• Colorful Snow Art

    P1370446c

    Red and Blue snow hand prints were found!

    After finishing their snowman Rainbow Confetti they decided to do colorful snow art with the leftover paints.  Some of their snow art creations turned out really well.  Love seeing them get creative.  Thankful for an opportunity to watch them play and have fun in the snow.

    P1370436c

    Blue and green store in the planter!

    P1370408c

    Red snow heart

    P1370433c

    Smiley faces always bring a smile

    P1370441c

    Yes, they even spray painted some of their snow balls prior to throwing my direction.  It made for a very colorful snowball fight.

    P1370449c

    Marking trails with their red paint.

  • Rainbow Confetti Snowman

    P1370393c

    Introducing the kids snowman for 2015 – Rainbow Confetti!  Shortly after this picture I was beamed with a snowball (can you guess from who?!)  Look at the person in the picture holding a snowball waiting for me to snap the picture.

    The last snow day we had the girls decided it was time to build a snowman.  It was perfect packing snow so they got started.  The only probably they had is the originally started the snowman ball at the bottom of the yard and rolled it uphill.  It wasn’t until they reached the driveway did they realize that they were not going to make it into the front yard so they came inside requesting help.  Between the three of us slip and sliding the big ball of snow across the driveway we managed to get it into the front yard.

    It isn’t the most beautiful snowman with the leaves, sticks, and dirt sticking out of it, but for the most part it is one that was built primarily by the kids with only a little assistance getting it into the front yard.  They did a great job and had a blast.  They “painted” their snowman with a mix of water and food coloring in a spray bottle then named him “Rainbow Confetti”.  Skipper was there to supervise the construction!  I do have to say their snowman lasted for several days and was one of the last ones in our area to completely melt so they did a great job packing in the snow plus they built him under a tree so it was a little more shaded.

    Snow, Winter, Snowman, Outside, Animals, Snow Art, Colorful Snow, Animals, goats, Dog,

    They would roll up more big snowballs and break them down next to the bottom of the snowman to build up a strong base.  I think the “breaking” and jumping up and down on the balls of snow were the real fun, the snowman just had the benefit of all the extra snow around it.

    P1370404c

    Rainbow Confetti was a mix of random colors from red, yellow, green, and blue.  They decided to use the fox hat.  Rainbow Confetti’s face was made completely out of vegetables that the critters running through the yard could eat.  Cherry tomato eyes, carrot nose, and an orange pepper mouth!

    P1370418c

    The kids colorful snowman.  They did a great job!

  • Snow Days In South Carolina

     P1370025c

    Karlie could spend an entire day outside in the cold she loves it so much!

    A couple weeks ago we had several days of snow in South Carolina.  The girls loved it.  They had a blast playing outside in the snow.  It was great having a little extra time with them.  Not sure they went a full week of school the last part of February or the first part of March with the snow days here and there.  We’ll take the extra days together though and pack in as much fun as we can.  Snow does not last long in SC so when it comes you have fun for the brief time you have with it.  As you can see from the picture above the snow on the ground behind Karlie has already melted since that morning.

    P1360941c

    Back deck covered in snow.

    P1370008c

    She looks so sad now that the kids are back inside….  Skipper loves snow days because the kids come out and play more.  This is the face I saw looking at us in the window shortly after the kids had come inside for lunch.  Looks like she is giving them her sad puppy eyes in hopes that they will come back outside and play again soon.  Don’t worry they were back out within 30 minutes or so.

    P1370014c

    Oh no she is not going to through that snowball at me…..  Yes, I got beamed with snow balls quite a few times.  Our storm door got it too a couple times as Karlie waiting for me to come out.  Guess those were her practice throws!

    P1370019c

    Waiting patiently for me to finish getting ready so I can join her outside!

    P1370033c

    Brina pretending to plant in the snow or at least knock off the remaining snow from the planter.

    P1370047c

    Magnolia leaves loaded with snow!

    P1370069c

    You can still see our bulls eye target!

    P1370075c

    The evergreens branches were heavy with the snow!

  • Hiking & Tracking Animals in the Snow

    P1360528c

    Hiking through the woods

    Most kids love to go sledding, building a snowman, make snow angels, and more crazy stuff in the snow.  One of the first things our kids want to do is take a hike in the woods.  They love going through the woods, checking out the stream, and looking for various animal tracks in the snow.  We saw a lot of animal tracks and most of them I knew what they were there was only one set that had me stumped….still haven’t quite figured it out even after looking up pictures.

    P1360493c

    One of our favorite stops by the stream.  Always gurgling down hill even on the snowy days.

