Well, we didn't get a whole lot of snow this past weekend, but we made up for it by sledding a lot in the little bit we did get, drinking lots of hot chocolate and making some of the paper-type snowflakes to hang around our house. After a few dozen we decided to get creative and made some snowflakes out of our names!

It's pretty simple: cut a circle in your paper and then fold in half, in half again, and in half one more time. Write your name in bubble letters (make sure they touch each other in at least one place). Then cut them out (you can use an x-acto knife to get the fiddly little spots in As and Rs). An 8x11 piece of paper was big enough to do our names but if you're a Jonathan or a Cassandra you might want to invest in a larger size.




It's pretty simple: cut a circle in your paper and They ended up being so pretty and just like real snowflakes -- no two were alike.



They're kind of the perfect snow day activity because they keep kids absorbed for a long time and it will look like it snowed inside your house by the time you;re done with all those bits of paper. Convenient AND seasonal!

Anouk's BFF Miri came over the other day for a morning playdate, and we made cinnamon sugar snowflakes for snack. It's pretty much the easiest, most toddler-friendly baking project ever -- all you need is flour tortillas, melted butter, cinnamon and sugar.

After microwaving the tortillas for 10 seconds or so, to make them softer and easier to work with, fold the tortilla into fourths and cut as you would a paper snowflake (I helped a lot with cutting the snowflakes for the kids as little kid scissors aren't the best at cutting anything bread). Brush melted butter over each snowflake and top with cinnamon and sugar (we used the pre-mixed cinnamon sugar from the spice aisle at the grocery store).

Bake for 5-10 minutes at 350 degrees on a lightly greased baking sheet and enjoy with berries and whipped cream (we ate ours with fruit salsa made with the last of the frozen strawberries from last years' visit to Cullipher Farms).




 ^^ SUGAR!!! ^^

Are you and your little ones going stir-crazy yet? We are -- at least, we were yesterday. Today it's thankfully warmer, which means we can spend more time outside but when the temps were hovering in the low 20s? Forget about it.

It made for a long day but we did end up having a lot of fun in it. Here are a few of the crafts and activities we've been doing, to beat the homebound feeling.

1. Paint tie-dyed marshmallows.


A tablespoon of milk and 1-2 drops of food coloring made the paint that we used to decorate our marshmallows. Anouk and I had fun coloring them with (clean) paintbrushes and then set them on a paper towel until they dried. They looked lovely floating in our hot chocolate after we came in from the snow.

2. Make colorful ice balls.



A Pinterest idea that worked! We dropped 4-5 drops of food coloring in each balloon, then stretched it over the faucet and began to fill it veeeeeeeery slowly. Tied them off and stuck them in a bowl outside to freeze overnight. In the morning, we snipped the balloons off and had fun rolling our new treasures through the snow. (They took a long time to freeze, so putting them in the freezer might be a good idea to help them along).

3. Bake "snow" cookies.



I found this recipe ages ago by searching for dairy-free cookie recipes. It's actually from Weight Watchers' site (the cookies are 1 point, if you are interested). Anouk calls them "snow" cookies because of the sprinkling of coconut in the dough. I call them delicious. We were mixing up a big batch right as it started snowing on Tuesday, perfect timing. Find the recipe here.

What have you other snow bunnies been up to? Stay warm out there!

I've always been a little obsessed with the idea of snow candy, ever since I first read Little House in the Big Woods in third grade. There's a scene where Ma pours maple syrup over snow and little Laura and Mary eat it up. Last week, on our third straight day of being cooped up, when the novelty of the snowstorm was wearing off and the day's maximum screen time had been achieved, I decided that we might as well soothe our frustrations with sugar and see if the idea of snow candy translated into our modern age. And good news -- it did! (Only we had to use honey because we had no maple syrup in the house.)

Here's our recipe and instructions, based on the one found here.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla (or other flavoring)

One of the perks of living right by the beach is that you get to know it in all types of weather. There's the stormy spring beach-- the summer sunny beach -- the autumn beach, with the goldenrod growing in the dune grass. And the snowy beach in winter, quiet and austere.

When we woke up after last night's snowfall, James and I bundled Anne up, and then bundled ourselves up (we're talking two pairs of fleece leggings here, it was cold) and headed down the dunes to see what we could see. The wind and waves had blown and melted the snow below the tideline, but above it, there was a dusting of white caught on the grasses and the bark of the scrubby beach pines. The sand was frozen where the water had touched it, and heaps of frozen sea foam was mounded up on the jetties (looking a lot like whipped cream). There were little sandpiper tracks all over the white fluff, marking where they'd been.






Before too long we had to go or else we would have frozen solid. But I was awfully glad we went. It was a treat to see our familiar beach with its white cap on for a change.