McKinstry Moments: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...Eve

Christmas Eve was celebrated in an exciting way for us this year. We'd plan to get together with the Vaught side of the family like usual for supper, but a beautiful surprise kept us from going anywhere. God blessed us with a blanket of snow! While family dinners are nice, I loved spending the evening home with my husband and kids relaxing and venturing out to play in the snow.

I don't think Caleb remembered what snow was from last year when the only real accumulation we got was right before Halloween. However, he had been talking about snow quite a bit for a month or so. I think it may be because he has a Curious George DVD with a story about the little monkey playing in the snow that he loves; plus, he also really enjoys watching Frosty. So, when the snow started falling, we were excited to show him that we were getting some wintery white stuff ourselves.

It was kind of a sleety snow which isn't the best for taking the kids out, but we couldn't resist. I bought Hadley a snowsuit and Caleb a coat last year in February on sale for about $15 each at the Osh Kosh Outlet in Lancaster (which I thought was an excellent price considering that last year when I went to get Caleb a coat I had to spend twice that much for a decent one). I didn't know what size Caleb would need exactly and just assumed a 3T would work or that he'd grow in to it. When I looked at his coat earlier this fall though, I realized he hadn't grown as much as I'd anticipated. As a result, I ended up trading a lady on a local yard sale Facebook group a red snow suit someone gave us that didn't match anything for a 24 month coat and then purchasing a black snowsuit from my cousin Stacey to match it. One of my friends from high school had handed us down some snow boots for Caleb that matched perfectly too. Proud of my forward thinking and excited to try out all the snow gear, I am not sure who was more excited to get outside. After waiting until it slowed down a bit, we put the kids in their marshmallow suits to brave the elements.

Maybe daddy needs a snow suit?

Making footprints in the snow is so much fun

Smiling about it

Time to get off the porch and explore

Snowball making - Step 1

Step 2

Step 3 - Run!

After playing in the front yard a bit, it was time to check out the back. Mommy, who did not take the time to put her snow boots on after getting the kids attired, had been happily snapping shots from the covering of the front porch. Now she has to trudge through the snow too. ---- It was worth it! :)

Trying to make a snow angel like Daddy told him to

but was a bit confused about how to do it

Hadley got some snow lessons too.

Snowball Making 101 in progress.

A swing set is even more fun in the snow, right?

It may be a good thing that Hadley hasn't learned to walk yet. Even if she could I don't think she would have been able to move in that puffy get-up. She loved every minute of her time in the snow with her daddy though, so I'm glad we decided to include her despite the frigid temps. outside.

We didn't have any snowboots for her so we broke out

Caleb's old muck boots. They were a few sizes too big for such

a small footed girl but they worked.

No danger of losing that brightly clothed girl in the snow

We tried sitting her in the snow to see what she'd think of it.

All was well for a minute or so until she fell over and

couldn't move.

I want to go back out and play, Mama.

Dave stayed out with Caleb a little longer while the girls went inside to warm-up and watch out the window. Caleb's gloves weren't waterproof though and he began to mention that his hands were getting cold. My mom called while I was searching for a dry pair and suggested we use socks since I couldn't find any extras. It did the trick. Donning socks on his hands as mittens, Caleb "helped" Dave build a snowman. While he watched more than really assisting in the building process, he definitely was excited about Frosty and was disgruntled a day or so later when it melted. During their boy time outside, his daddy also taught him how to eat snow, which he later told me was the best part of the whole experience.