    P1360486c

    Lots of deer tracks going through the woods after the snow and ice stopped.

    P1360540c

    Karlie looking for animal tracks.

    P1360545c

    Karlie loves being outside.

    P1360558c

    Brina brought the sled and was sledding down hills on our hike.  She managed to go around most trees.

    P1370100c

    Little tracks….

    P1370104c

    This was the one that perplexed me, it was as big as my hand and had 5 claws (or toes).

    P1370124c

    Lots of little bird tracks.

    P1370135c

    Skipper goes swimming in the creek even when its icy cold and snowing!

    P1370138c

    Little bird…

    P1370147c

    Cat paw prints.

    P1370152c

    Hanging out in the woods.

    P1370156c

    Talking, walking, and having fun in the woods.

    P1370158c

    Karlie loves getting out of school for snow days!

  • Everything Beautifully Covered in Icicles

    P1360146cc

    All the trees coated in ice!

    The past couple of weeks have been busy with changes in schedules due to the weather.  Our first big storm started as sleet went to snow and ended in more sleet.  The result was everything covered in a sheet of ice.

    The kids that it was great they got out of school.  They didn’t care that it was cold or slick they loved playing outside in it!   It was nice having some extra fun time with the kids.  With all the fun we have been having it has taken me awhile to catch up on the things around the house and get the blog pictures posted.  Hopefully, I will have you all updated on our snow and ice activities within the next couple of days! 🙂

    P1360131c

    Brina volunteering to take out our mail.  So happy to have a “snow / ice” day from school!

    P1360299cc

    Skipper loves snow days as much as the kids.  She loves playing outside with them!

    P1360307c

    Brina sledding.  The ice on top of the snow actually made the sledding a lot of fun for the kids.

    P1360328c

    Karlie getting ready to go down too!

    P1360341c

    Karlie sledding.  It’s amazing how well the sled worked even going through the leaves!

    P1360133c

    Icicles on the back porch.

    P1360149c

    Icicles on the jungle gym.

    P1360162c

    My old planter is covered with ice!

    P1360319c

    Our poor trees….they looked so sad!  They were not as happy about having the weight of ice on them.

    P1360345c

    Icy branches!

  • Our Snowman – Rainbow Sherbet

    P1100416c

    Karlie and Brina proud of their colorful snowman!

    Of course one of the fun activities every kid wants to do during a snow storm is build a Snowman!  While I cannot say our snowman will win any prices for being perfect or expertly made, especially since it was the girls and I who put him together, he is pretty colorful to look at.  We had a lot of fun building and creating him together!

    P1100398c

     Since we were already doing the spray painting we decided to do something different this year with our snowman.  We call him – “Rainbow Sherbet!”

    P1100405c

    Rainbow Sherbet added a little extra color to our white yard!

    P1100410c

    The girls are hoping Rainbow Sherbet will last for a few weeks.  I am hoping he’ll last a couple days!  Once it starts warming up everything melts quickly in South Carolina!

    P1100422c

     Karlie and Brina had the help of a certain black lab named Skipper!  She was proud of their creation too, ha!

    P1100449c

    Karlie is armed with a paint spray bottle, wonder what she is planning to paint now!

  • A Rainbow of Snow Colors

    P1100440c

    Brina painting a huge  rainbow heart on the snow!

    We had a blast in the snow!  One of the things we did this week was get some old spray bottles fill them with water and add a few drops of food coloring to it!  We filled and refilled those spray bottles several times over the last few days as we painted pretty pictures in the snow!  The girls had a great time!

    I would like to take the credit for coming up with this awesome idea all on my own, but my amazing and creative cousin suggested we do some snow painting when I spoke with her earlier this week.  Yes, it was a huge hit like all her fun ideas, thanks Renelle!  The neighbor kids even came over and had a grand time painting pictures in our yard.

    P1100268c

    Pretty red heart in honor of Valentine’s Day spray painted in the snow by the girls!

    P1100273c

    Coloring the front porch steps!  Coming up to our house was a rainbow of colors for several days, thanks to Brina & Karlie!

    P1100435c

    A friendly “Hello” to greet our friends and neighbors coming into our yard!

    P1100265c

    Pretty rainbow on the snow!

    P1100277c

    There were all kinds of random paintings all over the yard and driveway!

    P1100305c

    Karlie Kool Kat having fun painting the snow!

    P1100308c

    Brina Bee painted her name on the driveway!

    P1100312c

    Someone even did my name, so sweet!

    P1100315c

    A little more defined green star!

    P1100318c

    Someone painted Dad’s name on the yard too!

