My First Snowman

On the 7th of December we had our first real snow since we moved into this house. I was really excited, for some very odd reason, to shovel the driveway and walkway in our new house. It could possibly be that I haven't set foot on the treadmill in quite sometime and I've been feeling the holiday pounds starting to creep up on me and snow shoveling is a nice way to get some exercise outside when it's otherwise way too cold! But regardless! I shoveled all of the snow on our 3 car driveway including the RV parking and a path along the side yard to get the garbage cans out. Emily and Nathan were all suited up and attempting to build a snowman while I shoveled and Logan was taking a nap inside and we had the baby monitor out with us.

Well, after I finished the walkway and half of the driveway Logan woke up and I suited him up in his darling little snowsuit and wrapped him in some blankets and stuck him on a little toboggan and Emily and Nathan took turns pulling him around the cul-de-sac while I finished shoveling the driveway. Then they begged for me to help them build a snowman. Well, we'd been outside already for quite awhile and I had a million things that I needed to do inside but I hadn't really played with Emily and Nathan out in the snow yet so I decided that I'd help them for a bit. By this time, Logan was ready for a bottle but was still wide awake, so I opened the back of the van and made him a nice little cozy spot for eating back there while I made a snowman with Emily and Nathan.
After about 5 minutes of pushing snow into a big pile, they both lost interest. I think any sane mother with a to-do list would have taken the opportunity to walk away from the snowman as the kids lost interest... but not me! I soon discovered that this snowman building experience was all about me and had nothing to do with spending time with my kids! They played on our little slide and made snow angels and I diligently piled and patted snow. I realized that I had NEVER built an entire snowman! I'd started helping the kids before, but then realized that it wasn't as easy as the movies and TV shows make it look! You don't simply roll a ball and place it on top of another ball, stick some buttons and a carrot on it and call it good! Snow doesn't work like that! It was quite the process and I was DETERMINED to make it work! Anyway, the kids floated in and out of interest in my snowman as I built him but then when he was all formed and finished and I just had to get him dressed, they were happy to help! We put toothpicks through buttons to help them stay in and also stuck on a licorice mouth and lego eyes and then, of course, the carrot nose! I think that my very first snowman turned out DARLING! don't you think?

Well, after I finished my snowman, I looked at the driveway and realized that it was once again covered in snow. I figured I'd put off my to-do list already for most of the day, I might as well burn a few more calories and shovel it all again! Good thing I did, because I made some killer cookies that night that we didn't stop eating until they were gone. ooops!