This week we did several fun snow related activities since we received our first significant batch of snow. . and we weren't really going anywhere since it was subzero temperatures. 

PLAYING INDOORS WITH SNOW - SNOW BAKING

We grabbed a few towels and some play kitchen supplies for this activity. Then, I brought in snow and we baked pretend birthday cakes, muffins, and baby food. Both kids played until their fingers were red. We tried mittens but they weren't to Lydia or Miles liking for dexterity reasons. Miles loved just resting his little fingers in the snow and banging all the plastic together. Lydia was very purposeful and "mixed" the snow, placed it from one bowl into the other, and pretended to crack eggs. It's so fun to see the differences in the two of them.

We did this activity several times throughout the week and will probably do it again tomorrow with our new batch of snow. 

WE MADE SNOW CREAM! 

And it was sooo much fun. Lydia was excited to get to eat the snow for the first time. I used the recipe from the pin but decreased the amount of sugar. I didn't think that Lydia and I needed to share 1/4 cup of sugar. 

Here's the recipe I used:

• 4 CUPS SNOW
  
• 1 CUP MILK
  
• 2 TBSP SUGAR
  
• 1 TSP VANILLA

(Just a note: Snow cream from my childhood included a raw egg. . was this true for anyone else?)

SNOW PAINTING ON THE LIGHT TABLE

I wouldn't necessarily call this painting since we basically dumped color from a spoon onto snow/ice . . but its up to your interpretation. Whatever we did it was fun.

I let Lydia pick the two colors we used and of course she picked yellow as one color. So we made yellow snow and blue snow. And then we talked about mixing colors and made some green snow. 

This was fun but not as well received as the pretend play we did with kitchen stuff. In fact, just to get her to do this activity we had to first make two "cakes" of snow and then pretend to be decorating them with the paint. Which she absolutely loved.

Snow is fun indoors or outdoors. With little people the indoor stuff is definitely ideal during these crazy cold temperatures. The main thing is to take advantage of the opportunities you have with snow when its around because it will be gone just as quickly as it came. 

Here are the links to the Pins I used and referenced:

For week 2, I tried a painting idea with the kids. It was obvious from moment one that Miles was too young which was fine. However, an un-napped Lydia wasn't listening like she normally does.

I provided a link to the pinterest pin below. AND I think we will try this again in the future. I mixed the paint too thin and didn't have a good dropper for the vinegar (the fizzy part).

In the end I just put baking soda and food coloring in a glass and poured vinegar in to show the cool volcano effect... and that was good enough for Lydia. Photos didn't happen for this project. Sorry about that.

We also had "hot dog squids" for lunch one day. It was fun and a big hit with Lydia. Miles didn't get to enjoy them in their squid form since he's not quite chewing.

Here are the pins:

So, this is week #1 of my attempt at a New Year's Resolution and I'm very excited about it. I am going to try 52 weeks of Pinterest. . because otherwise I will just continue to pin things I will never do or at least try. I've named it My Year of Pinning. 

This week we set up the kids new light table so I went on a search for activities that involved a light table and items that I already had around. I didn't find anything right away that wouldn't require a trip to the store. 

Then, I found a pin that suggested you tape Ziploc bags filled with fingerpaints to a window. I thought that this would probably work even better on the light table. And it did. :)

I also tried a new recipe, Crock Pot Shredded Orange Chicken . This is so good. . even Kent loved it and he's not always a huge fan of crockpot meals. I didn't get to take a picture of it because it is all gone. The recipe fed my little family of four easily and I even had enough left for a large lunch the next day.

I didn't have orange juice concentrate but did have five oranges that were very ripe. I juiced the oranges by hand (in my fun old timey juicer from my friend's mom) and zested a whole orange. To add a bit of sweet to this dish I used 2 tsp of maple syrup which made it less healthy but more yummy. 

This is a blog that I'm starting for the new year. My new year resolution (other than the predictable "Lose Weight") is to attempt one project/idea/thing from my vast Pinterest collection every week of 2014. That means, that December 31st of 2014 I should find myself having completed 52 projects/ideas/things. I'm not good at diaries or blogs so we will see how this goes. :)

I also plan to share cool things that I see around the internet or photos that I wouldn't share on my photography blog.