of you from warmer climates were considering making a trip here this winter, that description probably just permanently deterred you! As you might imagine, this weather caused a great deal of cancellations around the region. I decided to exercise my academic freedom and work at home. I just couldn't bear the thought of leaving the house and hauling Jillian to daycare and then driving on to work if it wasn't absolutely necessary. Jillian was pretty good to let me get some work done while she played and napped. But it wasn't all work and no play around here today...it was a "snow day", after all!

I decided it was too cold to go out and play in the snow (even though it was great quality snow perfect for play)...so I brought the snow (or as Jillian calls it, "no")inside.
"What do we have here?"


After touching the cold stuff a few times and quickly shaking it off her hands, I decided to put some mittens on her to see if she was less inhibited. That did the trick!


Then she decided to taste it...


And taste it some more...


"Oh what the heck, let's really test this out"


"Maybe this will give me the best angle"


The fun ended when she dumped out the snow


Soon it was time for lunch. Jillian dined on some Annie's Mac and Cheese with some pureed green goodness (spinach) mixed in. It's not the neatest of meals, to say the least.


After a nap for Jillian and some work for me, we bundled up and made the trek across the street for a bit of cookie decorating with Kate, Kyra, and Julianne. Jillian got her very own spot at the table, complete with her own spreading utensil


The girls with their culinary art!


Jillian soon discovered that the art was edible


"Hey, Mom, you've been holding out on me! I haven't had anything this delicious since my birthday cake!"


Jillian proceeded to hoard her two decorated cookies. After she devoured the first cookie in no time flat, I pried the second one away from her vice grip with great protest. She quickly became distracted when the Kate and Kyra burst out into song, full of Christmas cheer.


We also made time for a short fashion show. Being the inexperienced winter-gear buying mother that I am, I mistakenly bought Jillian's winter coat in an 18-24 month size. It is nearly too tight already! I quickly purchased a second coat (sized 2T), along with another cute hat (hey, a girl has to have a spare, right?!) on a quick shopping run earlier in the week. Jillian is sort of afraid of this coat. I hope she gets used to it!

I've since removed the optional faux fur hood trim. I think that helped a bit.

We capped off our busy day with a bit of family time. After staring at a fully lit, undecorated tree for almost 2 weeks, we finally put the ornaments in their rightful places. Our tree does look a bit different this year--there aren't many ornaments around the bottom! Jillian was very interested in the angel (or the "baby!") on our tree. Matt held her up to touch this special tree topper*

*If you don't know, Matt gave me this angel on our first married Christmas together. The card read: "To my angel on our first Christmas". Probably one of my most favorite gifts of all time.

Jillian helped place a couple of ornaments with Daddy's help


And finally, we hung our stockings by the chimney, (er, I mean window!) with care...