Hot Chocolate

We have been sprung from our snowed in home. Addie is at school and I have gotten errands done (like buying toilet paper, which we were dangerously close to being out of). The floor is about to be mopped and laundry is going to get put away. Something about being housebound with a toddler makes it impossible to get such mundane things done.

Our snow is nothing to what the East Coast was pummeled with, but for us it was significant. Schools were cancelled for two days and getting anywhere that involved a hill was tricky.

Andy and I have discovered that having a double driveway on a corner lot equates to a ton of shoveling. We have also learned that our neighbors are kind and generous when comes to their snow blower. Okay, in general they are kind and generous - we've borrowed spices, a whole gallon of milk, scotch tape and butter from them. They also readily supply play dates for Addie and lent us their lawn mower when I wrecked ours last summer. The point being that through their generosity we have discovered that snow blowers rock and shovels blows. On our list of purchases before next winter - a snow blower.

On the first snow day we frolicked and played. We went sledding, built snowmen and had a snowball fight. The second day it was frigid outside and the wind was whipping. Addie and I colored and painted and did laundry and fought over nap time.

I was forced to get creative and decided to make play dough. While it was a great hit, note to self don't use an all-purpose whole wheat flour mix - the dough is a bit grainy and the color is really off. My misjudgment didn't seem to bother Miss Thang, however.

She rolled it and smashed it and played with it for quite some time. We made snakes and gorillas and a manatee. She used her cookie cutters to make flowers and apples and deer. She generously made her Daddy a rock.

With all the movie watching, snow playing, painting and play dough creating I thought I did a decent job of keeping my darling daughter entertained and content. But it turns out, to achieve her bliss, all I really needed to do was whip up some hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Hmmmm. Hot chocolate with marshmallows...could the pure sugar intake be ruining her nap time? Dear lord, sometimes I question my smarts.