    P1100323c

    Karlie, Brina, and Skipper standing at the top of the driveway where they painted the word “Welcome”

    P1100327cc

    I thought it was cute that they painted a smiley face next to the mailbox to bring some winter cheer to our mailman!  Sweet kids!

    P1100329c

    Brina’s armed with a spraying, wonder what she’s going to do next!

    P1100333c

    The rocks, trees, bushes, and various random items had been marked by the spray painters!

    P1100336c

    The well covered was sprinkled with paint like confetti!

    P1100349c

    Skipper even got a pretty painted dog house.  It looked like a big decorated gingerbread house when they were done!

  • Snow Animals!

    P1100230c

    Skipper jumping up to catch a snowball that was tossed into the air! She was having as much fun as the kids!

    Our outdoor pets were not quite sure what to think about the snow at first, especially the goats since the snow covered all their delicious leaves.  They did enjoy having the kids and the family outside more often this week to play!  The goats and Skipper followed the kids around the yard joining in the fun as much as they could.  Sometimes it was a little crazy riding a sled down the hill and having goats and dogs almost hopping into your lap, but it gave us a good laugh!

    P1100161c

    Skipper trying out the sled as Oreo watched.  She wasn’t overly excited about being on the sled by herself!

    P1100172c

    Our South Carolina dog enjoying the snow!

    P1100176c

    It was amazing the amount of snow that piled up on these two!  It showed up better on Oreo, but Snowball definitely had a thick layer too.  They didn’t see to mind the cold from snow at all!

    P1100145c

    Snowball hanging out with the family!  He was more camouflaged this week!

    P1100185c

    We always had a trial of critters following us through the woods.  The goats especially liked it when we rustled up some good leaves for them!

    P1100187c

    Snowball peeking around the tree at Skipper

    P1100280c

    Skipper still guarding the front porch!

  • Snow Day!

     

    snow day

    It’s snowing!!

    Since we live in South Carolina, when it snows during the winter it is a big deal, especially for the kids.  The girls have been waiting all winter for the snow to come to SC.  They were so very excited when we finally got a snow storm and they got a day off from school so they could play in the snow.  The pets enjoyed some extra play time with the kids too.  We packed in a lot of fun activities during their time off of school.  We even got to try out their new sled!

    P1090628c

    Brina so excited that it is finally snowing this winter here in South Carolina!

    P1090631c

    Karlie running around in our first snow!

    P1090793c

    Brina’s first rainbow “snow” cone

    P1090784c

    Karlie loving her rainbow snow cone!

    P1090749c

    The goats are not really sure about all this white stuff.

    P1090765c

    They made a mini snowman!

    P1090737c

    Brina loves sledding down the side yard!  Fun snow day adventures!

    P1090723cc

    She’s laughing, but trying to avoid hitting the tree at the same time!

    P1090716c

    The goats with their thick winter coats were more concerned by the snow covering their food (leaves) on the ground then the cold!

    P1090706c

    Karlie was a little more cautious on the sled, but she zoomed down the hill several times!

    P1090632c

    Brina having a blast!

    P1090656c

    So excited to play in the snow!

    snow day

    “Hey Mom!  Let’s go sledding!”

    P1090680c

    Very excited about having a snow day off from school!

    P1090683c

    Karlie all smiles!

    P1090692c

    Skipper loved having the girls home and playing outside for the day!

  • Recipe: Cheesy Broccoli Soup

    It is winter and we are having a snow day here in South Carolina so I have been thinking about warm weather meals such as soup.  I have been debating which one to make for our family but thought I could share them with you.  If you like veggies and cheese you’ll enjoy this soup.  You can add in other vegetables that you have on hand in your fridge.  The girls like Cheesy Broccoli Soup just as much as we do.  Glad both girls love eating veggies!

    Cheesy Broccoli Soup

    • 1 (16 ounce) package of Broccoli
    • 1 can Chicken Broth
    • 3 medium Potatoes (cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
    • 1/2 onion (chopped)
    • 1/2 tablespoon Butter
    • 1/2 package Velveta Cheese
    • 1/2 cup Milk
    • 1/2 teaspoon Chives
    • Pinch of Salt & Pepper
    • Shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional)

    Put butter and diced onions in the crock pot on high for about 30 minutes.  While that is cooking prepare the remaining ingredients.  Turn down the crock pot to low then add the cut potatoes, broth and broccoli to the crock pot.  Stir in the cut up pieces of the Velveta cheese, milk, and chives.  Cook on low for 6 hours, stirring occasionally.  Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese to the top before serving!