more snow and a little junk food...

If you wake up and THIS is what you see out your front window...

then it's time to find something to do with the kids who will soon find themselves bored...

something like make a big bowl of Puppy Chow. 

Around our house we don't do well with puppies or dogs of any kind. 

But we always welcome a handful of Puppy Chow....

it goes something like this:

Gather youngest child, who likes to cook...

then gather ingredients:

Box of Chex mix (real or generic)

1Cup of choc chips

1Cup of PB

1/2Cup of butter

2Cups of Powdered sugar

melt butter,

peanut butter, and chocolate chips over low heat...

pour box of Chex into large bowl...

add melted chocolate...

pour sugar into large baggie...

add cereal to baggie...

shake like crazy...

if that doesn't work, add the sugar to the bowl and stir like crazy...

clean dishes...

use cold water to remove chocolate stains off shirt...

pour generous portions into two small baggies, one for the elderly neighbor, and one for the guy we

pray is going to come plow us out (please, oh please...) 

pour another generous portion into a pink bowl to share with your mom

(because everything tastes better in a pink bowl)

and more into another small bowl to share with the other people in your family whom you love/tolerate.

Even snow-haters will smile with a bowl of Puppy Chow...it's not possible to eat it without smiling, I promise.

That only took us about a half hour.  The rest of the day was spent shovelling...again....and again.  And, honestly...for as much as I was complaining about the snow coming, I decided last night I needed to embrace the fact that I couldn't control it and just chill and enjoy. 

(Plus, there's a big notice on the top of my blog that I look at every day that promises

I will choose joy and be content.  Grrr...)

My attitude changed last night about 10:45 when my kids and I were out walking in the freshly falling snow.  There's something so pure and calming about falling snow that has yet to be touched by dirty tires and plows.  But, the real change happened when my daughter was walking behind me....

It went something like this:

"Mom, you better not mess up or anything.  I'm walking right behind you in your footsteps."

WHAM!

Convictions sucks. 

So...if you find yourself stuck in this...

Grab a bowl of THIS or any other junk food, smile and enjoy...

cause someone else is probably watching...

A little yellow plow...

So this is what happened last night while we were sleeping....

and this is what it looked like this morning when we attempted to dig ourselves out...

this is Emma thinking she's too weak to shovel...

and this is the measuring device that tells us it's going to be long day...

For whatever reason, Alex decided to come home this weekend.  He EVEN decided to come home after he KNEW it would snow a bajillion inches.  And he EVEN came home knowing he'd be out with a shovel for several hours helping us dig out.  I love that kid. 

I found out I am not as strong as I wish I was.  About a half hour into the shoveling process I was ready to quit.  But so were they...so we continued on so that no one would quit. Meanwhile our neighbors had already finished up their own driveways with their snowblowers and were probably sipping hot chocolate  watching us struggle to make a dent in ours.  I'm not bitter.. But, it was a good time to teach my boys a lesson about buying themselves a truck and a snowblower when they're older so that they can dig out every single mom and old lady they know.  Just saying...

Eventually fatique won out and we just plain old QUIT and went inside.

About an hour later, along came a little snowplow from the business across the street, and within minutes, our cars were set free.  Our hard work managed to give us a great workout, but the best thing of the day was that little yellow plow.  THANK YOU, SIR.  I believe you just won yourself a little jewel in your crown!

I can now appreciate the view out the window...and I sort of like snow again. 

The plan for the rest of the day is NO-thing.

Maybe a movie or two...maybe a little food...maybe nothing else.